Writing Letters for Cold Canvassing (IT) Jobs?

jtan163 asks: "I'm trying to help a friend write job applications for cold canvassing jobs in the IT industry but we're quite stuck. His CV/Resume shows his skills and employment history and even to some extent, what he is looking for. So, what do you put in the letter for cold canvassing IT (and probably any other field) job applications? With cold canvassing, is the letter really important or is it just 'fluff' so the CV/Resume doesn't get lonely in the envelope (electronic or otherwise)? We'd love to hear about what has worked or not for you. Or, if you happen to be a job application consumer, what you look for in, or at least what would make you consider (or at least not throw out), a cold canvassed application?"

Comments

Have you read...

[afabbro]

...What Color is Your Parachute?

That book has been the bible for job seekers for as long as I can remember...and it's a pretty good book on the subject. There is a section on how to look for jobs and techniques for each...I don't recall if there is a specific section on cover letter writing. However, if that's all you've got for a job search method now, then WCIYP will give you loads of other ideas and the reasons why they work.

I haven't tried it in the real world yet, but..

[Knights who say 'INT]

I'm writing a cover letter and rewriting a resumé according to some guidelines from http://www.job-secrets-revealed.com/. It sounds interesting.

You could have it professionally done

[Gary Destruction]

That's what I did and I got good results. As it turns out, I wasn't marketing myself well enough. I had a resume and cover letter done for $195. Then I sent my resume and cover letter to over 1400 recruiters across the country for $60. A month later, I'm still getting responses.

Introduction

[Bitsy Boffin]

Introduce yourself, tell them why you hav decided to write to them, why you are looking for a job, highlight the areas of your curriculum vitae that are particularly relevant to the business area, personalise it a bit (so it doesn't look like a form letter, they can see you've actuall put some thought into it) and thank them for thier time.

You might want to also include a "business card" with your name, primary skills and contact details - while the CV might get binned, the business card might just make it to the card file.