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Stark asks:
> What are the most important things to include in a cover letter?
1) What is this wad o' paper or burst of IP data doing here in front of me?
2) Why I should hire you?
3) Why do you want to work for me?
> Is there a minimum and maximum length?
Min: One complete sentence or very clear fragment.
Max: As much as I'll tolerate. Varies depending on you and me, and you don't know me. One uncrammed page is a good guess if you are a basic working writer. If you are Robert Louis Stevenson in a Treasure Island mode, the weight limit on my desk is probably around 200 pounds, and my stuff takes up about 70 of that. I have a big monitor.
> What should I avoid including in the cover letter?
Your limitations. I don't want to hear about what you won't do. Nor do I want to hear about what a creep you work for now. Go back to the first two questions. Your challenge is to answer the questions that I asked in reply to your first question, without blowing my unknown limit in the second question. Unless you are stunningly good, so good people will be reading your grocery lists for pleasure in a hundred years, you don't have room for anything that isn't vital. Details go in the (also short) resume.
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Office:
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:
nax -at- execpc -dot- com
