How to get employers to notice your application

Experts in the employment industry all know the importance of attaching a good cover letter to your job application. Applicants who send in their resume without a cover letter will rarely make the short list and the reason is simple.

It is easy to print off a copy of your resume and post it, or to attach it to an impersonal email, quickly pressing the send button. The resume itself tells a prospective employer about your work history and education. There is nothing there that expresses your personality.

In addition, people who don't take the trouble to prepare the simplest cover letter show themselves to be either lazy ('can't be bothered' attitude) or with a 'near enough is good enough' way of approaching tasks. Because an employment application is such a very important process, every care should be taken in its execution.

A resume cover letter should be brief and to the point. It needs to tell your future employer what skills and qualities you can bring to his company. It needs to reflect the fact that you have some knowledge about the business (because, of course, you have researched it!). If you have achieved something in your career that demonstrates just how perfect you are for the position, mention it in your cover letter, but don't go into great detail - you can save that for your interview!

Remember that employers are regular people, just like you and me. In general they do not go around using big impressive words when simple ones do. So don't try to impress them by using complicated language in your cover letter. If technical language is involved, save it for your resume, where it belongs. Your cover letter is showing a glimpse of who you are, not what you know.

Perhaps the most important part of a cover letter is the ending. Be polite and thank the reader for considering your application. Restate your enthusiasm for the position, and your contact phone number.

Finally, and this technique really works, add a P.S. after your signature. Just when they think they have read all you have to offer, give them a bonus - marketers do it all the time to great effect. Use a P.S. to ask for an interview. Don't be shy about this - tell them that you would appreciate the opportunity of telling the recruiter face to face how you would be an asset to their business.

Jimmy Sweeney, in his Amazing Cover Letters product, turned producing great cover letters into an art form. The success that his clients have reported are very impressive, and his ready to use templates cover all the must-do's of cover letter writing. So if producing your own cover letter is a little out of your reach, consult Jimmy!