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Cover self with good letter
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July 6, 2000: 11:04 a.m. ET
Craft a cover letter that boosts the chance to have your resume read
By Staff Writer Rob Lenihan
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Every movie hero shouts "Cover me!" before charging into battle.
When your resume goes out into the employment free fire zone, it's going to need some coverage, too. That's where the cover letter comes in—a kind of calling card/battering ram that you'll need to break through the walls of the corporate castle and get your resume read by the right eyeballs.
"It's a body guard," said Joyce Lain Kennedy, author of "Cover Letters for Dummies" and other books. It says, 'This thing is worth reading, I'm worth looking at and this is why.' "
If done properly, a cover letter should give a prospective employer a better picture of you, add another dimension to your resume and tell your would-be boss exactly what you've got to offer.
 Anne McKinney, editor of "Cover Letters That Blow Doors Open," notes you can use the cover letter to express interests or wishes that don't appear in your resume. So if you're willing to relocate, say so—in the cover letter.
"The cover letter can do a lot to strengthen your credibility even before they get to the resume," she said. "It's not up to the employer to psycho-analyze
what we want to do. We're much more likely to get into the door if we're aggressively enthusiastic."
However, if you load up on the clichés, let typos slide through and churn out a 12-pound manuscript that dwarfs "The Brothers Karamazov," then the only thing your letter will cover is your future — with a dark shroud.
'Over here!'
You don't have to be Tolstoy to write a cover letter. You do, however, have to be motivated. Employers usually read cover letters in less than a minute so say what you've got to say in a hurry.
Some basic tips include:
· Avoid using the passive voice. The active voice denotes just that—action. Passive voice is generally weaker and some verbs include be, is, was, were, seem, has and been. So, for example, "They trained me in computer technology," has more life than "I was trained in computer technology."
·  Use the present tense, except when referring to accomplishments or achievements. You're writing about now, so keep your voice in the now.
· Watch your language. Remember all that stuff your grade school English teacher tried to pound into your head? Now is the time to use it. Look out for the run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, and if your participles are dangling, for Heaven's sake, pick them up!
· Reword portions of the employer's mission statement or other documents and work them into your letter.
Kennedy has a few other suggestions for organizing your letter.
You can go for the "problem/solution" set-up, she said, in which you describe a problem and tell how you solved it.
The inverted pyramid style takes the news story format, summarizing the story in the first paragraph and presenting the facts in order of decreasing importance.
Similar to the inverted pyramid is the deductive order letter. This format starts with a generalization and ends with specific examples. By contrast, the inductive order letter starts off with an anecdote and takes the reader to a conclusion drawn from that anecdote.
'Blah, blah, my resume, blah, blah ...'
Want to kill your chances with a potential boss? Pack your cover letter with the same tired lines every other job-hunting yahoo out is using.
In her book, Kennedy ticks off a list of cover letter dogs that job seekers should avoid. They include:
· "I am energetic." What? You mean you're not a mouth-breathing tree-sloth? Gosh, that's good to know.
· "I am very interested in..." Well, we hope you're interested. You're writing the letter, aren't you?
· "I am responding to your advertisement." Kennedy says this one isn't wrong, just worn down by constant use. If you have to use it, go ahead, but try for something with a little more spark.
· "Please accept the enclosed resume." Say what? If you don't know what this one means, you're potential employer won't either. Drop kick this one into the bin of doom.
Kennedy also advises against including personal information about hobbies or clubs, since they are irrelevant.
To infinity and beyond
While fewer than one in five resumes are submitted by e-mail, Kennedy said surveys show that roughly one-third of human resource professionals prefer to receive them by e-mail. So you have to adapt your cover letter to the new era.
Brevity is one thing to keep in mind. In fact, Kennedy refers to the e-mail cover letter as a cover note, underscoring the need to keep them short.
She further advises concentrating on the content, not the slick formatting. Construct your e-mail cover note in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text and paste your resume right after your letter.
Other basic rules for the e-mail cover note include:
· Use asterisks or dashes, not bullets.
· Skip bold typeface, underling or graphics.
· Avoid columns of information requiring continuity of text.
· And don't use emoticons—symbols such as the sideways smiley face. They are perceived as unprofessional. 
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