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For real I basically don't even read cover letters any more and I don't blame the applicants for generating them with LLMs. Unless you are applying for a higher level position a cover letter used to just be a mild heuristic for this person took an extra 10 minutes to alter their standard cover letter and include a different related paragraph. Now its just wasted text.

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Almost everywhere I applied, and these are dozens of positions over many years, I wrote a concise, sometimes funny, sometimes provocative, sometimes insightful cover letter. If I knew something about the company that HR would find interesting, I would write it. If I knew something about the industry or the founders, I'd mention that as well.

My personal experience is that cover letters do not help at all. At best, it's a test for myself. If I don't want to write a cover letter, I should not apply.

Welcome to the age of ATS. Nobody reads cover letters or resumes anymore. They read the summaries that the AI inside the ATS generates.

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