Cover letter到底有没有人看？Depends。一半以上的几率，是没人看的，尤其在亚洲，基本上HR或PA把一叠resume交给banker筛的时候已经把cover letter扯掉了。美国则相对比较规范，起码我在DB的时候是看的，不过，每封只看2秒。
那是不是意味着cover letter就不需要重视，可以随便写写了事呢？很可惜，不是。虽然被看到的可能性不高，但在被看到的２秒中，你犯的任何一个错误都可能致命，你写的任何一句不流畅的描述都有可能被spot out，你的写作水平在2秒内就跃然纸上。在这么一个竞争激烈的过程中，越到后来筛人越为难，你犯的任何一点点小错，都在帮助bankers抓住你的把柄把你筛掉。Cover letter就如追女生最后的表白，交往后最终的求婚，婚礼上最后的宣誓，虽然很多时候是个只是个仪式，但这仪式中出的差错却可能毁掉你一生的幸福（夸张了。。。）。
好吧，下面就来讲怎么把表白做到最佳～
Cover letter一般由三个部分组成：
- 自我介绍+你写这封信的目的
- 你凭什么申请这个职位：your story/capabilities
- 重申你的兴趣和诚意，以及联系方式
第一段：introduce yourself + why you are writing this letter
第一段照例要做自我介绍，以及说明你为什么要写这封cover letter。鉴于你是谁招聘者都已经知道了，你为什么要写这封cover letter也很明显（对某职位有兴趣），所以本段关键是尽量使语句简洁。一句话介绍自己，一句话说明你申请的职位即可。
当然光说你感兴趣是不行的，你必须要给出感兴趣的理由。所以第一段更（真正）重要的内容是说明你为什么对这个职位感兴趣。那些banking很棒，你很渴望的废话就不用说了，反正写了也没人看。真正能够抓住读者的注意力的是，你跟谁谈过，而你跟这些人谈过之后，对哪几点印象最最深刻，也最吸引你，是人文，还是reputation，还是团队，或者其他。Keep it really high level。不要做任何的深入阐述—引起别人的兴趣即可，该阐述的要留到面试。我的2秒中，会有1秒花在看你写谁的名字在这一段。在最后的round table会议上，我们基本会先问这些被列出名字的人对你的看法，其他人的看法，除非是特别恶劣需要特别提出，否则忽略不计。所以你列哪三个名字至关重要。要对你足够有好感（当然首先要对你有足够的印象），又要适当的分布各个不同层次（有MD当然好，但MD一般不参加round table，所以MD后面的名字更重啊）— 当然，重点要impress谁，哪些人在招聘团队中比较有地位，应该是招聘一开始就做的功课。
第二，三段：重点介绍你的优势
第一段后的内容很少有人细读，但却是体现你写信功力的决定因素。在这一部分，你要总结你的优势，来告诉招聘者你为什么适合这个职位。我个人比较喜欢看到bullet points，比成段的文字更能抓住读者注意力。
写bullet points的要点：1）尽量不要超过3个，当然，你有太多能力要写，实在要超过3个也可以，但是每一个要写的更加简短。我个人的经验是，超过3个反正我也不会看。。。2）要写和这个职位有关的能力。3）每个point以总结性能力开头，辅之两到三句话的解释和证明（high level，不要重复resume上已经列出的事实）。其实没人读整个bullet point，所以你要靠最开始的几个单词来抓眼球。
这一部分是cover letter真正的血肉，所以这一部分的基调决定了整封信的基调。夸自己当然是必须的，但是要夸的脚踏实地，夸的有依有据，夸的自信但谦虚。投行最不缺的就是各种从小就出类拔萃的小朋友，最不喜欢看到的就是光说不练，空话连篇，浪费彼此的时间。要记住这封信的宗旨是完美地完成一个必须完成的仪式，不是靠这封信来impress别人。所以不要出奇招。是骡子是马，过去的几个月都遛完N圈了，此时你越吹，越显得你desperate。。。
最后一段：重申你的兴趣/qualifications。表达你的热忱并留下联系方式。
这一段，你可以简单的重复一句，你真的对这个职位很感兴趣并很自信你会是对方的好选择。如果对方对你有任何问题，feel free to contact you at xxx.xxx.xxxx （电话）或email（抬头已经有了）。最后，不要忘记感谢对方的consideration，并表达looking forward to hearing from you/meeting with you。
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知易行难。虽然cover letter的要点和原则很简单，但真正写的时候，仍需要花许多心思和时间反复polish，好好想想自己到底想在这有限的文字中突出自己什么东西。当然，如果你在准备resume和后来的informational interviews中都用足力，做过充分准备，那cover letter写起来应该水到渠成，不是什么难事。只要记住，不管你准备花多少时间在cover letter上，底线是1）好好考虑列哪几个reference的名字；2）不要出错不要出错不要出错不要出错。。。
Sample
为了帮助理解为什么这篇cover letter是反例，点评如下。老实说，我不觉得有那么好笑（比当年的视频差远了。。。），不过华尔街，乃至整个美国校园，就是这样一个地方，对于明显的错误，会毫不留情的加以耻笑。一步错，步步错。现实经常就是这么残酷。
时间关系，点评很粗。欢迎交流纠错。
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1/23/2012
J.P. Morgan
Dear Sir or Madame:
I am an ambitious undergraduate at NYU triple majoring in Mathematics, Economics, and Computer Science. I am a punctual, personable, and shrewd individual, yet I have a quality which I pride myself on more than any of these.
