Below is a same letter you can use as a guide:

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Date

Human Resources, COMPANY NAME HERE

RE: NAME OF VACANT POSITION

Enclosed please find my resume’. I am very much interested in working with you as your POSITION TITLE. As you will see from my enclosed resume’ I am qualified in a variety of areas. (Or I am uniquely qualified for this position because of my vast experience in …). My college degrees are in Business Administration with a minor in Management. I have spent last two decades performing INSERT SIMILAR RESPONSIBILITIES.

I am anxious to discuss this opportunity with you further.

Respectfully,

Your Name ---

You as can see, above cover letter is short and to point. It serves a purpose of prefacing your resume. Don’t waste your time going on and on and on. It will not get read. As it stands, you have a 50/50 chance that anyone will even read your cover letter. Are you willing to take 50% odds that it will be read, only to have a lousy cover letter that will essentially hinder your resume from consideration? Follow above simple steps and you’ll make a great first impression. Of course, it’s up to you to have knowledge, skills and abilities to back it; but at least you’re starting off right!

6. Typos and misspellings – You would think this is an obvious one, but you’d be amazed at number of resumes received with big blaring mistakes.

7. Falsified information –Greatly elaborated credentials are same as lies. Do not list diplomas, certifications, affiliations or awards that you did not earn. Just don’t do it. It’ll come back to bite you in butt.

8. Attachments – At resume stage do not send any attachments, whatsoever. If you are granted an interview, at that time you could bring in whatever it is you’re so hot to get into selecting official’s hands. The person accepting resumes will likely just throw it in round file.

9. Elaborating too much – Place of employment, job title and brief, very brief description of job responsibilities are all you need. Don’t complete a whole paragraph for each job you’ve held.

10. No cover letter – Writing a good cover letter is a bit of an art. However, any cover letter is better than none. Just keep same principles in mind with your letter: Brevity, relevant and free from typos.

If you can avoid these simple ten resume mistakes, you’re more than half way there to getting an interview. Once you have your foot in door you can really shine for boss. If you don’t make it past first cut, due to any of above fatal mistakes, your beautiful resume will be used to wipe up coffee spills or will be added to recycle pile! Don’t let that happen to you.