Well, yes. If they want to get jobs, that is.

A cover letter takes the best of your qualifications professional traits and makes them enticing attractive to prospective employers. Its a carefully crafted letter that directs the employer to the resume to determine why you are the best candidate for the job.

Competition for Marketing Managers is keen. You have to stand out from the crowd in a positive, exciting way to ensure you are the one employers are determined to hire.

How do you accomplish this?

If you have already written your resume, the words you need are basically prepared for you. Its much easier to pull from the resume and reflect on your character when you have put the time in to document your professional personal history.

The cover letter builds on the resume and leads the employer toward it in an artfu. Its goal is to get the employer excited about the resume. It is a sales tool, just like the resume is. Sell yourself in a compelling and exciting way. Inject energy and let your best qualities reach the employer through carefully written examples and anecdotes. Dont just state what you are capable of, show the employer with vibrant language that attracts and invites the employer to want to know more.

Let your personality show, but remain professional.

Advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers held about 700,000 jobs in 2002. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Are there a lot of Marketing Manager positions available? Yes, there are probably a lot of positions you COULD get, but do you want just ANY job? Or, do you want a job where you will have opportunities to advance, make more money and send your career to new heights?

You have to be your very best to get the great jobs. What skills and abilities do you have that you can offer the employer and how can you do so in a way that makes the employer pick up the phone and call you for an interview?

Start with your own marketing materials. Your cover letter and your resume are your sales resources. Make them work for you.

The cover letter is the first thing an employer sees. Make sure it is impeccable. Proofread it just as meticulously as you did the resume. If it has even one mistake, it could make the difference between getting a phone call or not.

State clearly what position you are seeking and tailor the cover letter, just as you did with the resume, to the specific position and employer.

Have you read that before somewhere? Yes, you have. Thats because it is very important. Mass marketing general resumes and cover letters to a host of employers is a thing of the past. Targeting a resume and cover letter is essential in todays competitive environment if you are to be successful.

Look at it this way: Your competition is doing it. If you dont do it, too, who do you think is going to get the interview and the job offer?

Employment of advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2012, spurred by intense domestic and global competition in products and services offered to consumers. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Finding the perfect job in a great company will always take some work, but the rewards will be worthwhile if you take the time to work through the job-search process right.

A cover letter alone isnt likely to persuade an employer to grant you an interview, but it is part of the whole package that WILL encourage an employer to want to get to know you better. Make it an exciting and enjoyable read and you will find yourself being offered the next Marketing Manager position you apply for.

Best of luck!