Resume Vs. Cover Letter

It's an old argument.

What is really more important, a fantastic resume or an ear-grabbing cover letter?

Signal vs. Noise thinks it has the answer.

And while I will not debate the merits of a cover letter, I would not ignore in this day and age the very real possibility that your resume is being looked at first by a robot (yay!). Here's what this means:

If you are applying for a job with a large company that has an HR department, it is likely your resume will be scanned by one of these automotons. If this is the case, your resume is quite important.

However, if, as the folks at Signal Vs. Noise suggest, you are applying for a job with a small firm that values personality above bullet points (and I praise anyone who does), then your cover letter just might be what gets you in the door.

My suggestion is this: don't kill yourself on either one, but know the job for which you are applying and decide which is more important. Stick to the following for the resume:

1. Stay on message: make sure your resume speaks to the job for which you are applying
2. Use great action verbs (see a good list here)
3. Keep it short and sweet (two pages max, but try for one)
4. Know the industry in which you are looking to work - it doesn't hurt to throw in some keywords now and then

For the cover letter:

1. Again, know the industry. Tell them why you want to work for them
2. If you can, address the letter to a real person
3. Lighten up (just a bit!) so it doesn't sound like the aforementioned robot
4. Give them a reason to continue reading!

If anyone has other tips or an opinion on this topic, please weigh in below!