Make sure your e-mail correspondence is ready

By Alison Hart, special for Gannett News Service

The Internet has revolutionized job hunting. Recent college graduates, especially, understand its broad capabilities. They research companies' Web sites, beef up their resumes by enrolling in corporate e-universities, cast a wide net over the job market and court companies sometimes thousands of miles away.

Speed and convenience make e-mail the preferred mode for much of today's employment correspondence. But drafting a winning cover letter is as important as it ever was.

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"A cover letter should always go with a resume, just like the olden days. It's just easier now, electronically," says John Bakos, president of the Bakos Group, a career management firm located in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Use these tips for getting online and on the right track for the perfect job:

1. Be compatible. Sending a PC-ready cover letter to a Mac-compatible office can be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Make your cover letter compatible with the computer system your target company uses. If you don't know, call the hiring manager or the receptionist and ask.

2. To attach or not to attach? Opinions vary about the best way to attach your correspondence to an e-mail. Depending on the industry and the size of the company, you may want to send your cover letter and resume as one attachment, two separate attachments or embedded in the body of the e-mail. Speak with the human-resources department, and accommodate their preference.

3. Get with the program. If you do attach your cover letter, always use Microsoft Word. Nothing halts a job search like a resume the recruiter can't read.

4. Send it from home. Just as you wouldn't print a cover letter on your current or former company's letterhead, you shouldn't use your current employer's e-mail in job correspondence.

5. Be specific. Recruiters receive tons of e-mails each day from applicants just like you; make your subject line stand out. Include your name, the position you're applying for and the job code if you know it.

6. Be brief. E-mails that serve as cover letters can be much shorter than the standard one page. If you attach your cover letter, the message can be shorter still. "The ideal is to write one or two lines in the body of the e-mail," says Sara Nolfo, an executive recruiter with New York-based Lynne Palmer Executive Recruitment.

7. Use keywords. In many large companies, computers scan resumes before recruiters read them. "You first have to chase down where the e-mail is going," says Mark Mehler, co-author of Career Xroads, a directory to Internet job sites. Applicant tracking systems scan your correspondence for keywords matching the job specification. Tailor your cover letter and resume to that job spec. Buzzwords make you stand out.

8. Time is money. E-mail is particularly useful in follow-up correspondence, when time is of the essence. If you interviewed yesterday and expect a decision tomorrow, e-mail a thank-you note today.

9. You've got a friend. Send a test run of your e-mail to a friend first. Make sure the attachments open and the tabs and margins are unchanged.

10. Get it right. Before you send off that e-mail, read it for spelling and grammatical errors. Most e-mails are written quickly, but recruiters will spot your typos. Make sure you've spell-checked your message before hitting send.