No matter what you're applying for, a cover letter always matters. Take the time to write a brief cover letter that tells potential employers what you can do for them.

A cover letter should only be two to three paragraphs detailing why you are the best fit for the position. Review the job description to determine what qualities they're looking for in a candidate and then write your cover letter to match those requirements.

Write your cover letter in a professional, but friendly tone. As an attempt to impress, a lot of job seekers go overboard in their use of vocabulary. Your cover letter should be written in words that everyone can understand and in a tone that conveys your enthusiasm about the company and position.

The final paragraph of your cover letter should contain a "thank you" and request for an interview. Go ahead and ask for the interview by detailing when and where you can be reached.

If you'd spent as much time as I have sifting through online job ads and dissecting the skills requirements of each, you'd notice a common trend – nearly every job requires that applicants have "good verbal and written communication skills." Sometimes it's just a cliche statement that gets thrown into the job description mix without much thought, but for the most part, employers are serious about this. The worriesome thing for you as the job applicant is, your initial point of contact with the employer – your resume – is written and it will no doubt be heavily scrutinized. The person who reads your resume has no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt, because up until this moment, he or she had no previous knowledge of your existence. That's why you must proof, double-proof and triple-proof your resume before you send it off through cyberspace to paint a picture of your professional self to a person you've never met.

The trouble with proofreading is, you have to know what you're looking for in order to catch any mistakes. It's pretty easy to spot that you've misspelled the word "the," but what about whether or not you should capitalize a job title, or whether you should spell out the number, "ten," or use its numerical form? There's a million copy rules you've probably never thought of, but don't worry, hiring managers are not going to expect you to know everything and they probably don't know everything themselves. In fact, I don't think anyone does, that's why writers carry what is commonly referred to as, "The Journalist's Bible." The book's actual title is, The Associated Press Stylebook, and inside is an A-Z list of the Associated Press' rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation and word and numeral usage. Get it, use it ... in the meantime, if you have a question, ask the editor.

If you don't heed my advice and run out to the bookstore immediately to buy a copy, at least take a second look at your resume for these common technical blunders:

The name of your alma mater should be spelled out – not abbreviated – like, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The common mistakes with this are: 1. People often abbreviate university names, which you should never do upon first mention. 2. Applicants often use the wrong punctuation or none between "Wisconsin" and "Milwaukee," which probably isn't a huge deal ... but it's still wrong.

The name of your academic degree should be written as, Bachelor of Arts. The common mistakes with this are: 1.People often use the abbreviation, B.A., which should only be used when identifying multiple people's degrees. 2.Often it is written as, "Bachelor's of Arts," but the possessive form of "Bachelor" should only be used when written alone, such as, "She received her Bachelor's from Villanova."

Always spell out the word, "percent." When describing past job duties and experiences on a resume, job applicants often include a quantifiable growth statement like, "I increased sales by 20 percent." Scratch the % symbol from your writing vocabulary.

Spell out the numbers one through nine. Use the numerical form for numbers 10 and higher. Numbers could pop up anywhere in your resume, this rule will always remain the same.

Take the time to get the correct spelling and capitalization of any proper nouns. The most common place I come across these errors is in the "Skills" section of the resume. This is the section in which people often list the different languages they are fluent in and computer programs they are proficient in. Always capitalize the name of a language. For example, "I am a fluent Spanish speaker." Furthermore, computer programs and software names often have quirky spellings, go online and get it right. For example, Photoshop and QuarkXPress are both one word.

These are the most common technical errors I see, but normal grammatical errors run rampant on resumes also. Rather than compile a list of every misspelling and improper syntax possibility in the English language, read The Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb, by Brian Clark.

If you're writing a resume or cover letter, coming up with the right words to describe your work style or personality can be a challenge. An outside source such as a friend or family member can offer up some insightful commentary about your personality, but you don't want to go announcing that you need help writing your resume by asking your coworkers to help you describe your work style. This is where online personality tests are a great asset. Take a work/personality test and if the results seem to accurately describe you, try incorporating them into your cover letter or resume to give employers a feel for how you'll behave as an employee.

