Cover Letter is Pointless If It's Not Specific

You’ve heard the adage in real estate and retailing that success centers on three things: location, location, location. With cover letters, success is also tied to three things: specifics, specifics, specifics. In our roles as resume and cover-letter writers, we often got requests from customers that went something like this: “Just give me a general cover letter that I can use for any kind of job.” Sorry. No can do. Well, we can do it, but we certainly don’t recommend it. A cover letter needs to be specific in every way. Otherwise, it’s a fairly pointless document. Some experts say even a resume should be specifically tailored for each job. While a degree of resume tailoring is desirable, extensive tailoring is unnecessary if you’re specific with your cover letter. Find out how to make your cover letter specific — and thus effective — in our article, Cover Letter Success Is All About Specifics