Kara Lee Burk's Guide to Cover Letters

(I wrote this a while ago. Was clearing out some stuff, so I thought I'd add it to my blog. Don't take it as advice, as I'm currently a temp, so I can be of little help to anyone...myself included. ;) )

GENERIC GREETING
Dear ____ ,
a. Recruiter
b. Mr. or Mrs. ___ (make sure you know if they are male or female...)
c. Sir or Madam (see note to "b.")
d. Rich Uncle Wentworth (but, let's face it, if had a rich uncle, you wouldn't need to write a cover letter in the first place)

OPENING PARAGRAPH - POW!
Hit them with a brilliant first line. Trusting you don't have your own personal salesman who will e-mail them, call them, show up eerily on their doorstep at 3 am telling them how awesome you truly are and how they should really take the time to look over your stuff, you have to keep them reading…

SECOND PARAGRAPH – Deja vu? (or…isn't this the same stuff that's on my resume?!)
Consider it the "Best of" your resume. Highlight the really good stuff, but more importantly how it (and you) is exactly what the company needs and is looking for. Perhaps something like this:

"…5 years very relevant experience…After graduating from a very prestigious university I began working with the best of the best company in my field as a highly impressive position…and earned the very impressive award for a very noteworthy work…and so on and so forth…"

(like when used in movie reviews the "…" gets to the good stuff. For Seinfeld fans, feel free to replace the "…" with "yada, yada, yada")

CLOSING PARAGRAPH – You have a little something brown on your nose…
Profusely thank the reader of the cover letter. Thanks to our present economy they will be reading a lot of cover letters, if you were lucky enough to grab them with your afore mentioned "Brilliant first line", you don't want to lose them at the end of the letter by letting your eagerness cross the line into over-eagerness. Simply: You have one little paragraph to prove to the reader that you are fully qualified but not over qualified, talented but not cocky, one-of-a-kind but able to collaborate in the creative process, team player but a good leader, level-headed, grounded….oh. and don't forget to be totally honest and modest.

SIGNATURE – Choose your own adventure
A. Sincerely
B. Yours Truly
C. Thank you, thanks, thanks again!! (see over-eager)
D. none
E. All of the Above