Generic, and vague links to my job ad are the worst cvs to read.
I don't know how you can help me. Why does your three years at telecorp relate to my e-commerce business?
This is an eternal debate. The last time I discussed this on HN, I got people on both sides of the spectrum. On the one end, there are people like me who used to tailor resumes per job, and write cover letters specific to the role/company, who then one day decided to ask whoever responded with feedback on the cover letter, only to always hear: "Oh, you sent a cover letter?" On the other end are HN users who are managers who claim they read them.
Feel free to pick which end is closer to reality.
Hi Person (if you got a person),
I heard about your opening for X from Y. As you can see from my attached resume, I've got relevant experience working for company Z (that you might have heard of). Looking forward to blah blah blah
Sincerely
me phone number email
Oh, you should see the negative responses I got when I posted that the last time on HN. Some people are absolutely pro-cover letters.
One interesting theme in some of the responses, though was: "I always read cover letters if present, but it just occurred to me that I disqualify candidates based on the content of their cover letter, so in some cases those that didn't submit a cover letter are at an advantage." Essentially, the more you talk, the easier it is for people to rule you out.
So a cover letter could give you an advantage over those who don't supply one, but it also could disadvantage you. On the whole, I take it as a net neutral at best, and so why spend the time?
E.g. "Although you use Angular 11 in your stack, I believe my 5 years of experience with Angular.js and 3 years of experience with React will allow me to ramp up quickly." or "Having worked developing CRM systems for 5 years at company XYZ, I believe I would be of great value for this project."
While I wouldn't disqualify a candidate for not having a cover letter, I would wonder why they wouldn't use this tool that increases their chances of getting hired.
The answer was in my original comment: It's expensive to write one, and while you may read cover letters, you are in a minority, and a job applicant has no way of telling which camp you're in.
Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one?
Why is it expensive? You can write it in 10 minutes. I've looked at the last cover letter that I wrote, it's 12 sentences in total.
> Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one?
I don't recall ever in my career disqualifying someone based on the cover letter. I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them.
10 minutes multiplied by how many applications one makes? If you apply for 60 jobs, that's 10 hours of work. Moreover, it's 10 hours of work where there's a good chance no one will read it.
I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here. It's a question of whether one wants to take a gamble in curating and thinking someone will read it vs going for raw numbers and applying to as many places as possible.
Of course, if you know the other party will read it, it makes sense to write one.
> I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them.
Experience that is different from what you are looking for (or not at the scale you need, etc), which wasn't clear in the resume.
The last time I had this discussion on HN, I did get responses that said they have disqualified people for what's on their cover letter.
And to top that off its also about increasing the perceived dollar value that comes attached.
I don't know why anyone would pass up the chance to add 10k to their salary because they decided a cover letter wasn't cool.
If I have a chance to prove to you I'm professional, diligent, and willing to out effort into your company, I'm going to take it every time.
For example I've been looking for a job for eight months now. I did create multiple resumes for different industries (and languages, I have portuguese and english versions) but still, I've been sending resumes in mass, and got invited in these eight months to only two interviews... and one of them was kinda a scam (the guy looked like he wanted an employee, but in fact he was a publisher looking for people that will shoulder most of the risk)
I did eventually get a job out of that, but since then I've never sent a cover letter, and just keep 1 file updated as I hit notable milestones at my current job.
Conversely I recently had a position I did actually really want because it aligned very well with my background before going into IT as well. I got through a phone screen and then got rejected after a 2 hour programming test which wasn't complicated enough to actually signal anything. Going after 1 job you really really want is going nowhere.
To be fair though, I haven’t sent out hundreds applications in many years. In fact the only time I did was when I was trying to get my first job.
I did starterd sending resumes only for a few positions that I really wanted, but I can't afford to be picky anymore.
I'm in biotech. Job searches routinely take 6-9 months, and hundreds of applications. The supply of good jobs is low and the demand is high. As such, it takes a while. Granted, I last searched for a job in the before times, so things have likely changed.
I've friends in legal, engineering, and other 'white collar' sectors. It took them a long time too.
Generally when I look for a new job it's about two solid weeks of applying for jobs, two solid weeks of interviews, a week of negotiation and bidding.
The only job I had where I didn't have at least 5 companies trying to outbid each other was my first.
I'm not special, I'm not even a good developer. I just know how to convey my worth in a way people understand, I'm also honest enough that people trust me relatively easily.
Your advice makes sense for people who already have a job who want a very specific next job. Outside of that, please shove it somewhere the light doesn't shine because people who follow it are knee-capping themselves in the modern jobs market.