Most professional job postings request that a resume or cover letter with salary requirement be submitted when applying for the position.  Often, in addition to disclosing a salary requirement a history of previous salaries will be asked for as well.  The first rule to follow when submitting a cover letter with salary requirement is that is the job posting or advertisement does not ask for salary information, do not provide any.  All salary information is best broached by the potential employer at his or her chosen time. 

A cover letter with salary requirement is commonly requested by potential employers for a number of reasons.  Cover letters with salary requirements that are too high for a particular position will often be discarded due to the fact that the employer won’t pay that kind of money for a position or they simply won’t bother offering someone less pay than required in a cover letter.  If a cover letter with salary requirement is less than an employer was planning on paying for a particular position, he or she will most likely offer a lower salary.  The worst thing a job applicant can do when asked to submit a cover letter with salary requirement is to disregard a salary requirement and/or history request.  Most employers will not grant interviews to applicants who do not follow instructions and include all of the information that has been requested.