A good cover letter should include three main thoughts:

• Why are you specifically interested in the potential employer?
• Why should the employer be particularly interested in you?
• When and how you will be contacting your addressee to follow-up and schedule an appointment.

Cover letter writing steps:

1. Introduction paragraph

• When you write in to a blind advertisement, it will be more appropriate for you to use "Dear Sir/Madam" rather than just "Dear Sir".
• The purpose of writing the resume must be stated in the first paragraph. It will be useful to include how you came to know about the job opening.
• Inform the reader why you are interested in their organization and in return, why they should be interested in you.

2. Supporting paragraph

• Academic qualifications
• Professional qualifications
• Any other relevant courses

3. Concluding paragraph

• Always include your contact details in order for the company to get back to you.
• Always indicate your interest and your preparedness for working in the organization by stating your interest in attending an interview.
• If you decide to add a signature at the bottom of your cover letter, there must be a writer's identification after the signature otherwise the reader will not know who wrote the letter.

Resume

Avoid sending out carbon copies of your resume without making the effort to do some minor editing. In addition, never send out your resume to all the prospective employers in a single email!

Remember to include your full name, age, sex, race, marital status, nationality and language spoken/written. Additional information that may be useful for the employer includes height/weight, religion, driving license, national service status (applicable for males), hobbies/sports, parent's/spouse's name and details, expected and past salary, period available and period of notice.

Before you submit your resume, check several times to see that you have not made any grammatical, spelling and punctuation slips. If possible, ask someone else to proof-read your resume.

Remember that you are marketing yourself to your prospective employers, so your resume has to be 'selling' your strengths and telling your employers why you are the right person for the job. Remember to adopt a positive tone in wording your paragraph.

Structure the content of your resume and organize your thoughts when you are writing your resume. A resume that looks as though it was done hastily will not reflect very well on you.

If possible, always type out your resume instead of submitting in a hand-written format. The first impression that an employer get when a jobseeker submits a hand-written resume is that he/she does not have any computer knowledge.