Résumés, Applications, and Cover Letters
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Introduction

IntroductionYou have skills that employers want. But those skills won’t get you a job if no one knows you have them.

Good résumés, applications, and cover letters broadcast your abilities. They tell employers how your qualifications match a job’s responsibilities. If these paper preliminaries are constructed well, you have a better chance of landing interviews—and, eventually, a job.

Modern technology has added a new twist to preparing résumés and cover letters. The availability of personal computers and laser printers has raised employers’ expectations of the quality of résumés and cover letters applicants produce. Electronic mail, Internet postings, and software that “reads” résumés help some employers sort and track hundreds of résumés. Technology has also given résumé writers greater flexibility; page limits and formatting standards are no longer as rigid as they were several years ago. “The only rule is that there are no rules,” says Frank Fox, executive director of the Professional Association of Résumé Writers. “Résumés should be error free—no typos or spelling mistakes— but beyond that, use any format that conveys the information well.”

However, the no-rules rule does not mean anything goes. You still have to consider what is reasonable and appropriate for the job you want. Advertisements for a single job opening can generate dozens, even hundreds, of responses. Busy reviewers often spend as little as 30 seconds deciding whether a résumé deserves consideration. And in some companies, if a résumé is not formatted for computer scanning, it may never reach a human reviewer.

This article provides some guidelines for creating résumés and cover letters that will help you pass the 30-second test and win interviews. The first section, on résumés, describes what information they should contain, how to highlight your skills for the job you want, types of résumés, and formatting résumés for easy reading and computer scanning. The next section discusses the four parts of a cover letter—salutation, opening, body, and closing. A final section offers suggestions for finding out more about résumés and cover letters. The clipboard on page 5 provides advice on completing application forms.

by Olivia Crosby, Adapted from the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer 1999