Cover letter in an email
 

Just wanted to know if anyone had an opinion (from first-hand experience or otherwise) on writing a cover letter in the body of an email. I've seen many postings where they ask to email the resume, but obviously nothing about a cover letter. Do you think a cover letter would have better luck being attached to the resume if it were an attachment, or in the body of the email itself? Of course, the email would be formatted properly and professionally as a letter.

I know, I know, it seems a bit picky, but these days it's all about anything to get yourself noticed! :D

I did both cover letters and a resume and then attached them to an e-mail if required or attached (or copied and pasted) into a website.
I've been to two job interviews and at each they had copies of both the cover letter and resume in front of them.

USMCFLYR

I would attach it so if they want to print it out it will be formatted correctly.

I don't see any harm in pasting the meat of the cover letter into the email body either.

Three paragraphs in my online cover letters. Short, and gets to the point.

Numbers in the resume do more justice than an elongated story.

Thanks for the responses.

Rick, I like your idea of pasting the "meat" into the email. I'm thinking maybe it couldn't hurt to do both (pasting and attaching) when you don't know who will be reading it on the other end.

Short and sweet is definitely the best way to go, I agree. My resume just looks a bit strange right now with over two years without employment (traveling and then injured overseas). I'd like to mention something about it in the cover letter just to give them a heads up.

How about abbreviating your work history on the resume? I've pared my down to just flying jobs with a note at the bottom that a full work history is available on request. Anyone doing something similar or have other ideas?

If they ask you to submit your resume as an attachment then my advice is to attach a separate cover letter as well. Some people will put the cover letter as part of the resume attachment (one long attachment) - this is a pain for the recuiter. Let them choose whether or not they want to print your cover letter.

I agree with Rick about pasting the letter in the body of the email - it certainly can't hurt and they also have the choice of printing the nicely formatted version.

DO NOT summarize your resume in the cover letter or in the body of the email. You want them to read your resume, don't you? Focus on the stuff you can't put in your resume and what you really want them to know - i.e., why you were out of work for two years. Keep it VERY, VERY short. Recruiters don't have much time to read a resume, let alone a cover letter. Many times they go completely unread - especially if they are long. (How many times do you delete a long, drawn out joke that you receive in email simply because it's takes too much time?)

Why are you abbreviating your work history? Remember, your resume is NOT a legal document - rule of thumb is you only have to provide five years of employment history. Don't leave them wondering about you - write out the last five years of your history. Personally, whenever I saw "more provided upon request" or "more provided at interview" it came across cocky. I didn't request you apply with me at all, but here I am reading YOUR REQUEST to be considered and you can't even provide me with all information?
This is just how it hit me, others may not have the same reaction but I'd suggest it better to be safe than sorry.

Don't analyze this too terribly much - the important part is that you SEND IT.

Good luck! Crossing my fingers for a callback!
Lori

Thanks for the input Lori!

I guess it's been a while since I've gotten any resume advice. I think the last was in college and that was six years ago now. Speaking of college, should I still be putting an education section on there? Below my work history I have an education section with just my college and degree (BS in aviation.)

Also, as per the advice in college, I'm keeping it to just one page, which is the reason for paring down to just my aviation work history. I guess the idea behind that was to include my current job (non-flying) and still be able to show all my employment as a pilot to give the reader the best idea of my flying experience. Any thoughts?

Trying not to over analyze.. I'll send 'em out soon!

Thanks again!

Yes, absolutely put your degree on there. Some airlines still require it and bottom line...you earned it, you should tout it.

I understand a little better about the work history. Yes, you need to include your current position but you probably can trim down the description of each job in order to fit them neatly. i.e., you don't have to list all of your duties as pilot. It's a known quantity as to what the job entails (at least within the industry.) Just don't put a notation that you'll explain later... (can you tell it's a pet peeve of mine?) :eek:

Good luck!!

On my resume, I have for references "Available upon request." Would you have a problem with that? I did that in order to keep my resume to just one page.

It's not that I would have a problem with it at all - my take is why take up the room? You are going to provide reference letters if you've got them and most applications will ask for them anyway. To me it's useless to include that line.