It won't get read anyway. Well, for every person who says the cover letter is not important you'll find another who says it is. Many prospective employers view the cover letter as a way of getting their first impression of you. To make the best first impression, you need to know exactly what a cover letter is and to put some thought into it before you start writing. A cover letter is an introduction, a sales pitch and a proposal for further action all in one.
Cover letters are typically one page documents.
These three components often amount to three or four paragraphs, but there are no hard and fast rules about exactly how you break up the information. Asking yourself the following five questions will help you build a foundation for your letter and will make the actual writing go much more smoothly. If you're responding to a job listing or classified, then those qualities should obviously be the job requirements mentioned in the ad. If you're not applying for a specific job opening, then think of which skills, knowledge and experience would typically be valued. When you've addressed these five issues, you're ready to put fingers to keyboard and start hammering out that letter.