Do you still write a cover letter?

[RichieZ]

So I work for a rather large consulting firm, I've done a fair amount of recruitment at the undergraduate/entry level and it seems like nowadays most people don't write cover letters.

Even if they do write cover letters its pretty much garbage, you can tell its basically the school provided template that they spent maybe a few minutes customizing.

Now here is my question: I'm thinking about moving (tried afterf 2yrs of non-stop traveling), should I even bother writing a cover letter to send along with my resume? I know I really didn't read them when I did resume screening.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I think cover letters are a joke. What do they expect to write/see on them? How much I want to work at company Z? I only want to work at Z if they provide good salary, benefits, and friendly atmosphere. I can see writing short paragraph in an email in addition to attached resume explaining why I think I'm suited for the job, but beyond that it's all BS.

 

[Danman]

NO

I refuse to do one, and I seriously could care less if recruiters are really that nit picky to think of a cover letter. And to support my claim, all of my previous jobs and my current one were achieved without a cover letter.

 

[flyboy84]

I wrote a cover letter for my most recent job, which is my first real job out of college (Electrical Engineer at Lockheed Martin)

 

[cyclistca]

I'm looking right now. When I send a resume the body of the e-mail serves as my cover letter.

A cover letter is a good way of highlighting certain items in your resume. It also gives you a place to detail certain points that don't necessarily belong on your resume.

 

[slpaulson]

I think you should, but to each their own.

 

[Stunt]

YES!

Cover Letters are very important, since people typically have a standard resume for all employers...the cover letter is an opportunity to show a company why you feel you will be a good fit for the organization, reference specific items from the posting and highlight certain applicable skills.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: cyclistca
I'm looking right now. When I send a resume the body of the e-mail serves as my cover letter.

A cover letter is a good way of highlighting certain items in your resume. It also gives you a place to detail certain points that don't necessarily belong on your resume.

QFT. Coverletters are quite important for more advanced positions.

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: Stunt
YES!

Cover Letters are very important, since people typically have a standard resume for all employers...the cover letter is an opportunity to show a company why you feel you will be a good fit for the organization, reference specific items from the posting and highlight certain applicable skills.

QFT. And don't forget, it also helps determine if the applicant can formulate a g*ddamn coherent thought on paper, with proper punctuation and no run-on sentences! You'd be amazed how many people come out of college lacking basic communication skills. :roll:

 

[Stunt]

Here's a letter I sent to friends of mine after I went through the job hunt process: (I will not post the cover letter and cv, but they were included) My friends have all had a ton more interviews after taking my advice

Hey Guys,

I threw this post together while it was fresh in my mind. I know you
will all be job hunting in the next year, so I thought this
information may be helpful.

The Cover Letter is important as it is an open opportunity to get your
foot in the door with the company; shows interest and research in the
company. Secretaries typically go through the resume to make sure
credentials are in order, and the managers will skim it as cover
letters are to be treated like a memo.

I broke my cover letter into 4 sections, I consider it a bit long as
the managers don't like to waste their time reading long letters. As
long as every sentence has a direct point or skill applicable to the
specific job, you shouldn't worry too much about length.
1st paragraph: What attracted you to them, and where you found the
job/company, also an opportunity to show you know who they are and
youare researched.
2nd paragraph: Practical work experience/qualities applicable to the
job. If you have a good story with lots of attractive skills
apparent, use it.
3rd paragraph: Personality traits and technical knowledge, support
these claims with brief experiences, try to maintain a list format.
4th paragraph: Thank them for consideration, when you are available to
work, transportation if they request it.
Make sure to date, sign, address, etc.

Resumes are 1 or 2 pages for our level. No matter what size you
choose, make sure to use the whole page. 1 full page, or 2 full pages.
Anything else looks sparse and unqualified, it's a subconscious
thing. My Resume includes "Skill Summary, Work Experience, Education,
Technical". I'm missing "career objective/goals" and "volunteer exp",
i don't have volunteer and career goals I like to say in person after
I understand what they want me to do. If you do put a goal, pretend
you want to grow within their company, you are ambitious, and have no
limit to what you can do. Last thing they want to do is dump lots of
money into training a guy looking to go into his own business or jump
to a competitor. My resume is a little cramped, but it looks loaded
and all information has a point, there should never be filler on a
resume, straight up to the point. If anything seems weak and
irrelevant, it's going to look like you are scrounging for 'good
stuff'.

As for Interviewing, Workopolis has an excellent site on potential
questions they could ask, career services has a few good resources.
Simple etiquette stuff like how to dress, sit, what is off limits to
talk about in the first interview and the like.

 

[EKKC]

[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

 

[monk3y]

I've never written one and don't really plan to.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: EKKC
[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

Career NEEDS cover letter

You must have a job :roll:

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: Stunt
YES!

