Ninety-one percent of the more than 1,000 executives queried say cover letters are either somewhat or very valuable when evaluating a job candidate.

“Although the job application process has increasingly moved online, the importance of a cover letter shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. “It often is the first opportunity to make a positive impression on hiring managers.”

Cover letters are also a good opportunity to build rapport with a prospective employer and show how the skills on your resume fit with the job for which you’re applying.

Here are some tips for getting it right:

1. Make it look good. Before someone starts reading your cover letter, they’re going to look it over. So if your cover letter looks like a chore to read, you’ve already fallen behind.

Avoid long sentences and big blocks of unbroken text. Keep your sentences short, direct, and active. Separate paragraphs (there should only be two to four) with a single space. Think about using bullet points when listing skills and accomplishments to make the text look airy and less daunting.

2. Make it original. Every job opportunity deserves its own cover letter—that means non-generic in form. Take a good look at the job posting and tailor your cover letter to it by using similar terminology and tone, but be yourself at the same time.

You can follow a standard three-paragraph format for most letters:

• Introduce yourself and tell them why you’re writing.
• Match your qualifications to the job using specific examples.
• Reiterate your qualifications, request an interview and let them know how you’ll follow up.

3. Make it relevant. Your cover letter shouldn’t just be a list of your skills and experience (that’s the purpose of your resume). Instead, it should make the case for why your skills and experience are right for a particular position. Match your qualifications with some of the job requirements using real-life examples. Remember to keep it brief. With any luck—and a good cover letter—you’ll be able to elaborate during your interview.

4. Use names. First, do your best to find out who will read your letter and address it to that person—there’s nobody named “To Whom it May Concern.” Also, if you have an inside connection at the company (who doesn’t mind vouching for you) work it into the first paragraph.

5. Make it perfect. Typos, bad grammar, and poor spelling kill cover letters. So don’t just dash off a cover letter and send it. After your first draft, set the letter aside for a few minutes. Then reread it. Look for ways to strengthen the points you make while tightening your language and deleting unnecessary words. Then read it again. Use spell check (but remember to double check it). And, finally, let someone else give it a read.

Here are the stories of seven people who bid adieu to a big paycheck — and gained something valuable in the process.

I went from making $100K to $50K. It was the best thing I ever did. In 2009 I had my first child and my son changed my world. I looked into those big beautiful eyes and I imagined what I would say when he asked me one day why I chose the career I did. I was in my job because I was good at it and it was a good salary. So in order to be able to tell my son in 18 years that he should follow his dreams and pursue his passion, I decided to do that myself. I chose a job at an organization I loved, trusted, respected — a non-profit which allowed me to use my skills to benefit others. -

Four years ago, I quit my job as a corporate executive, making $200,000 per year, to work as a Buddhist Minister for less than $35,000 per year. I started practicing Buddhism in my early twenties, but didn’t take it seriously until the mid-90′s when I dedicated myself to regular meditation and silent retreats. Slowly, I began to experience a sense [of] peace and, dare I say it, deep happiness. The Buddhist practices of meditation and mindfulness ended up making me a better consultant, but by then my heart was no longer in the work. I followed my passion into the ministry to be able to serve others every day. I sold my house, downsized my possessions and bought a small apartment two blocks from the temple where I now work. I sometimes miss being able to spend money without a second thought, but the trade-off of a simple life is so worth it. - Janet Taylor, director, Temple Buddhist Center

In August 2008, I gave my employer notice that I was leaving effective year end 2008 to be closer to home and change careers. After a successful 25 years on Wall Street, the last 18 at AllianceBernstein, I decided it was more important to work closer to home and devote more time to my family and to volunteer opportunities. I bought half of a small investment management effort in Northern NJ and willingly agreed to earn 60% less. Business is growing, but more importantly, I was able to spend more time with my son over the 18 months before he went to college and with my then 11, now 13-year-old daughter. - Andrew M. Aran, CFA, partner, Regency Wealth Management

