Do employers really read cover letters? Or am I wasting my time writing them?

[Arkitech]

I'm desperately trying to get back into a decent full time job again and I've been diligently crafting what I thought were good cover letters. I had one prospective employer remark that she really liked my cover letter (still didnt get the job though). The other 20-30 I sent out, got no responses. I tried to follow pretty closely to the professional guidelines based on the samples I've read. Then I recently read an article that said because companies now days get so many resumes that in most cases cover letters barely get read. So I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to send them out anymore.

 

[Udgnim]

imo, the smaller the company, the more likely someone will read a cover letter

the bigger the company the more likely they either hire through a staffing agency and/or use some resume filtering system

including a cover letter might be one of the filters they are using. who knows whether someone actually reads it but you should still include a cover letter just in case

 

[JBT]

Reach out to a staffing agency. I just recently was looking for a new job, I ALWAYS got responses and they would do looking for me as well. Submitting resumes via a company's website was pretty hit or miss or took a LONG time to get a response.
With that said the company I actually got a job with, I contacted one of their HR people directly on LinkedIn.
No cover letters were sent to the companies I actually did interviews with.

 

[Arkitech]

imo, the smaller the company, the more likely someone will read a cover letter

the bigger the company the more likely they either hire through a staffing agency and/or use some resume filtering system

including a cover letter might be one of the filters they are using. who knows whether someone actually reads it but you should still include a cover letter just in case

That makes sense, in fact the company who did read my cover letter are a pretty small outfit.

 

[Arkitech]

Reach out to a staffing agency. I just recently was looking for a new job, I ALWAYS got responses and they would do looking for me as well. Submitting resumes via a company's website was pretty hit or miss or took a LONG time to get a response.
With that said the company I actually got a job with, I contacted one of their HR people directly on LinkedIn.
No cover letters were sent to the companies I actually did interviews with.

I've been avoiding the headhunters, but it might be time to contact one.

 

[esun]

I'd imagine for technical positions, cover letters are much less important (since they likely filter based on specific experience with languages/tools). For non-technical positions where requirements are softer, they may be more heavily weighed.

However, even so, at worst the recruiter will ignore the cover letter, so it can't really hurt you. If it's not taking that much time, I'd keep writing them (though admittedly I never wrote one myself).

 

[GobBluth]

I read most of the cover letters I see in my department. I like to look for grammar and phrasing so see if the applicant took the time to write anything substantial. It often gives me a great insight into what the rest of the resume/application will be like.

 

[JBT]

Just curious why you would avoid them? From what I have seen you end up with more money, and more leverage.

 

[Farang]

I keep them pretty brief, a couple paragraphs saying 'bla bla bla here is my resume.'

As a recruiter, we typically write a cover letter for you when we submit your resume to a client. Usually it is 1-3 paragraphs summarizing what you are and where your most recent experience was. Some people read it some people don't.

I don't think the detailed letters make a difference, or are read. Anyone who does hiring is pretty good at scanning a resume and knowing whether or not you're worth talking to

 

[Murloc]

don't you have to specify which position you're applying to?

 

[DrPizza]

I read the cover letter and resume, and also look at the transcripts. What I find amazing is that in my profession (teaching), universities make teachers prepare this great big thick teaching portfolio. I've pointed out to new teachers, "you've got to be kidding me. I spent all my spare time just going through the resumes. It would take me a month to look at all those teaching portfolios. We don't even open them. It always seems to be a huge shock to them, because they've been told for a couple years that they're super important, but after you point out the time it would take for us to look at the ones sent in, they realize how much sense it makes that no one could possibly have enough spare time to do anything more than acknowledge that yes, this person has a big three ring binder with 100 pages in it.

 

[Doppel]

I've been avoiding the headhunters, but it might be time to contact one.

Don't do this (the avoiding part). I got my last job with one and when I was thinking of moving jobs last year another one got me an interview with another company (I ended up not going). They are great. There are many jobs simply not listed on main employment listings and the headhunters serve their clients as a front-line. In essence the headhunter does some preliminary vetting of you so that the company doesn't have to bother interviewing complete buffoons. Thus, the company benefits, which is why they use headhunters. You can benefit by using one because they have access to jobs, direct numbers to HR departments, etc.

