A cover letter is your business card and your first impression! If not done properly the recruiter might get the impression you did not take your application seriously and you do not really want to work for his/her employer. You should try to make your first impression an impressive and lasting one. The cover letter is written to address the employer or recruiter's concerns; it should be compelling and give the main reasons to why you should be called to an interview. It's important to use a strong opening to try to catch the reader's interest. As a student with little or no work experience it's important to emphasize your other qualifications. Make sure you exemplify the skills you think is the most relevant to the employer.

It is easy to master the cover letter:

General informations

• No mistakes (Use the spell checker of your word processing software! Have someone else read it afterwards and someone else after that! Give it to native speakers!)
• Use a clear and simple design (Keep an eye on national standards when formatting addresses and dates)
• Triple check the address, all company and recipient names, and dates in the letter, especially if you re-use a file that you have already sent to someone else: "Ms. John Smith" from "Coca-Cloa" is not really funny and will close doors permanently.
• The cover letter should not be longer than a single page

Special info for email versions

• Do not write your cover letter in the email client but attach a properly designed cover letter to the email
• Convert the file to pdf format to ensure the design stays the same on all computers
• Include a scanned signature of you to resemble the look-and-feel of print versions
• Keep an eye on the file size. The file sizes under normal circumstances should not exceed 1 MB at most.

Special info for print versions

• Print it on a decent printer
• Use regular but clean sheet of paper
• Sign with a blue or black pen (in some companies only the CEO uses green!)