career fair follow-up help

[minakichan]

So, I just hit 3 different career fairs at my uni (for a summer internship), and now I have this humongazoid stack of resumes and business cards (and random trinkets >D) that I need to follow-up on. Lots of the companies just told me "Well, send your resume to this e-mail address;" when they say that, does that imply that I have to send a cover letter as well? (i.e. if they just say "send your resume" and not "send your resume and cover letter.) If they're not expecting a whole three-paragraph cover letter then (I'm totally crossing my fingers; do NOT want to send CLs for 20 diff companies in totally diff fields looking for completely diff positions), what should I include in the e-mail body to introduce myself and such?

Sorry for being a noob, thanks.

[Saint Kevin]

Typically you want it to read something like this.

Hi, my name is Kevin Kulpa.

I talked with your company at a career fair I attended last week at UCD. I have attached a brief cover letter and resume, and I look forward to discussing my qualifications with you soon.

Kevin Kulpa
(555) 555-5555
kevinkulpa@fakeemails.com

And yes, you DEFINITELY need to include a cover letter with your resume if you really want to work a company. If you don't send one, many get the idea that you don't really want to work for them, and unless you are exceptionally qualified (or they are desperate - which should concern you), then they won't typically take you seriously.

[Sakaki Onsei]

That's a question...why do these companies require cover letters? It seems like a really large waste of time to write them, because most of the information that you give them is already covered in the resume.

Are bosses really that redundant?

[minakichan]

OK, thanks SaintKevin~ back to work then... *stares down the ridiculously huge stack* ;_;

Heh, I've heard that recruiters take about 20 seconds to look at a resume... I guess the cover letter lets them just see the most important points of the resume, and also to show whether the candidate knows anything about the company and what kinds of nontechnical skills he or she might have...