Three years ago, early into the financial crisis, I left my job as a fixed-income portfolio manager at a bank (turning a big pile of someone else’s money into a slightly bigger pile of someone else’s money) to work full-time as a stand-up comedian. My pay went from low six figures to mid five figures, about a 2/3 pay cut. Plus, now I have to pay the entire cost of my health insurance, and there’s obviously no 401(k) match). Am I glad I did? Hell yeah! - Shaun Eli

I worked at Hewlett Packard for 11 years, and with my bonus made upwards of $250,000/year, but left to start my own business,  which hopefully will [make money] soon. I started thinking about leaving Corporate America when my little boy developed a debilitating fear of zombies. I know it sounds silly, but he was so scared he wouldn’t go into his room at night. So I took a lavender spray and stuck a zombie repellent label on it and it worked. He ran around his room spraying his doors and windows, and we were zombie free. Within six months I developed my full line. - Stephanie Corey, Miss Stephanie’s Potions

In July I left my $100K/year + 20% bonus job to teach yoga. I basically took about an $80K/year pay cut. I  [also] took [an entry-level] remote job with TripAdvisor that would allow me to have a steady pay check and health insurance, and would allow me the flexibility to teach yoga whenever I want. In the past few years I’ve been through a lot; my dad passed away suddenly and I donated a kidney to my cousin. When you go through stuff like that, you just don’t look at life the same and you want your time to matter, to be well spent. I also turned 40 which helped my perspective a bit…Life is way too precious to waste your time being miserable just for a paycheck. – Tina Kozik

I spent the last twenty years working for Yellow Pages in the U.K. Over that time I worked my way up from a computer programmer to a senior management position, making key decisions on the company’s internet strategy. Three years ago I was earning the equivalent of $120,000 per annum. But I never really enjoyed the work and it was often extremely difficult and stressful. I had always fancied the idea of being a performer and sometimes played guitar in a local band, but my real passion was for magic. So I took the plunge, left the company and spent a year training in the mystical arts – magic, mind-reading, palmistry and hypnotism. I now work as a full-time professional magician and, although I earn a fraction of what I used to, my life is so much better. - Mike Stoner

Khan has long been linked to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, with a widespread belief in league circles that if/when Cowher returns to coaching, his first call will be to Khan.

The question of whether Khan goes to the Rams could depend on whether the Rams give Khan final say over the roster.  If Khan isn’t getting final say (at least in writing, Parcells/Ireland-style), the Steelers could block the move.

Put him in the cover-letter fan camp. He thinks cover letters are “infinitely more important than the resume,” and he devoted a chapter to “cover letters that sell” in his new book, “The Art of Getting Hired.”

It’s easier to let your personality and communication talents shine in a cover letter than in a formatted resume, he says.

Remember that the goal of cover letters and resumes isn’t just to get you hired. The goal is to spark interest, to get invited for interviews.

Among his tips:

—Your cover letter should be four or five succinct paragraphs — long enough to provide specific details but short enough to sustain interest.

—Say something nice about the organization in the first paragraph and display some knowledge of the company.

—Tell why hiring you would benefit the organization. Be specific. Don’t waste space citing your GPA, past honors or other activities. Your resume has those details.

—Point out the part of your work history that’s most relevant. Help the hirer understand your transferable skills.

—Close by saying you’re looking at several opportunities and create a sense of urgency by asking for a response.

Other advocates of cover letters say they’re useful for dropping names and for mentioning key associations in the company, as long as they’re important and relevant.

Also, it’s OK to send a cover letter in several ways: Paste it in the body of your emailed resume, choose job board options to attach it to your resume, mail it through the post office or fax it.

You can’t make someone read it, but you can increase the chances of getting noticed.

To uncover the U.S. cities where women earn the most, ForbesWoman analyzed data from the 2010 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, using the average earnings for full-time, year-round female workers in the largest metro areas in the nation.

