Do not go overboard with the cover letter. Make it a well edited 2-3 short paragraph letter that shows that you actually researched the company and you should be good. In life there are no absolutes so not all Recruiters/HR/Team leaders will read and value the cover letter but it will not go against you unless it is poorly constructed.
Also, if you have not been in the job world much you might not know that filling positions is not the most important thing that most of these people are doing so it is not really that high on their priority list. So what is needed is a phone call to the person telling them that you applied recently and was wondering if you had any questions about the resume. (This one might backfire sometimes but I think that it is a usual net win. The places that it might backfire at are usually places that you do not want to work at anyways.) They may have put you in a pile of possible contenders and if you want to differentiate yourself a personal call can show them that you are motivated and will follow through.
The best book I ever read on job interviewing, cover letters. Gave me the confidence to not fear interviews.
Content on website tracks 100% with book I bought. The reason I so strongly recommend this site is because the original author Brian Krueger wrote about job hunting from an insider's perspective, the recruiter's. What are they looking for... Also google the STAR technique.
Cover letters don't seem to be effective for me. But definetly make sure to customize your resume for each place you apply to. It's a mistake to just have one resume and use it over and over again.
