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The first thing you need to do is grab the reader's attention. You must get the reader's attention before he or she can become interested and desirous of your offer to come in for an interview. We're all busy and we all have several things going on in our lives. So how do you cut through the clutter and grab the reader's attention?

There are many effective tactics to accomplish the task. Perhaps the most effective tactic is to write a headline that can't be ignored. It's not different than the headlines you see in magazines and newspapers. The articles you choose to read are the ones with the most intriguing headlines, aren't they?

And that's exactly the reason you want to use a headline on your cover letter. The fact is that most cover letters are dull and hiring managers are bored stiff going through them all so a cover letter with a headline will jump out of the pile and get read which is exactly what you want. When you see the results you get from sending cover letters with well-crafted headlines, you'll wish you started sooner.

Imagine you're at a fraternity party and you see an old friend across the dance floor. For this example, your friend's name is Jim. What's the best way to get Jim's attention? Would you start waving your arms and screaming, "Hello! Look this way!" That could do the trick. But you'd have better luck if you screamed "Hello Jim! What's Up!" You'd be more likely to grab Jim's attention that way, wouldn't you? It's because Jim hears his name being called. When people hear (or see) their name, the message is personalized and stands a better chance of getting noticed.

Take that idea and apply it to the headline on your cover letter. Personalizing any message, including a headline, is an effective strategy. Put the person's name at the beginning of the headline. Doing so will personalize your message and increase the probability your cover letter is read. Cover letters and resumes with personalized headlines are so different, the reader can't help but notice them. And even better than that, the reader will be so engaged that he or she won't be able to stop themselves from reading it to fond out more. Give it a shot. You'll like the results.