Electronic cover letters differ a little from the printed ones. While printed cover letters may be quite prolonged, an electronic one should be concise and include two to four short paragraphs. The peculiarity about electronic cover letters is that they are often skipped by a potential employer, while printed ones are more likely to be read before the resume. That is why important information that you write in the electronic version of your cover letter should necessarily be repeated in your resume. However, your best features and skills should be concisely described in the cover letter. The style you use in your cover letter (even in an electronic one) should be business-like. It is inappropriate to use all-capital or all-lower case style of writing. To understand better how to write a perfect electronic cover letter, first, decide what type of it you want to write.

The three main types of electronic cover letters are:

Power paragraph. It is very short consisting of 1 paragraph and a closing line. Writing power paragraph is most effective and appropriate as a response to an on-line advertisement to contact the company for the first time.

Power paragraph plus is the most widespread variant of electronic cover letter. It comprises 2 or 3 paragraphs and a closing line. This type is appropriate when you apply for some managerial or high-level position or when the company contacted you first. In order to check whether your letter is not too long, notice if you need to use scroll bars to read it. If yes, then you should proofread it and delete some information. Employer should be able to see the whole letter on his/her screen without being forced to scroll down.

Complete letter is seldom used as an electronic cover letter. Consisting of 4 to 7 paragraphs it is appropriate only when asked by the company or when you have some personal reasons to write much information about yourself (e.g. you know the recipient or the like).