Your cover letter shows employers how well you express yourself. It can also demonstrate that you are savvy in the ways of marketing yourself and selling your best qualifications. A good cover letter can entice the recipient to review your resume. To ensure your cover letter is effective, avoid these mistakes:

• Sending your resume without a cover letter: Sure, there are some employers that don’t read them or place much importance on them. But since you don’t know whether the employer you’re writing to reads and values cover letters or not, you must include a letter.

• Failing to address specific name of recipient: Addressing the letter to ‘Dear Personnel Director/HR Director’, ‘To Whom It May Concern’, ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ (or worse, “Dear Sirs”) instead of a named individual are all lazy approaches that show the employer that you were not concerned enough to find out the name of the person with the hiring power.

• Leaving the ball in employer’s court: Too many cover letters end with a line like this: “I look forward to hearing from you.” Proactive cover letters, in which the job-seeker requests an interview and promises to follow up with a phone call, are far more effective. Don’t be vague about your desire to be interviewed. Come right out and ask for an interview. Then, take your specific action a step farther and tell the recipient that you will contact him or her in a specified period of time to arrange an interview appointment.

• Boring and formulaic: Don’t waste your first paragraph by writing a boring introduction. Use the first paragraph to grab the employer’s attention. Tell the employer why you are writing and summarise the reasons you are qualified for the position, expanding on your qualifications in later paragraphs.

• Allowing typos: Your letter reflects your ability to write and communicate. Be sure your document is letter-perfect before sending it out. Proofread your letter. Put it down and proof it again a few hours later with a fresh eye. Then enlist a friend to review it for errors.

• Failing to tailor your letter: If you’re answering an ad or online job posting, the specifics of your cover letter should be tied as closely as possible to the actual wording of the ad you’re responding to. In employing what Jeffrey Fox calls “a compelling sales technique,” he advises letter writers to: “Flatter the person who wrote the ad with your response letter. Echo the author’s words and intent. Your letter should be a mirror of the ad.”

• Wimpy language: Avoid phrases like “I feel” and “I believe.” Your statements will be much stronger without them. It’s best to either leave off the qualifier or use a stronger qualifier, such as “I am confident,” I am convinced,” or “I am positive.” Read more.