A few examples of cover letters I have seen that don’t motivate me to even click on the attachment:
“Here you go.”
“See attached.”
“Have at it.”
“My unemployment is running out and I cleaned out my savings account on my last trip to Europe. Please help me find a job.”
“I’m probably not what you want, but here’s my resume anyway.”
“Please take a look at my resume and let me know if there are any openings you think I might be able to do.”
“Here’s a link to my profile on LinkedIn (or Facebook or my portfolio). I’m interested in the job you have posted and I’m sure you will see that I’m perfect for the job.”
These are always fun, especially for a recruiter who has numerous job openings to work on. Being told to “check out my information on-line” and then try to guess for which job they are applying.
And last, but not least…the single spaced, extra small font, one to two page cover letter detailing everything the candidate knows how to do, tailored and customized for a response to a job other than the one for which they are applying.
These usually come with a resume with an objective stating their goal is completely unrelated to the job opening and sometimes don’t even match the cover letter.
