Cover letters, in the body of an email or separate attachment

flazio

Hi folks, I'm job hunting in the retail / business sector at the moment.
Clearly writing a cover letter for each application is vital but I'm wondering if I'm doing it wrong by writing it out in the body of the email and should instead by writing out a well formatted Word document and attaching it to the email.
Any tips?

JustShon

Honestly, most hiring manager / recruiters admit to never bothering with the cover letter.

Your initial application is going to be skimmed, they'll spend less than a minute on your CV and cover letter combined. My advice is to make your whole application (CV, cover letter if you feel it's needed, any application forms) easy to skim through so they can make a judgement quickly without the need for much reading.

wrmwit

My sister works in recruitment and I've heard her say that they don't really bother with cover letters.

I'm on the job hunt myself at the moment and I would have a introductory paragraph in the body of the email. It's short and to the point. Three or four lines. No waffling. I let my CV (attachment) to the talking. Whether it's right or wrong I don't know. Also, my CV is in pdf form so the recruitment agencies can't chop and change it to suit themselves.

Good luck.

Anatom

I'd actually do both. Saves space on their server and also makes it more convenient for those who do read letters...

Here's what I personally do:

Have a blurb in the top of your CV, just below your personal information and above your additional information. It can act as a miniature cover letter. Very brief description, that should be geared towards the job you're applying for. Bold specific keywords. Recruiters spend a short time looking at your CV, so this will help grab their interest. No more than a few lines. Just get good at writing them.

If you do send a cover letter, it should be attached as a separate document, in case the hiring people want to forward it on easier.

scamalert

agree to all above,just overgo cv training,and people said forget cover letters no one reads them even worse if its on your front of cv-that basically puts you to the bottom if not the bin.

look up online some examples of right cvs,main goal is just put your essential details on top following your skills afterwards and bullet points if they are specific-since that first page and paragraph puts you into either considered category or straight out of list,also keep it tight point out your skills achievements,goals ,rest just simple few interests,also good if they are career related or some hidden potential.