Cover letters that compel a potential employer to get to know you can be as important to a job seeker as the resume itself is. They should be composed carefully, kept to one page, and reiterate the most important information from the resume itself, in effect serving as a very short “executive summary” of the resume.

The purpose of the cover letter is two fold. First it is an introduction to the resume and should encourage and inspire a hiring manager to take a closer look at the resume. Next it should be a “key” to get past the gatekeeper. Many hiring managers have administrative assistants who screen resumes for them to save them time. If the cover letter conveys skills and qualifications needed to the administrative assistant he or she is more likely to place it in the stack of resumes to be reviewed later and less likely to discard it.

If a job candidate is not a skilled writer, and is not familiar with cover letters that punch and compel, then a professional resume writer should be approached who can craft a dynamic document to make a potential employer want to get to know you.

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