The following suggestion have been offered by previous OISD TA Mentors who have gone through the job market process and some of who are now sitting on search committees. Cover letters are very important. A few carefully worded sentences can entice the reviewers to thoroughly review the rest of your application.
Research is important, even at a small liberal arts college.
The strongest applications leave the reviewers with no doubt about the applicant's scholarship. The fact that research is very important to reviewers leads to four pieces of advice. First, prepare and submit for publication your papers as soon as is humanly possible. Think hard about your future research plans before you write your Statement of Research Interests and Goals. It is important that this part of your application be very clear and focused.