by Kaitlin McManus | November 30, 2018
Re-posted from Vault

Okay look—resumés are great. When done right, they’re clean, concise, and well organized. And if you’ve been following all the great advice out there, yours should be in pretty good shape.

Cover letters are different—they’re freewheeling, making them more difficult to write. Think of the resumé as the multiple-choice part of a test, and the cover letter as the essay portion—the essay portion where your teacher gives you a 7/10, but you’re not really sure why. It’s so tough to know if your cover letter is being received well, and since they’re so personal and subjective, finding advice relating to your specific industry and career goals can be difficult. And less-than-ideal sources can offer sample cover letters that sound like they were written by robots. Maybe they were.

There’s no magic “life hack” to writing cover letters, but the number-one rule to follow is… READ MORE