What Should I Include in a Cover Letter to My Résumé?

Cover letters are an essential part of any job search—they provide potential employers with information about how your experience matches their needs. While a résumé can help outline your relevant work experiences, your cover letter serves as a more targeted marketing tool by describing in detail how your work experience can benefit the company. Some people may not think that cover letters are important, but more than 80 percent of recruiters surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) say that they are a “necessity.”

To start, read the job description carefully, and then describe how your skills match up against the most important responsibilities and requirements for the open position. When discussing your credentials, be sure to reference relevant experiences mentioned in your résumé. In your cover letter, make sure you explain why you are interested in the job, what makes you a good fit for the position, and how you learned about the opening. In addition to your work experience, be sure to include information about software programs you know how to use, as well as any other training you have that could be useful to the company. 

Remember to include basic information in your cover letter too. At the top of the letter, include the date, your address, phone number, e-mail address, and any other information that will make it easy for the recruiter or hiring manager to reach you. If you are responding to an ad, be sure to follow the employer's application instructions. For example, sometimes recruiters want applicants to include a job code or specific job title in the e-mail subject line.

Before sending your cover letter and résumé to a prospective employer, you might want to consider having someone review them first. Seventy-six percent of recruiters surveyed by SHRM said they would not consider hiring job applicants who had errors in their cover letters so make sure you keep your cover letter free of errors and confined to one page.