Get Examples of Strong Cover Letters
A cover letter is said to be the most important part of a resume when you're applying for a job. Having a good one can make or break your job application, and it's best to learn how to write one by looking at some cover letter examples.
When a company gets 300 applicants for one job and they have 300 resumes to choose from, do you think they're going to read that entire resume? No way! Why would they?
They read the cover letters, and decide from there whether to trash the resume or keep it for further consideration. Maybe once they've narrowed the field down by culling it based on cover letters, they'll probably check out the rest of the resume.
That's where your job experience, references, and all the rest of the stuff comes in, but if you want to even get your foot in the door, you've got to have an effective cover letter.
Learning By Example
But how do you write an effective cover letter? How else than by learning from the best?Learn from the people who've bagged a solid job by using a rockin' cover letter that made them stand out from day one of the consideration process.
Face it, it's a competitive world out there, and there are always going to be other guys who want the job you're after. The better the job, the more competition you'll have, it's a fact of life.
The only way to rise above that competition is to show that you're better than they are, and to do that you need to kill with your cover letter. It's a valuable tool that's underused by most people, so using it well could give you the edge!
Reach For What You Want-- And Grab It!

So if you seriously think you'd like to get the job you apply for, you should do some delving into how to write a quality cover letter. The best way to do this is to read some cover letter examples and learn from what the people getting the jobs have done.
Just think..the average American takes 9 months to find a new job. 9 months! Can you afford to wait that long?
With a solid cover letter, your chances of success will skyrocket...so good luck, and happy jobhunting!
Free Cover Letter Examples
Which resource was the most help?
1
50+ Sample Cover Letters
A must-see database of 50+ cover letter samples ca more...6 points
2
Sample Cover Letters at CSU Career Center
A few sample cover letters at the California State more...5 points
3
VT Career Services Cover Letter Samples
Virginia Tech's featured list of various examples, more...2 points
4
Free Cover Letter Templates
Lots of free cover letter templates, and the site more...2 points
5
CareerCC's Resume/Cover Letter Section
The section of Career Consulting Corner's website more...1 point
Cover Letter Tips
Some important things to remember!
1) Always do your homework on the business with the job. Knowing what you're getting into is very valuable throughout the entire writing, sending, and interviewing processes!2) Send your cover letter and attached resume to a specific person who has the power to hire you immediately. Which'll get you noticed more: being one envelope out of a couple hundred in a Human Resources basket, or being one letter sitting on the corner of a higher-up's desk? Think about it!
3) Make sure that cover letter is flawless! No spelling, typographical, or grammar errors! They make your paper look unprofessional, and even a single mistake can mean the difference.
4) Keep your cover letter short and sweet. 2-4 paragraphs are the usual, and never go over a page! They just don't have time to sit around reading it all day, and most won't go past the first page anyways.
5) Don't rehash your resume! With how little space is available, it's important to include only vitally relevant information!
6) Be positive! Negativity in your cover letter will cause those reading it to feel negative, and that's not something you want when those reading it are the people who could give you a job.
7) Try not to sound desperate! Employers are after somebody with drive to succeed, not someone who's frantically begging for a job. Desperate and dependable don't go together in an employer's mind.
8) Avoid including a bunch of personal information. In brutal honesty, most employers don't care who you are, so long as you're qualified. A cover letter has precious little space, so don't waste it!
9) Broach the subject of an interview, but in a proactive, self-motivated way! Don't sit and wait for a call, make the call yourself! Use your cover letter to let them know when that call is coming, and follow through!
10) Know what you're going for by looking at some online cover letter resources! From examples to helpful software, the things you can find online are invaluable to your jobhunt.
Reader Feedback
Something to say? Say it! Only way to get heard is to speak up!
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- Peter_Fisher Peter_Fisher May 22, 2008 @ 6:14 am
- Thanks for these great cover letter tips, they add useful information to everything that's already out there.
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- richramalho richramalho May 10, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
- Great Lens!!! 5 Stars. Good cover letter tips.
Please visit and rate my Visalus Lens ~~
http://www.squidoo.com/visalusreview
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- charles66 charles66 Apr 3, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
- Thanks to this lens for sharing the important informations of cover letter. From this lens we get knowledge of how to compose fabulous cover letter. The human resource also gaves me variuos source of ideas regarding human resources, to get various ideas, everyone must visit in this site to get the taste of the human resources.
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- shawnanderson67 shawnanderson67 Apr 1, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
- This is a great lens indeed, it is really very important to be able to write a impressive cover letters but more often or so now a days companies do not even look at resumes and they solely depend on the Recruitment software available in the market. The software assists the HR manager as a personal secretary and helps to arrive at the decisions very easily and logically.
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- duncan_dj duncan_dj Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:27 am
- informative lens.. very useful information on how to prepare the cover letter while applying for job..detailed information on cover letter and this tips provide valuable informations to be kept in mind while preparing the cover letter.. excellent format.. thanks for sharing such a valuable information and the full credit goes to you.. here is also a similar kind of useful information on Human Resource , an interesting site about human resource issues, human resource jobs and human resource planning.
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- Stephene Stephene Mar 16, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
- Thks for useful information.. i hv bookmarked this lense and joined your fan club.. (^o^)
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- JunLoayza JunLoayza Feb 27, 2008 @ 1:18 am
- Hi Jagger97,
Thank you for writing such a terrific lens. Anyone who is new to writing coverletters or wants to build a stronger one should definitely read this lens. Let me know if you would like to discuss recruitment or career strategies and I would love to chat.
Best,
Jun Loayza
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- maxy maxy Feb 18, 2008 @ 7:27 am
- Great lens, very informative.
Hope you take a look at my phone card lens!
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- thomasz thomasz Feb 13, 2008 @ 2:20 am
- Interesting lens. Nice info.
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- Lpspider Lpspider Jan 9, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
- Web Writing Workshops. This is an excellent resource. Thanks for sharing.
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by Jagger97
I'm just sharing what I know with who I can, trying to do some good for people. Being jobless isn't the best time in your life, and I want...
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