> If you just send a generic form letter to a company, they're going to give you the same consideration you have given them: very little. I think this may be t

> If you just send a generic form letter to a company, they're going to give you the same consideration you have given them: very little. I think this may be true as I had a similar experience. Since March I have contacted many companies (both for contract work and full-time) but I only really wanted to work at 3 of them. For the first company I spent 2 weeks crafting my job application and it took them more than a month to get back to me, and only after I directly emailed one of their HR staff. For the second I spent about an hour or two writing an e-mail but was quite well thought out. I got a reply the next day and went through the whole process in about a week. For the third company I sent a code sample to the senior developer and my resume to the CEO. Within two weeks I got an offer. In all three cases I tried to make it very clear that I am choosing them, why I choose them, and what my thoughts are about their company/market. It seems that only in the third case, when I talked with the CEO, this approach worked.