I'm a big advocate of making your cover letter and resume fit you personally, but I've got to say, I think you're spending too much time on your cover letter.

I'm a big advocate of making your cover letter and resume fit you personally, but I've got to say, I think you're spending too much time on your cover letter. Researching a company in-depth is a good idea before an interview, but when you're just applying to a company, the cover letter shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes to research and put together. For me, I prefer to keep my cover letter to three paragraphs. One explains how I found the company and what job opening I'm applying for. One explains a little of my background. One explains why I think I'd be a good fit for the company and the job opening. If I know the person that will be receiving the cover letter, I address them directly, otherwise I come up with a generic salutation or sometimes leave the salutation off all together. I like to keep the cover letter short enough to read in a few seconds while having enough information to let the person that initially goes through the resumes easily determine whether or not I'm a good candidate.