While I’m talking about cover letters, I want to relate a story about cover letters that I think you’ll enjoy.
Back in the early 90s at one company where I had a couple dozen writers working for me, I had been talking to someone at professional meetings who wanted to work for me. He was a great guy and I thought I’d like to have him on the team. A few months later, I had a slot and said “Now’s the time! Send your paper in.” He did, with a cover letter, that opened with the line (including the bold as I’ve shown it):
“Dear John:
Enclosed please find my resume for consideration for a position as a Tecnical Writer.”
I stopped reading right there. He’s a great guy who would’ve been an addition to the team, but, yuh know, I just couldn’t.
I showed it around to a bunch of my staff. They thought that that was pretty good, too. I phoned him that afternoon and explained that I was terribly, terribly sorry but I just couldn’t hire him right then but that I wanted him to reapply. He was much chagrined but he understood.
The rimshot on this is that I called an old friend who was the Tech Pubs Manager at our direct competitor and related the story (without names, of course). She told me about one that she’d gotten a few years before for an editing slot that contained the immortal line:
“And, in addition, my poofreading skills are excellent.”
Apparently, that letter went up on their departmental bulletin board for a couple years for all to admire.
Moral of the story: You cannot proofread your materials enough.