 

[Farang]

Don't do this (the avoiding part). I got my last job with one and when I was thinking of moving jobs last year another one got me an interview with another company (I ended up not going). They are great. There are many jobs simply not listed on main employment listings and the headhunters serve their clients as a front-line. In essence the headhunter does some preliminary vetting of you so that the company doesn't have to bother interviewing complete buffoons. Thus, the company benefits, which is why they use headhunters. You can benefit by using one because they have access to jobs, direct numbers to HR departments, etc.

Most importantly I think is a good one will prioritize your time, because they will send you to who is most likely to hire. Most of the time job listings are BS and the company isn't really serious about hiring someone in the next 6 months. This is especially true with larger companies.

 

[mmntech]

Cover letters are a place to really expand on what's in your resume, but not to regurgitate it. Managers do read them. Remember the key is to grab their attention in the first paragraph and make sure to address them to a person. Use LinkedIn if you need a name.

Your cover letter should be no more than one page. Same with the resume. Think of it from a manager's point of view. They have a big stack to go through and have to decide who sounds best. So keep them condensed and specific only to the job you're applying for.

Now that's if you're dealing with a human being. Most small and medium corporations still do this. Large ones used automated systems that search for key words. Which is why it's important to read the posting carefully so you can outsmart the computer.

 

[yllus]

I skip right to the resume if there is a cover letter; I consider them very optional.

I've come to realize that an applicant who is genuinely enthusiastic about the position is a huge plus - they'll likely work x% harder than the next guy because they care. I suppose a cover letter could help convey that.

 

[SagaLore]

I do.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I skip right to the resume if there is a cover letter; I consider them very optional.

I've come to realize that an applicant who is genuinely enthusiastic about the position is a huge plus - they'll likely work x% harder than the next guy because they care. I suppose a cover letter could help convey that.

You would not disregard a resume because it had a cover letter.

OTOH a resume without cover could easily be auto-rejected by a company. Best to write the letter unless you're willing to automatically disregard those companies.

 

[AreaCode707]

Reliance on cover letters is INCREDIBLY variable. I've worked with companies that want the field disabled and companies who consider it critical that it's the first thing hiring managers see. Some folks consider it a waste of time, others consider it a key factor in judging the professionalism and savvy of a candidate.

I always recommend companies keep a specific spot for it because if it's not present I find candidates, in desperate doubt about what they're supposed to do, will paste it into their resume.

Write a good cover letter and include it. Nine people may ignore it but they won't count its presence against you, but you want it there for the tenth person who considers it critical for candidate insight.

<---- makes a living talking to recruiters and hiring managers all day every day about stuff like this

OTOH a resume without cover could easily be auto-rejected by a company. Best to write the letter unless you're willing to automatically disregard those companies.

Auto-disqualification capabilities don't quite work like that. If the company considers it critical to have a cover letter they'll make it a required field. They won't leave it unrequired and then auto-disqualify you for its absence. Besides, auto-disqualification is always done with scoring and right/wrong answers on discrete data fields with concrete answers. Anything more amorphous than that is hard to defend in court if you're called upon to prove that you considered all applicants equally.

 

[Baked]

I do most of the hiring and I read almost all the cover letters.

 

[Imp]

We're allowed 5 pages (cover letter + resume) where I work. You have to write an essay on exactly how you're qualified for the job and what experience/ training you have that matches the job description. Apparently, HR does an initial sift, then managers do a detailed review of the entire package. It takes me an entire afternoon (at work, lol) to write one of these fuc*ers up. Haven't once been successful outside my current job, so obviously I suck and/or I'm not a good fit for this shit hole.

As for cover letters in general, not in the shit hole I work, definitely a good idea to have one, even if it's canned.

Funny thing: I got my current job in the shit hole (in case you forget) and it was the only job opening that specifically said it didn't require a cover letter then.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Reliance on cover letters is INCREDIBLY variable. I've worked with companies that want the field disabled and companies who consider it critical that it's the first thing hiring managers see. Some folks consider it a waste of time, others consider it a key factor in judging the professionalism and savvy of a candidate.

I always recommend companies keep a specific spot for it because if it's not present I find candidates, in desperate doubt about what they're supposed to do, will paste it into their resume.

