Great advice for job seekers from David Heinemeier Hansson at 37signals. From his post, Forget the resume, kill on the cover letter:
A great resume will get you not-rejected, a great cover letter will get you hired. That’s the conclusion I’m left with after going through the applications for our junior support programmer position…When I’m saddled with 70 applications for a job, I have to make some rough cuts very quickly. I literally have to decimate the pool. With the resume only doing 20% of the job, the key is left with the cover letter. This means that ‘If you like my resume, give me a call’ doesn’t make the cut for a cover letter. I need more romance and originality than that to pick up the phone.“