Considerations

• Job seekers should take copies of their cover letters to interviews at job fairs. People attending job fairs may not have scheduled interviews. Instead, many introduce themselves at random to hiring managers looking to fill positions or gather resumes.
  
  

Style

• Usually a job candidate addresses a cover letter to a specific person. However, a job applicant attending a job fair may not know in advance who she'll be meeting with. In situations such as this, the applicant should create a cover letter addressed to "Dear Sir or Madam," or "Dear Hiring Manager." It's important to keep resumes and cover letters brief. Keeping the cover letter to just one page is ideal, with no more than two pages for the resume.
  
  

Presentation

• A hiring manager interviewing a candidate during a scheduled appointment will probably have the candidate's resume and cover letter on her desk when the candidate arrives. However, at a job fair, it is customary to offer the resume and cover letter after you shake hands and sit down with the interviewer. The cover letter and resume should be printed on clean white paper with black ink.
  
  

Follow-Up

• After an interview, the job candidate should follow up with a thank-you letter. The letter should reiterate the candidate's interest in the job, and thank the interviewer for her time. The candidate should not rehash information from the cover letter or resume in the thank-you letter, but should remind the interviewer why the candidate is an excellent prospect. For example, the interviewer may have touched on the company's need for more employees with great analytical skills. The job candidate can use the thank you-letter to discuss that point, as well as tie it to past positions and accomplishments mentioned in the cover letter and resume.