CONCLUSION. (5)

Cover-letters.  These accompany your resume, act as an introductory letter, and highlight those parts of the resume you wish to draw attention to.  Through your cover-letter, a prospective employer will meet you for the first time.  Therefore, this “first impression” should be good! 
     As with the resume, your cover-letter should be “ready to go”, at a moment’s notice.  Of course, even with “quick responses”, you will have to alter it slightly, since each employer / job situation is different.  At least, have the basic structure of your cover-letter all finished, ready to be altered. 
     You cannot write a good cover-letter on the last day of college, as you need a few years of planned living to have something worth writing about.  The cover-letter is synthesized from “your life, over time”.  Therefore, you should do your cover-letter preparation, and life’s work preparation, early!  Indeed, “writing is a process”... once again. 
     Take sufficient time to write this letter well (going through all stages, 1 to 8).  The cover-letter is one of the most important letters you will write. 
     Behind the actual “mechanics” of writing such a letter lies quite a bit of life-philosophy : what you want to be / do with your life; whether you will make your own career path, or follow the crowd, and the dictates of prospective employers; whether you will plan out your life, or drift through life.  All of these issues arise, as you go through the process of writing your cover-letter.
     Ultimately, the cover-letter (and the resume) is all about you.  Please do it well!