If your job search is stalling and your applications aren't leading to interviews, it's time to revamp your cover letter. A great cover letter is extremely important for landing a job. It's your chance to show your communication skills and elaborate on your strengths.

Before you decide what to include in your cover letter, it's important to know why you're writing it and why a hiring manager will read it. Resumes are important but they're also long, clunky, and boring. It doesn't matter how good your resume is if you have a poor cover letter. When potential employers open an e-mail from you, your cover letter determines whether or not they are even going to bother opening your resume.

Here are some simple tips for writing unique cover letters that will lead to interviews and a great new job.

1) Personalize Every Letter

Its tempting to use a generic cover letter, copy and paste, and send it out addressed to "Dear Hiring Manager" for every job. While it might save time, it won't get you interviews.

Everyone likes to feel important, so make an effort to address the hiring manager by name. When there isn't a name attached to the job posting, check the e-mail address. If the last name isn't available, use the company name. You'd be surprised how noticeable it is when someone uses, "Dear Microsoft Hiring Manager" instead of "Hey Bill Gates, what's happening."

2. Be Clear About the Job You Want

Every cover letter I send out says the following: "I am writing to apply for the position of (00 spy) for (The British Government) as posted on (MonsterSpy.com)." This serves 2 purposes, it lets the employer know that you pay attention to detail, and tells them where you found their job posting. Employers spend a lot of money placing job ads and it helps to know where the responses are coming from. While it may not make you a better applicant, they do appreciate it. A little sucking up never hurt anyone.

3. Brag About Yourself

The first paragraph should explain all your virtues as a human being. A cover letter is a bad time to be modest. Tell them where you went to school, when you graduated, and your most relevant job experience. If you're applying to work as an accountant, mention that you worked as an accountant for 5 years, but avoid mentioning the three months you worked in fast food. Limit yourself to one or two job experiences because a cover letter that's too long is usually ignored.

4. The Body

Your second paragraph is the most important and should be the longest. This is your chance to say the 2 critical things that will make employers decide to read your resume. They need to know why you want the job and why you're qualified. In absolute terms you should say "I want to work for Budweiser Breweries as a beer tester because I love drinking beer."

Potential employers may not know how your experience relates to their position, so you might have to tell them: "While working as a skydiving instructor, I drank a lot of beer before jumping out of airplanes. The high altitude imbibing led me to become a very accomplished beer taster and I am able to detect even the slightest impurities in a bottle."

ALWAYS remember to relate it back to the job posting. Nobody cares that you're very organized when you apply to be a rodeo clown. Employers tell you what they're looking for in the job posting, so take advantage of those hints.

5: The Call To Action

Your last paragraph should be a call to action for the employer and should assume that you will be contacted. "I am very interested in discussing the position further and scheduling an interview with you, please call me or e-mail me at..." Give the impression of confidence. As I said before, a cover letter is NOT the time for modesty, so don't ask them to contact you, tell them to contact you. 

6: ALWAYS Include Salary Requirements

This was something I struggled with as I first entered the job market. It just seemed impolite to discuss money before I'd even been interviewed. By leaving out your salary requirements you run the risk of wasting your time going on interviews. This can be disastrous if you're already employed and need to take time off to interview for a job that only pays half your current salary.

7: You're Never Done Writing Your Cover Letter

The perfect cover letter is only perfect once. Every job you're applying for deserves a cover letter that's molded to fit the position. This creates the risk of accidentally including old information. Don't despair if you send some wrong info to a potential employer, at some point you're inevitably going to include the wrong name. Learn from your mistake and try again.

Your resume is important, but many job seekers forget the importance of a great cover letter. It's easy to disregard a cover letter when the click of a button can send your resume to every position on CareerBuilder. Don't forget though, everyone else who sees that posting is doing the same exact thing.

Don’t know where to start? There are a TON of good resources out there for cover letter templates, so don’t forget to check around the net if you need some help.

One last tip: DON'T FORGET TO SPELL CHECK.