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Being an IT recruiting company, our prospective job seekers are always asking us whether they should include a cover letter with their resume. The answer might surprise you: Absolutely…..not. Cover letters are rarely, if ever read. Imagine this: you’re in Human Resources looking through dozens, sometimes hundreds, of submittals for a position you just posted on Monster.com. Are you going to stop and read through every word in the resume, never mind a cover letter? Of course not. The odds are even less in your favor if the actual hiring manager is the person sifting through the resumes. In the IT recruiting industry, managers rarely have the time to each lunch, never mind sort through a stack of resumes.

However, although we’re firmly against cover letters, we’re strong proponents of writing an accurate “objective.”

The objective should be located at the very top of your resume so it’s the first line read on your resume. Countless hiring managers that have told me that they carefully read every objective to make sure it matches the position the client is hiring for. Therefore, be sure to tailor this objective towards every position you apply for.

For example, if you’re a seasoned IT professional applying for a Business Analyst position in the insurance industry, try something like this.

Objective: IT Professional searching for a Business Analyst position that will allow me to utilize my experience in the insurance industry.

Clean, short and precise, this objective clearly mirrors the position (and even industry) that you’re applying for. Remember, the most important part of writing an “objective” is to tailor it towards each job. Mix it up, don’t just use the same ambiguous line for every job. Not all jobs or companies are the same, therefore neither should your objective.

Forget what you learned in school or in career services. Cover letters are a waste of your time. Instead, focus your energy on creating a masterpiece of a resume! See our previous blog posting entitled: “Writing the Perfect Resume.”

For more advice, contact an IT Recruiter at AVID: resumes@avidtr.com.