The Internet has made life easy for everyone. It has allowed job seekers to look for job openings quickly, so that you can find all the listings you want with a single click of the mouse button. It has given work-at-home people the chance to earn money, what with telecommuting. E-mail has turned the world into a paperless mailroom, and has made job finding and employment almost hassle-free.

This ease, however, has made life too easy for the job seeker, so that many things can be taken for granted. E-mail does not give anyone the license to respond curtly to inquiries from prospective employers. Downloadable resume cover letter examples do not give job seekers the license to simply cut and paste as they please. In fact, resume cover letter examples do exactly the opposite of their intention: instead of giving someone the chance to be interviewed for a job, they can turn prospective employers off with their dry, dull tone.

Don’t fall for the ease of the Internet and the downloadable resume cover letter example. Don’t knock the resume cover letter example, however: it can give you tips on how to best format your cover letter, so use it as the basis of your letter. Don’t let it dominate your style. The best cover letter has personality, and reflects the passion of the person who sends it. A resume cover letter example, if abused, can show that you lack resourcefulness and that the prospective employer is only one among hundreds that you applied to blindly. If you show that a prospective employer is not special enough to be treated with exclusivity, then why should you be treated any better?

Your resume cover letter has power that even your resume does not have. Your resume will simply list your educational background and work experience, but it will not show how much you learned in school or how much passion you have for your chosen career. Your resume cover letter, therefore, is your chance to show personality: it is your voice in the midst of dull documents, and your platform on which to build a potential relationship with your prospective employer.

That said, your resume cover letter should use conversational, but not overly informal language. Write your cover letter as you would talk to your employer during your interview: be tactful and polite, exuberant but not childish, and direct to the point. Remember, your prospective employer has little time to read through your entire letter, so you have to catch his or her attention within the first few lines.

Make your resume cover letter brief and active. Indicate that you are available for an interview, and provide information that the prospective employer can use to contact you. Address the prospective employer by name, avoiding any generic address that might make your letter appear like a shot in the dark; sign your letter as well, adding one last personal touch to the sheet before you finally send it off.

Don’t eschew format in favor of creativity, however, as some companies still favor formatting standards in resume cover letters. This is where the resume cover letter example comes in: you still need your standard heading, body, and ending, all in a brief billet designed to show off your personality. Your cover letter should show you as a potential employee of the company, so bring all your great cards to the table and don’t sell yourself short: you’re a great person, and your resume cover letter should show exactly that.

Image taken on 2009-09-28 15:11:57. Image Source. (Used with permission)