Write a good cover letter and include it. Nine people may ignore it but they won't count its presence against you, but you want it there for the tenth person who considers it critical for candidate insight.

<---- makes a living talking to recruiters and hiring managers all day every day about stuff like this

Auto-disqualification capabilities don't quite work like that. If the company considers it critical to have a cover letter they'll make it a required field. They won't leave it unrequired and then auto-disqualify you for its absence. Besides, auto-disqualification is always done with scoring and right/wrong answers on discrete data fields with concrete answers. Anything more amorphous than that is hard to defend in court if you're called upon to prove that you considered all applicants equally.

What I mean by that is that the hiring personnel will just reject anything that doesn't have a cover letter without even reading the resume.
We get over 300 applicants for our one receptionist position. You can't read them all. So they whack the ones without cover letters first and then start reading what's left over.

 

[AreaCode707]

What I mean by that is that the hiring personnel will just reject anything that doesn't have a cover letter without even reading the resume.
We get over 300 applicants for our one receptionist position. You can't read them all. So they whack the ones without cover letters first and then start reading what's left over.

Not saying that isn't happening somewhere but in all the companies I've talked to, that's never been used as a pre-screening methodology. At the very least it's not common. Most pre-screening is done on years of experience, presence/absence of desirable skills, etc.

If you disqualify someone without regard to their skill set, and you turned out to have disqualified a great candidate and hired a noticeably lesser candidate, and the disqualified candidate fits into a protected class, you can find yourself in a weak position defending your selection criteria. You're fair game for an accusation of discrimination. That's why widespread disqualification based on a soft criteria like presence/absence of a cover letter is somewhere between uncommon and unheard of.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Not saying that isn't happening somewhere but in all the companies I've talked to, that's never been used as a pre-screening methodology. At the very least it's not common. Most pre-screening is done on years of experience, presence/absence of desirable skills, etc.

If you disqualify someone without regard to their skill set, and you turned out to have disqualified a great candidate and hired a noticeably lesser candidate, and the disqualified candidate fits into a protected class, you can find yourself in a weak position defending your selection criteria. You're fair game for an accusation of discrimination. That's why widespread disqualification based on a soft criteria like presence/absence of a cover letter is somewhere between uncommon and unheard of.

Lawyers are their own breed. You would never send a fax without a cover to another attorney and you would certainly not begin impressing the firm by faxing your resume without a cover either. Yet we get them constantly like spam. They go in the trash unless they are professionally done and include a coversheet. Just how it is.
- I am not talking about just the fax cover. I am talking about the resume intro. Hell some of them have neither a fax cover OR a coversheet.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I've had two jobs out of school, and I've interviewed for maybe a half dozen positions. In all cases, I write a cover letter.

I'm highly specific in what I do, and I'm sending a letter to a person and not to a company. I generally open with how I know the person to whom I'm writing or why I'm writing to them in particular. I tell them who I am, what I do (have been doing), and what I want.

Not a re-hash or the resume; a chance to introduce myself in complete sentences; a chance to make them interested to look at the resume.

Don't know if people read the letter... but I do. I read the letter that's written, and I look over resumes carefully. We're huge, but we don't hire a lot of people, and we need very specific people. I can spend five or ten minutes to look over this sort of stuff.

 

[AreaCode707]

Lawyers are their own breed. You would never send a fax without a cover to another attorney and you would certainly not begin impressing the firm by faxing your resume without a cover either. Yet we get them constantly like spam. They go in the trash unless they are professionally done and include a coversheet. Just how it is.
- I am not talking about just the fax cover. I am talking about the resume intro. Hell some of them have neither a fax cover OR a coversheet.

[theater trailer voiceover]

In a world...
where people still fax their job applications...
ONE MAN.
still takes them seriously.

[/theater trailer voiceover]


OP, if you're applying for a job that requires you to fax your resume, YES, definitely include a cover letter.

I'll note that I worked 3 years doing legal systems for a "large online retailer" so I'm quite familiar with the legal world. And yeah, it's somewhat retro, just not fax-your-resume retro. My favorite was the VP of M&A who still wanted SAT scores for his Assistant GC applicants...