At No. 1, San Jose, Calif., tops the list. Women in this West Coast city earn an average of $67,052 annually for full-time work. That’s more than twice as much as the worst-paying city for women — McAllen, Texas — where women earn a mean of just $31,287 each year.

The top industries in San Jose are: manufacturing; professional, scientific and management services; and education and health care — and most workers are employed with private institutions. Women likely earn more here because 43.7 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher and are concentrated in management, business, science and arts occupations (48.4 percent) rather than service jobs (17.4 percent).

In fact, California cities ranked especially well for women’s pay, with six featured in the top 20. Women earn an annual mean of $65,526 in San Francisco (No. 2); $54,800 in the Oxnard metro area (No. 8); $50,794 in Sacramento (No. 16); $50,670 in San Diego (No. 17); and $50,593 in Los Angeles (No. 18).

“Metro areas like San Jose and San Francisco require highly skilled and trained labor, and recruit people with backgrounds in engineering and computer science, which are higher paying and have less discriminatory effect,” says Susan McTiernan, a management professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She adds that the high cost of living in these areas also boosts professional salaries.

The third best-paying city for women is politically correct Washington, D.C., where women earn an average of $64,779 each year. A quarter of the capital’s citizens work for the government, which offers a plethora of high-paying, well-regulated jobs with narrower gender wage gaps. Women here are also well educated: 45.5 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. (For comparison, in nearby Virginia Beach, Va., 28.5 percent of women have this level of education.) “This district has been identified as having a strong male-female earnings ratio,” McTiernan says. “Jobs here require the highest level of education, and many more women today are pursuing professional positions in law, medicine and academia.”

Cities in the Northeast also placed highly, likely due to the large concentration of top-rated colleges and professional jobs in the region. In Connecticut, which McTiernan says attracts financial services, Bridgeport (No. 4), Hartford (No. 7) and New Haven (No. 13) all feature sizeable salaries for women. Meanwhile, Boston (No. 5) just edged out New York (No. 6).

A few cities stand out and on their own. Women in Seattle (No. 10), home of major corporations like Microsoft and Starbucks, earn an average of $53,039 annually. Boasting well-regarded companies and colleges, women in Minneapolis (No. 11) make $52,243. And in Denver (No. 12), home to a burgeoning financial services sector, women take home $51,433 each year.

According to McTiernan, women’s paychecks fare worse in locales where less skilled labor is required. The cities in which women earn the least annually, all with average female salaries below $37,000, include El Paso, Texas; Youngstown, Ohio; Provo, Utah; Lakeland, Fla.; and Jackson, Miss.

GMB said official figures show that 250,700 workers were employed in the industry in 2006/7, compared with 204,200 in 2010/11 – a drop of around 18.5%.

Glasgow saw the figure fall by 7,300 from 18,100 employed in 2006/7 to 10,800 employed in 2010/11.

This puts the city at the top of the Scottish league for the area with the highest number of manufacturing job losses during the recession and the recovery period.

Next in the Scottish league table were Fife, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Highland, Dumfries and Galloway, Angus, Falkirk, East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.

GMB Scotland secretary Harry Donaldson said: “Unless action is taken to support and develop manufacturing, the economic future for this nation is bleak.”

Mr Donaldson said steps such as the creation of a strategic investment bank, increased support for medium-sized companies, a “smarter approach” to procurement and urgent action on the “skill shortage” in the UK were needed.

He also called for a “fairer economic model” with a stronger role for unions and employer organisations.

“There should be a concentration of effort on high skill, high value manufacturing sectors – for example in the field of environmental technology – on those British companies most likely to succeed in the face of global competition,” he said.

“UK manufacturing should be used as the supply chain in the multibillion pound capital investment programme needed to upgrade and modernise the UK’s infrastructure.”

Q. I have had a number of interviews for which I know I’m qualified, yet I still have not been offered a job. Just what do companies mean when they ask for qualified people ?

A. There are actually two different qualifications required. The hard skills are experience, education, past accomplishments, years of experience and so on. The soft skills are the second component of being qualified: communications, demeanor, cultural fit, appearance, likability and so on.