[商业书函基本要点：1.不要使用过于带有感情色彩和主观的词语（红字都是）；2.尽量避免以“我”为句子的开头。显然Mark做的正好相反。）
I am unequivocally the most unflaggingly hard worker I know, and I love self-improvement. I have always felt that my time should be spent wisely, so I continuously challenge myself; I left Villanova because the work was too easy [really…]. Once I realized I could achieve a perfect GPA[ok 3.93 isn’t bad, but perfect?] while holding a part-time job at NYU, I decided to redouble my effort by placing out of two classes, taking two honors classes, and holding two part-time jobs. That semester I achieved a 3.93, and in the same time I managed to bench double my bodyweight and do 35 pull-ups.[1. Quite a lot of the students have part-time jobs + good GPAs, you do know that, do you? 2. Seriously, Nobody is interested in how much you weigh or how many pull-ups you can do.]
I say these things only because solid evidence is more convincing than unverifiable statements [but half of the above is statements and the only “evidence” is poor], and I want to demonstrate that I am a hard worker. J.P. Morgan is a firm with a reputation that precedes itself and employees who represent only the best and rightest in finance. I know that the employees [weird word. You are not the employer?] in this firm will push me to excellence, especially within the Investment Banking division [especially? Aren’t you applying for IBD now and IBD ONLY?]. In fact, one of the supporting reasons I chose Investment Banking over any other division was that I know it is difficult [Wrong reason. You chose IBD because you absolutely LOVE IBD + you are capable of doing IBD + your personality fits. NO other reasons are acceptable.]. I hope to augment my character by diligently working for the professionals at Morgan Stanley [if you won’t even bother checking the letter enough times to avoid the most basic mistake, your stated sincerity, love and commitment to me is obviously all BS] , and I feel I have much to offer in return.
I am proficient in several programming languages [no use in IBD at all. Again are you sure you are applying for IBD but not IT support in banking? If the point is you pick up things quickly you can just save a few words here], and I can pick up a new one very quickly. For instance, I learned a years worth of Java from NYU in 27 days on my own [still not very relevant, but since you’ve mentioned – where is the proof? Any certificate? Program you’ve run? Project you’ve done?]; this is how I placed out of two including: Money [Nah ah, this word can never appear in any occasion/conversation throughout the whole recruiting process. You don’t love MONEY, you love THIS JOB. 注：@AbleYang 提醒我这个是一门课的名字，sorry～不过point大家都懂吧] and Banking, Analysis, Game Theory, Probability and Statistics. Even further, I am taking Machine Learning and Probabilistic Graphical Modeling currently, two programming courses offered by Stanford, so that I may truly offer the most if I am accepted. I am proficient with Bloomberg terminals, excellent with excel [not a big deal, but are you sure you want to call yourself “excellent with excel” when writing to IBankers?], and can perform basic office functions withterrifying efficiency. I have plenty of experience in the professional world [I don’t think so…] through my internship at Merrill Lynch, and my research assistant position at NYU. In fact, my most recent employer has found me so useful that he promoted me to a Research Assistant and an official CTED intern. This role is usually reserved for Masters students, but my employer gave the title to me so that he could give me more work.
Please realize that I am not a braggart or conceited, I just want to outline my usefulness. Egos can be a huge liability, and I try not to have one.
Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Mark
Yuxiao 