What the Experts Say About Cover Letters

"... you need to make it easy for the employer to buy. You need to clearly state when you will be available to talk to the employer. Be specific: give telephone numbers where you can be reached both at work and off work. You could have a tremendous background and see yourself very well, but if the employer can't reach you, everything could be lost."
--LOLA M. COXFORD, Resume Writing Made Easy for High-Tech

"Because you can use your cover letter to highlight certain aspects of your resume, the same resume can be used to pursue different job opportunities. The beauty of the cover letter is that you can gear it to each particular company that is the recipient of your resume by stressing your most important qualification."
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"A resume without a cover letter is like an unannounced salesperson showing up at your door. If you are going to let in a perfect stranger, you at least want to see their credentials. This is exactly what a cover letter does--it introduces you, a total stranger, to the reader. It must be compelling, personable, and brief. It needs to specifically relate to the position in question. Remember you only have eight seconds to convince the reader to invite you in."
--BARBARA B. VINITSKY AND JANICE Y. BENJAMIN, How to Become Happily Employed

"No cover letter should carry the salutation: 'To whom it may concern.' It will concern no one if you don't personalize it. The surest way to get the information is to find the name in trade journals or in The Standard & Poor's Register, The Dun & Bradstreet Directory, or other directories. Failing all that, call the company and ask for the name of the appropriate person."
--KENNETH AND SHERYL DAWSON, Job Search, The Total System

"If there is a catch-22 situation in job hunting, it involves the cover letter. Even in situations where it is not requested, you should attach a cover letter to your resume. However, a review of the cover letter is one of the most common methods by which candidates are eliminated form the process. The cover letter is rarely anything but a liability, but you must include it because its absence is worse."
--JEFF B. SPECK, Hot Tips, Sneaky Tricks & Last-Ditch Tactics

"Poor grammar, bad punctuation, and misspelled words suggest that the applicant is either poorly educated or simply doesn't care about the impression created. The chances are unusually high that the employer is going to forgo reading the accompanying resume and quickly move on to the next job applicant."
--RICHARD H. BEATTY, The Perfect Cover Letter