It's helpful because almost every personality test's outcomes come pre-sugar-coated. So all the work of trying to come up with flattering descriptions of yourself has already been done for you. Think about it, have you ever taken a personality test that said you were a horrible person that no employer should ever look twice at? I doubt it. For example, I took Monster's JASPER test twice and it produced two very different but equally flattering overviews of my "unique strengths".

RESULTS OF TEST 1
WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF WORK: To foster your own growth and instill inspiration and drive in those around you.

WHAT YOUR COLLEAGUES THINK OF YOU AS: Instructive, encouraging and patient.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER: A talent and desire to be a positive guiding force and an ability to use your skills to teach others.

RESULTS OF TEST 2
WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF WORK: To be able to maintain and further your individuality and uniqueness.

YOUR COLLEAGUES THINK OF YOU AS: Non-conforming, interestingly different, comfortable being yourself and expressing your ideas.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER: An interesting and unique perspective and the ability to make confident decisions even when taking the road less traveled.

Point proven! No matter which test results I use, who wouldn't want to hire me? My test results varied a lot, but that just means I have more ammunition to choose from to illustrate my work style and strengths.

The most important key to remember when writing a resume is to grab the reader's attention early. The best way to do this is to tell the reader what's in it for them. In other words, tell the reader exactly what you will do for their company – give the him or her a reason to keep reading. These reasons should be stated at the very top of your resume in an area called, the career summary.

I firmly believe that the career summary should take the place of the more commonly used "career objective," because an objective only tells a would-be employer what you WANT to do as opposed to what you CAN do. So, right under your name and contact information, bullet point a list of quantifiable results that you've achieved. Don't just list previous job responsibilities, give specific examples of your greatest achievements by using the Challenge-Action-Results (CAR) formula as detailed by in this article by professional resume writer and personal brand coach, Abby Locke.

Here's an example of a quantifiable result: Through the strategic development of new marketing materials and innovative direct mail campaigns, I consistently increased sales by an average of 15 percent per quarter over a two year period despite a slumping market.

Here is the CAR formula for the above example:
Challenge: A slumping sales market

Action: The implementation of strategic marketing materials and techniques

Result: increased sales by 15% per quarter

With three to five opening statements like this, you're sure to grab your reader's attention. Then, you can go on to list your education history, and previous work experience in reverse chronological order.

It's also a good idea to include a skills section at the bottom of your resume. Here you can list any computer programs you are proficient in, training you've completed, or languages you speak fluently.

When you create your online resume, it is important to use keywords that employers will search for. Generally, to find candidates, employers enter one or two words in a keyword search field. These words are usually job titles or names of important skills. Search results then, are determined by word relevance; how many times the keywords are used within a resume. So, if you're looking for a sales position but only include the title, "account manager," in your resume, your resume won't turn up in an employer's search for "sales" or "sales representatives". Therefore, it is important to include words that an employer will most likely search for.

Tips for Creating Good Keywords

1. Use some industry jargon in your resume; for example, "CAD designer" or "SQL Server." A lot of times, employers are searching for key elements like knowledge of a particular computer software program. Don't just assume that employers will know that you are proficient with a program because of your job title. Instead, include a skills section in your online resume so that you will be included in an employer's skill-related search results.

2. Use different word forms like "manager," "management" and "managed." This way, you'll have all the bases covered, because you can never be absolutely sure which word form an employer will search for. A good rule of thumb is to repeat nouns and include action verbs.

3. Vary your use of abbreviations. It's fine to write, "Human Resources," but it's a good idea to also write, "HR" elsewhere.

Think like a recruiter – if you were searching for your resume online, what keywords would you enter? Now, make a list of words – nouns and verbs – that would best describe your experience and incorporate them as much as possible into your online resume. Remember that every recruiter has a different style, so when writing your online resume, it's best to exercise variance.