Don't you wish there was The Rule for job applications?

Unfortunately, there isn't.

Take cover letters. Should you write one? What should it say? How should you send it?

I recently asked several human resource professionals what they preferred.

Some said they tend not to read cover letters. In organizations that require online applications, some said they look only at their formatted application. Others said they'll look at cover letters, but tend to glance only at the first few lines.

They might look for important name-dropping — "Mr. CEO is my uncle and urged me to consider working at this fine organization" — but they don't care about most other content.

And a third group said absolutely write a cover letter. They want to see evidence of enthusiasm, personality, communication skills, and other attributes or connections that might not jump out from the resume or application form.

In an ideal situation, the job hunter can find out the organization's preference. But sometimes you need to make a best guess.

Office Team last month surveyed 150 senior executives about how valuable they considered cover letters to be. Twenty-three percent said very valuable, 63 percent said somewhat valuable, and 14 percent said not valuable.

Office Team suggested that good reasons to write cover letters would include the ability to explain resume gaps or skill transferability.

If you can find out the name of the hiring manager or the supervisor to whom you'd report, a cover letter lets you address your application to a human being. Personalization helps you stand out from the masses, assuming that you have the right name and spelling.

Gordon Smith, a counselor at Lee Hecht Harrison in Overland Park, Kan., advises job hunters to send cover letters in as many ways as possible — snail mail, e-mail, e-mail attachment, fax.

So, to be safe, send a cover letter. Limit it to one page. Reinforce how perfect you are for the job. Ideally, address it to a name. And sparkle.

Then don't worry about it.

— Diane Stafford is workplace and careers columnist at the Kansas City Star. Her blog, workspacekc.typepad.com, includes daily posts about job-related issues of wide interest. She can be reached at stafford@kcstar.com.