The Art of the Cover Letter

I graduated college way back in 1990, in the midst of an economic recession. Jobs were scarce, especially for new graduates who had no real work experience. I spent quite a bit of time looking for work, to no avail.

In those days, the job hunt involved getting a copy of the Sunday Washington Post, with its thick classifieds section, combing through the listings, circling the interesting jobs and then making calls and mailing paper resumes with cover letters.

Most of the employers who asked for resumes never responded, because composing and mailing physical letters was too much work and expense. After months of sending out applications and getting no response, I started to get annoyed.

I eventually gave up the job search and became a bike messenger. But not before writing this cover letter, which must have been one of my last.

Thanks to Alice Fiori for digging this out of her archives.

And, by the way, they never replied.