When you are conducting an online job search or sending applications via the email, it is extremely important that you create a positive first impression. A good first impression can get you the job interview you are looking for, which can be your next platform to prove your skills. To achieve this aim, you need to come up with a good email cover letter for your resume.

Writing a better email cover letter for your resume.

Come up with a good subject line:
Career advisers always put special emphasis on the subject line of an email cover letter. What you write in this line can either get your letter read immediately or ignored royally. Hence you should put special effort in coming up with a good subject line for your cover letter. Don’t simply leave your subject line blank or just put the job number on it. Your letter’s subject line should be very clear and very specific to the job that you are applying for.

A good example of a subject line for a person wishing to apply for a Teacher position may be: Certified Washington State Elementary School Teacher.

This subject line will immediately inform the recruiter that you are already certified in the State and have experience as a Teacher working with Elementary School Children.

Some examples of a less desirable subject lines are: Excellent worker, motivated employee, passionate teacher.

Use a standard protocol for your cover letter:
Your letter should be presented as the body of the email and have a salutation as well as a standard closing. You should leave blank lines between the paragraphs and implement proper closing lines and signature. In your signature, put all information that you would normally have on a business card, such as phone number, email address and snail mail address. Make sure that your voice mail greeting is professional in case your potential employer leaves a message.

Keep your letter short and dynamic:
As recruiters and managers are always busy going through hundreds of mails, you need to keep your letter short and simple while at the same time appeal to them enough so that they call you for an interview. Remember that they are looking to get the basic gist of your letter in 150 or less words. For this reason, the first paragraph of your letter is very crucial. You need to make short paragraphs and sentences to present yourself and your abilities. Let them know in well constructed but brief sentences about your skills and what you can accomplish for them. Do not use wording that fills space such as passionate, dedicated, hardworking, etc. These types of words distract from the professional experience and take up space from other more important words.

Make sure that the formatting of your letter is kept simple:
While writing your cover letter in a word processing program, make sure to do away with all the formatting and save your file as plain text. The ideal length of a line is about 40 characters. There are numerous email service providers that do an automatic word wrap for their users so that the letter does not come up in fragments. You can also use other programs that can format your cover letter for you.

Be very specific in your letter:
While responding to a particular job ad, make sure that you have the requisite skills for it. It is of no use applying for a job of an Certified Experienced Bilingual Teacher when you are actually a Teacher with no Bilingual experience and no certification. Numerous job applications actually get rejected just for this very reason. By making sure that your application is specific and relevant, you will save both on yours as well as the recruiters’ time.