ALUM-TO-ALUM CAREERCENTER EVENTS STAYCONNECTED ALUMNICOUNCIL NEWS MEMBERBENEFITS

PREPARE & DEVELOP JOB SEARCH

Write Cover Letters

Cover Letter Style | Print & Electronic | Write | FORMAT & REVIEW

Paper Cover Letters

Length

• Keep your cover letter to one page

Paper

• Use bond paper in conservative colors such as white, ivory, or light gray.; Print your resume, reference sheet, and cover letter on same style paper.
• The cover letter should be laser printed or typeset

Margins

• Use 1 inch margins on all sides
• Left justify the text
• Use block style for paragraphs. This means they are not indented and separated by an extra space

Spacing

• Single space within paragraphs and double space between paragraphs

Bolding

• Bold key words such as the name of your university and job titles
• Highlight items by using bold face rather than changing fonts

Plain Text Cover Letters

Format

• Open your existing cover letter document with a word processing program
• Save it as a text or ASCII file
• ASCII will eliminate formatting codes and will disable the word wrap function
• Once the document is saved as plain text you can copy and paste it right into the message portion of an e-mail or send it as part of an online application process

Length

• A line should hold only 65 characters
• Count characters on each line
• Limit your cover letter to one page

Print type

• Use a standard-width type face, such as Courier
• Do not bold, underline or use any type of graphics
• Use dashes (- -) or asterisk (*) in place of bullets

Your Address

• Omit your home address. Once you post online, the information is public to anyone.

Be sure to carefully review the section on Print vs. Electronic Resumes for more information on plain text formats and maximizing the effectiveness of your online job search.

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