Jobacle recently caught up with Louise Kursmark, co-author of the recently released book 15-Minute Cover Letter, Second Edition. She offers effective strategies for scoring face-to-face interviews and answers several of our questions.

Jobacle: If you had to assign a % to the importance of a good cover letter, what would it be?

Louise Kursmark: It's hard to be absolute, because some recruiters and employers love, read, save, and share cover letters while others completely ignore them. Consider your cover letter an added opportunity to convince your audience that you have what they are looking for. It would be foolish to pass up the chance to capture favorable attention.

J: Is there a recommended number of words one should use in a cover letter?

LK: The fewest possible to get the message across! Rather than a word count, use these guidelines to construct your letter:

Opening: Get to the point - tell them why you're writing - in an interesting way if possible. (But it's more important to be clear than clever.)

Middle: Tell them the value you offer. It's not about you - it's what you can do for them. Give a couple of brief highlights of your most notable accomplishments as relevant to the position, company, industry, and any specific challenges you know they are facing. Do NOT tell them your entire career history or all of your qualifications, and don't repeat items word-for-word from your resume.

Closing: Ask for a meeting. Tell them you'll follow up ...and do so!

J: Is it ever OK to send a cover letter that is not targeted to an individual? What if you've exhausted every avenue and have come up empty but still want to contact the organization?

LK: Of course it's OK, although it's less desirable because you don't have an avenue for follow-up. Some companies make it extremely difficult to find out just who your letter should go to. But I consider a blind cover letter a last resort. First be sure you are using the telephone, tapping into your network, and consulting resource materials to find the name of a hiring authority for your area of the business.

J: Should a cover letter match the look and feel of your resume?

LK: Absolutely, in their printed format. However, many cover letters these days are sent by email. I recommend placing your cover letter in the body of the email and attaching your resume as a Word document. You won't have the same look-and-feel with this method, but it's what employers prefer. But do be sure that the language, style, and messages are congruent.

J: What's one piece of advice that you've uncovered after the book went to press that you'd like to add as an addendum?

LK: It's more important than ever to get your messages across QUICKLY. We've learned from Twitter that you can say a lot in 140 characters! Trim your letters down to the core message to be sure they are read and not passed over.

More advice from Louise...

Article by Andrew G.R. and courtesy of jobacle.com - your cure for carbon copy career advice!