sample cover letter

Date

Name
Company
Address

Dear Mr./Ms. Somebody-or-other:

Unless I drop someone's name right off the bat in this letter, my guess is you'll just scan it, maybe looking for some key words or worse, egregious errors, before moving on to judge my resume. I'd be surprised if you made it all the way through even then, and because of this, I will cut to the chase.

I want you to hire me. The job looks pretty cool, the work not too hard, and the location doesn't entirely suck. I'd be good for the company: I'm kind of funny, I like to laugh, I get along with people for the most part, I don't lie or fabricate sources.

I could also insert here stock words like hard-working, creative and aggressive, but considering you are just scanning, I could also insert such nonsensical phrases as flux capacitor and butter bean ice cream head and it wouldn't make much difference. Most of your judgments will be made with a glance at my resume, taking into account number of years experience and where I last worked.

They tell us the cover letter allows us to give more detail to some things mentioned on your resume, but I find it hard to believe. I hate writing these letters; they stress me out and I never feel like they are clever or eye-catching enough. And I wonder how much you pay attention to them anyway, except to shake your head at how cheesy it is or maybe pass it on to a coworker to laugh at it. Plus, I may suck at cover letters (and some have even told me I am weak on paper), but give me an interview and you will be ready to sign me on, I promise.

Anyway, please hire me.

Kind regards,

Sara