Johnez, Just one little correction, it was my husband, not my dad, who has the HVAC experience.
It is very important to make your cover letter mesh with the potential employers advertisement. Go over the words in the advertisement and try to link those words to describe your talents. If they say they are looking for someone who is open minded, you might say in your cover letter that you are always open to new ideas and challenges. Whatever they say, you need to be able to use their words to describe yourself, you abilities, your desires to work at such a company that aligns with your talents.
I have been told that companies get hundreds of resumes for just one job. They want a cover letter that is brief, concise and somewhat boiled down. They do not want a long, long letter of your entire life. Your letter might have a 3 second chance of getting read if it is short and to the point.
My suggestion is that before you send out any more cover letters or resumes is to sit down at your computer and find, on the internet, some good examples of cover letters and resume's. Ask yourself if your cover letter and resume are as well put together. You may not like certain things like bullet points but they stand out and catch the readers attention. Make sure you have some space between paragraphs, make sure your sentences make sense. Make sure you spell check every single word. Do not depend on auto spell check, read each word one by one. Little mistakes can throw you out of the hiring process. They figure if you can't write a cover letter or resume with out errors, what mistakes will you make at work?
Also remember, that each cover letter must be tweaked for every job. The employer in each job advertisement may have different requirements that you need to address in your cover letter to tell them what they want to hear. For instance, they advertise for a person who can walk a tight rope, carrying a monkey on his back while juggling 3 balls. You must tell them that you have great balance, that you are well versed in load handling and that you can juggle many tasks simultaneously.
The cover letter is the cherry on top of the resume. This gives you the opportunity to tell them that you have all the skills they want and you are open to learning new skills and procedures for their unique organization.
Be sure to use the Thesaurus in Word to expand your vocabulary. You might want to use a variety of words that mean the same thing. Rather than say the word 'company' 4 times you might want to say corporation, manufacturer, organization, whatever seems appropriate.
Also, here is some information on using the right font:
What font should resume be in?
When you are selecting a font for your resume, the font size should be between 10 and 12 to allow for readability. Your name (which should be placed at the top of your resume) can be slightly larger. Typically, you should use a readable, book-print font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.
One more thing, here is an article of explaining the reason for getting fired at a job interview:
https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/How-Do-I-Explain-Getting-FiredI was laid off 3 times in my life. One job I worked 10 years, the second job 18 years and the third job 4 years. Finding a new job is stressful
but finding a job is now your full time job! Good luck, I have been there!