How important is a cover letter? ?

Question

Yesterday a listing was posted for a graphic design job I'm really interested in getting. It's an extremely popular NJ music venue so the job will probably get a lot of applications.

The problem is they're asking for a cover letter with your resume and portfolio. I really want to apply by tomorrow, or Monday at the latest, but I don't have a cover letter.

Should I apply without a cover letter or should I try to get one done in the next day or two? Is this enough time to get a cover letter done? Does anyone know of any helpful sites on how to write one?

Answer 1

Get your cover letter done. It is your way to introduce yourself to the employer and maybe address any holes in your resume. I am a young person and low on experience, so I use my cover letter to talk about all the responsibility I've been given at my job despite that. I also talk about challenges I faced and conquered early on, and my love of the job.

Be sure to tailor your cover letter to the place you are applying -- say "I am excited to work for a company that is" whatever they do and add a compliment, like, "that is on the forefront of the NJ music scene."

If the place is small and casual, you might want to take that kind of tone, but it is often your best bet to keep it upbeat, professional and fun.

The formatting is just like a normal business letter. I always send mine as a PDF, where page 1 is the cover letter and page 2 is my resume. Then in the email text I copy the cover letter and at the end write "My resume is attached."

Here is a site you can try: http://www.career.vt.edu/JOBSEARC/covers...

Answer 2

If the company is asking for a cover letter you should go ahead and take the time to make one.  If the position is going to have a lot of applications they might go through and automatically disqualify those who do not have everything they asked for just to first whittle down the number of applicants.

Most of the cover letters I have written have taken no more than 30 minutes, but could take up to a couple of hours to write depending on your experience writing them and how in depth you would like to go.

I would check out this site and find a cover letter to model yours after, and also see what they should look like.  

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverlette...

Good luck on the position!

Answer 3

a cover letter is very important, and if you don't give them one when they ask for it you definitly wont get the job. 3 hours is long enough to write one.

try this:

http://jobstar.org/tools/resume/cletters...

or this one, i think it might be better:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/coverlette...

or this:

http://www.csuchico.edu/plc/coverltr-ex....

make sure your resume and your cover letter is printed on high quality paper!

Good Luck!

Answer 4

it depends on the employer

Answer 5

If they ask for one and you don't provide one, forget about getting an interview.  If you don't have the time or are unsure of your writing skills, check out this http://jobhuntingresource.com/cover-lett...