Cover letters have become as detrimental to the stress filled nerves of job applicants everywhere as resumes have been traditionally. There are plenty of services that assist job applicants with the tasks of building better resumes but very few that are devoted exclusively to helping job applicants find the cover letter help they need for those precious positions in the best companies for which to work. You have come to the right place for a fabulously free cover letter help clinic for the inspiration impaired. The hope is that you will find the inspiration you need here in order to create those job winning cover letters each and every time.

The very first and most basic rule when it comes to writing excellent cover letters is to follow the K.I.S.S. philosophy-keep it simple silly. You want your cover letter to be short enough that it is much more likely to be read while making sure that it includes the necessary highlights. Avoid telling potential employers ten thousand skills you have that have no bearing on the position for which you are applying. Devote your precious page space to regaling them with tales of how you are the perfect candidate for the job and how your skills are exactly that they are looking for in as few words as possible.

Another great tip you should bring home from this free cover letter help clinic is that you should always hook the reader of your cover letter from the very beginning and invite them to keep reading. So how do you do this? Ask a question and make them want to find the answer within the remainder of your cover letter. People are curious by nature. Yes, this includes hiring managers and HR personnel. Ask them a question that they are compelled to find the answer to and make sure the answer is the one they are looking for.

Be specific with your cover letters. Do not create a generic one-size fits all cover letter that you send to each and every potential employer. Instead, use your cover letter as the perfect opportunity to address how you can meet the specific needs of the employer for which you are applying to work with. Take a proactive step in your job search process and find out the name of the person who will be doing the hiring. Address them by name in your cover letter and mention things about your experience and interests that will prove beneficial to the products, services, or needs of the company in question. First of all, doing this sets you apart from other applicants who will not have gone to the added effort and secondly, it makes your cover letter more impressive all around.

Keep in mind that even impressive resumes and cover letters are often skimmed rather than read through from beginning to end. Many hiring managers are notorious about reading the very beginning and the very end of a cover letter and skimming at best, if not skipping all together the information that is contained in the middle. In order to insure that the hiring manager gets a good overview of your skill set and the assets you would bring along with you be sure to offer a brief summary either in the final paragraph or as a P.S.

Perhaps the best thing you should bring home with your from this free cover letter help clinic is that more often than not people are eager to please-even hiring managers. This means that if you specifically ask for something in a nice and respectful manner you are much more likely to get it. Ask for the interview. It is quite unlikely to hurt your chances and might be the deciding factor when all is said and done.

Any of the items mentioned above will set your cover letter apart from others to some degree. If you manage to combine each and every bit of advice then you should find that you are well on your way to the interview you desire. The final bit of advice from this free cover letter help clinic would be to double check and reread your cover letter for grammatical errors and misspellings. Good luck!

Image taken on 2006-01-10 11:12:09. Image Source. (Used with permission)