Cover letter is essential when it comes to giving a potential employer an overview of your skills that might qualify you for the position. Furthermore it allows them to get a quick introduction that will hopefully make you stand out from the rest of job seekers and ultimately get you a chance to come in for the interview.

Making a quick and memorable impression is essential for any job search document that you plan to write. However just like it’s important to know what to include, you must also know common errors you should avoid. Mistakes that will automatically result in your letter being discarded without even being given a chance.

Here are some most popular mistakes to avoid when writing a cover letter.

Keep it short. As the general rule of thumb it’s a bad idea to keep your document overly long. Remember, your letter is one of many that employer receives on a daily basis. Competition is tough in this economy and you need to grab recruiter’s attention the second they glance at your document. No one has time to read five page life story, so keep it short, preferably no longer than one page.

Don’t use tiny or hard to read fonts. Use 10-point of higher. If it spills on more than one page, revise and keep it short and relevant. Also fonts should be easy on the eye and easy to read. No one has time to try to figure out what your cover letter says. If they can’t read it, there is a good chance they won’t respond.

Don’t overuse bold, italics, and underline. It’s Ok to use these elements to emphasize a major point, but use it throughout the document and you’re bound to confuse the reader. The objective of using these elements is to try and improve readability and visual impact not to create confusion. So keep that in mind before you start bolding every other sentence.

Paper Format. Presentation is just as important when grabbing attention of a person looking through a pile of submissions. No one wants to see wrinkled pages with coffee stains. If you’re sending a cover letter to the company as a hard copy, please do everyone a favor and make sure it’s clean, matches the resume paper type, and is printed on quality, watermarked paper and not the cheap kind you buy to save money. It seems like it’s no big deal, but recruiter will notice and it will lower your chances of being selected for a follow up call.

Topographical errors and handwritten changes are completely unacceptable. Simply put errors and handwritten changes do not belong in any resume or cover letter. In today’s modern world technology allows you to revise and print documents in seconds. After spending many hours researching and writing your job search documents it would be terrible if you got rejected simply because you forgot to run a spell check on your document. However, you must also spend time proofreading what your wrote. Remember, computer doesn’t know the difference between “for” and “four”. So check and double check after you finished writing.

If you have doubt in your grammar, don’t be afraid to ask your friend or two to proofread yet again and to make sure everything is correct. Seek out feedback and other people opinion in regards to your job search document.

Finally remember, each cover letter you send out should reflect the position you’re applying for. Use right keywords and match the skills to the specific job offered. Just like there are no two exact same job positions, there should not be two exact same cover letters you send out.

Gene is a founder of online job directory and career resource website New York Job Directory and Creative Jobs Directory

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