The primary issue around your question is that candidates generally focus on the hard skills and companies on the soft skills. So the priorities in the interview are different. There is probably no doubt that you have the hard skills or it is doubtful they would have even interviewed you. My sense is you are not passing the soft skills qualifications during the interview.

Since few candidates have a lot of coaching and practice for interviewing, most just show up and start answering questions. Soft skills interviewing is an art and like most things takes practice and preparation.

If I were coaching you, I would start with an in-depth interview to see how you interview. I would have you write out answers to the commonly asked questions. I would video record you so you can see yourself the way the interviewer views you. You would hear for yourself how and if you answer the question. Finally you would see your mannerism and body language. I read somewhere that non-verbal communications is 70 percent of how we communicate. Have you reviewed your non-verbal communications?

I have video recorded many candidates and many agree after watching themselves for the first time, they wouldn’t hire themselves either.

Q. What are your thoughts and experiences using behavioral interviewing? I have read a lot about it and it seems like a good process.

A. Since most managers have little or no interviewing training, having them use behavioral interviewing is a good thing. Although this will take training so that managers use it properly, it is a significant step in the right direction.

My only issue with the way most behavioral interviewing is conducted is that it still focuses on the person’s past. Behavioral interviewing assumes, past performance is the best indicator of future performance. It therefore relies on the person asking for a lot of examples that are often in the form of, “Give me an example how you have done X” or “Give me an example where you had to deal with X.” The interviewer then assumes the candidate can take those experiences and adapt them in their company, which is not always the case.

These are good questions to ask, however, I believe the interview needs to shift from “How have you” to “How would you” style questions. I have rarely seen this happen in any behavioral interviewing process. The real thing the manager wants to know is if the candidate can adapt his collective experiences to the needs and culture of their company. Asking how somebody would go about doing X once they are on board is one way to determine if the candidate can adapt to your company.

About one of every 125 retired federal civilian workers collects more than $100,000 in benefits annually. They include physicians, postal workers and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

“We don’t want to bash federal employees,” said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a Washington- based research organization. “Still, when you have today’s economy, public sector jobs look better and better. And there are some pensions that make you question the system as a whole.”

About half of all private-sector workers have no retirement plan other than Social Security, according to figures from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit that studies pensions. About 16 percent are in plans similar to the federal system, which guarantees payouts based on workers’ earnings. Some private employers offer so-called defined-contribution plans, including 401(k) plans, in which benefits depend on employees’ contributions and how they’re invested.

The federal retirement system has emerged as a cost-cutting target as the government faces a budget deficit exceeding $1 trillion. A 2010 Congressional Research Service study reported that U.S. government pension programs had a shortfall of $674.2 billion, mostly due to insufficient funding for workers hired before 1984.

But take our word for it: The use of invectives an application cover letter is not the way to the agency’s collective heart.

On Monday, the Black Sheep team received the following email:

Subject: Intern-Public Relations/Copywriting Position

Good morning [REDACTED]

Attached is my resume, along with a few writing samples. If you have any questions, please feel free to fucking contact me  at [REDACTED]. And if you dont im gonna be fucking pisssed!! So come on stop bullshitting and call me
Thanks Cunt!

“We’re still boggled. We have no idea why someone would have sent this to us,” Aimee Woodall, founder and leader of the flock at Black Sheep Agency, tells CultureMap.

Not only is the cover letter laced with unsafe-for-work insults and basic grammatical errors unbecoming in a copywriter — it was also missing the crucial attachments.

Black Sheep staff members forwarded the message to Gawker.com, who deemed it “The Worst Cover Letter Of All Time.” Within hours, it went viral.

Some might argue that this was the perfect way for an applicant to introduce herself to an agency specializing in publicity stunts. Black Sheep ​is looking for interns with “wild and crazy ideas,” after all.

“There is some sense of irony in that, I suppose, but it’s not appropriate,” Woodall says. “It’s just crass and adolescent.”