The cover letter… an often-overlooked component in your suite of personal marketing materials, and it is the one piece of correspondence that can either open a door or have it slammed shut. The importance of the cover letter can depend on who you ask – some recruiters confess they go straight to the résumé, looking for key metrics or must-have qualifications, while others have said the cover letter sold them on a candidate whose résumé would have been overlooked.
Seventy-one percent of the 153 executive recruiters ExecuNet surveyed reported that submitting a cover letter was necessary when applying for an executive-level position. This research indicates that there are so many résumés vying for recruiters’ attention they are relying on a compelling cover letter to find great candidates.
Now that you know the importance of the cover letter, how do you develop effective communications that get you noticed?
Read the expert advice and tips in our white paper, What’s in a Cover Letter? and let us know what you think.
