Geez, so hard to craft a good cover letter

[SyahM]

too many things to write yet only one page of space available. Worse is i have most experiences in a different career field than the one i'm applying for. The only experience I have related to the field is from school and professional certification. Anyone has a tip or two for me? I really want this job cuz it's my dream to be in that career field and i've worked very hard for it in school. Oh well .. i guess i'm not the only one that need hours to write cover letter, right?

 

[wnied]

Bah, sample a few of the examples online to get an idea for yours.

~wnied~

 

[Yossarian]

keep it short, don't try to cover everything you can offer in one letter.

 

[iwearnosox]

Honestly most firms don't read cover letters. I had three recruiters working for me and they all said the same thing: cover letters are ignored and resume's longer than a page go to the bottom of the pile. This is even more true in today's economy.

 

[amnesiac]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Honestly most firms don't read cover letters. I had three recruiters working for me and they all said the same thing: cover letters are ignored and resume's longer than a page go to the bottom of the pile. This is even more true in today's economy.

Yup.
I skim cover letters and as long as they're not incredibly stupid sounding I'll read the resume.

If the resume is longer than a page I throw it out.

Here are the only reasons why you'd need a > 1 page resume:
- Research position (description of past research projects)
- Add'l information requested by employer (references, details on qualifications, test scores)
- More than 20 years experience in complicated field of work

If you are applying for any entry level position, or any position that doesnt' require massive amounts of background and qualifications, then KEEP YOUR DAMN RESUME SHORT.

Nothing's more retarded than someone applying at an entry level position with 3 pages of stuff we don't care about.