Comment by mikeryan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mikeryan | Hacker News Reader

As someone who has hired many junior devs right out of college a cover letter gives you the ability to do 2 things.

1. Tell me the reasons I should hire you that I won't find in your resume. Those side projects you did that you found really challenging. What subjects you found really interesting in school that apply to the position. Why you find the businesses subject fascinating. This is your chance to tell me on your own terms why you're a good fit.

2. Why are you applying for this job. What makes you fit this position. I'm not always looking here for direct domain experience, but something in your background or interests which fit with the role I'm hiring for.

I had a cover letter template that I would use but would always tailor cover letters to the specific job and organization I'm applying for. Only maybe 40% of the content of the letter came from my template.

"Only maybe 40% of the content of the letter came from my template"

This cannot be stressed enough, tailor each cover letter for the job, do not copy and paste.

Good point. The last time I was updating my cover letter, I invented the following workflow:

-copy/paste in the last email template I had used

-start editing sections that are relevant (intro, relevant experience, why I am interested in this position)

-read the entire email as a whole, look for inconsistencies

-touch up any sections that don't make sense, or are weak

-walk away for an hour, do something else

-come back, read it over again, tidy up any sentences, or add any gems I had come up with.

-optionally have a friend read it.

By the end of the process I usually had changed at least 50% of the format, and found that my cover letter was rapidly evolving, until I found out what worked. Sharing cover letters with friends in the industry also helped to root out some weak sections that I hadn't seen myself.

The main disadvantage of this method is that if you're not careful when reading, you can miss a reference to company name you had previously applied to, or include the wrong url. Always, always, always double check any links, names, or other identifying language.

Excellent advice. I've been reading through many applications lately and find the most interesting cover letters go into some detail about aspects of the candidate that are not covered in detail on the resume. Good cover letters need to generate interest.

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