By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer
Chances are you went through several drafts of your résumé before you submitted it to a prospective employer. You wrote and rewrote each line several times and had friends, family, even strangers proofread it. But if you send it off without enclosing a cover letter, your hard work may never be seen.
According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, 66 percent of hiring managers prefer a good cover letter attached to a résumé. Think of it as the first chance to stand out in a sea of applicants. Your cover letter, if done well, tells the hiring manager you are qualified for the job and a serious candidate. Perhaps more important is the opportunity to show your personality.
For this reason, many hiring managers discard any résumés that don’t have cover letters. Omitting a cover letter tells the employer that you can’t make the effort to sell yourself and to save him or her some time. Writing a cover letter is an easy way to keep yourself in the game.
Here are some things to remember as you write your cover letter:
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