Cover Letters are very important, since people typically have a standard resume for all employers...the cover letter is an opportunity to show a company why you feel you will be a good fit for the organization, reference specific items from the posting and highlight certain applicable skills.

With so many ads from recruiters who post standard "one ad fits all positions" ad, you'd look stupid to even attempt to write a cover letter...

Like I said, a brief description in the email body explaining why you are qualified for the position is more than enough. Anything else looks like sucking up (which may be not such a bad idea depending on your skill level/intentions/etc).

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

Career NEEDS cover letter

You must have a job :roll:

yeah im the person who said in your thread even making 100k is nothing when you were worried that your salary would attact gold diggers. so yeah i have a job. not a good paying one since its low 6 figure, but yeah its a job.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

Career NEEDS cover letter

You must have a job :roll:

yeah im the person who said in your thread even making 100k is nothing when you were worried that your salary would attact gold diggers. so yeah i have a job. not a good paying one since its low 6 figure, but yeah its a job.

100k is nothing where you are from but where I am, that will go a very long way.
Fact of the matter is, for a repectable postion, a cover letter is a must.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

Career NEEDS cover letter

You must have a job :roll:

yeah im the person who said in your thread even making 100k is nothing when you were worried that your salary would attact gold diggers. so yeah i have a job. not a good paying one since its low 6 figure, but yeah its a job.

100k is nothing where you are from but where I am, that will go a very long way.
Fact of the matter is, for a repectable postion, a cover letter is a must.

reread my post, i said its pointless. just because a lot of people do it, does not make it necessary. it shows nothing of the person, nor does it tell you what kind of a job the person will do. it's 100% BS. I never write cover letters myself and my interview to offer rate has been 100% since i started working. i worked my way up and when I interview people myself I do not factor in the cover letter AT ALL. in fact, i may even say it might have an adverse effect if you're trying way too hard to sell yourself.

you might as well be the russian kid (what his name?) who did the video of himself doing karate and dancing and playing tennis. utterly pointless and stupid. in most cases, people will know whether you're BSing by asking you a few questions.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
[lex luthor] wrong!!!!! [/lex luthor]

i hate people who write cover letters. they're pointless and and looks like the person is trying to say good things about him/herself or your company to get the job. i rather critique someone in person rather than basing the decision on the inclusion of a suck up letter

Career NEEDS cover letter

You must have a job :roll:

yeah im the person who said in your thread even making 100k is nothing when you were worried that your salary would attact gold diggers. so yeah i have a job. not a good paying one since its low 6 figure, but yeah its a job.

100k is nothing where you are from but where I am, that will go a very long way.
Fact of the matter is, for a repectable postion, a cover letter is a must.

reread my post, i said its pointless. just because a lot of people do it, does not make it necessary. it shows nothing of the person, nor does it tell you what kind of a job the person will do. it's 100% BS. I never write cover letters myself and my interview to offer rate has been 100% since i started working. i worked my way up and when I interview people myself I do not factor in the cover letter AT ALL. in fact, i may even say it might have an adverse effect if you're trying way too hard to sell yourself.

you might as well be the russian kid (what his name?) who did the video of himself doing karate and dancing and playing tennis. utterly pointless and stupid. in most cases, people will know whether you're BSing by asking you a few questions.

A proper cover letter will not include content from the resume. If it does it's to highlight a detail without much focus but is critical for the position.

Maybe you just don't understand what a cover letter is...

 

[EKKC]

maybe i haven't seen a good one.

most cover letters i've seen are either BS or suck up letters.
if a person want to work for a company that's all about BS, then yeah may be it will work. but i wouldn't want to work there myself

 

[vi edit]

I think it depends on where you are applying to.

In my last two positions, it was my cover letter that even got me into the interview. The interviewers told me that straight up. The first couple questions they had were almost taken verbatim off of what was on my cover letter.

These were for small to mid size employers where the resumes went directly to the manager that was hiring for that department. This wasn't for an uber large firm that had HR scouring for buzzwords in certain submitted fields.

These were also positions that hired people based more upon intangible values rather than pure technical qualifications.

YMMV.

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: EKKC
maybe i haven't seen a good one.

most cover letters i've seen are either BS or suck up letters.
if a person want to work for a company that's all about BS, then yeah may be it will work. but i wouldn't want to work there myself

Just because you have experienced a low caliber employment pool, doesn't discredit the purpose of the cover letter.

No matter your personal experience, you cannot seem to comprehend the benefits of one. I feel sorry for you the next time you look for a job.

 

[RichieZ]

dude why don't you guys start your own thread and argue about it, each of you have made your point.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
maybe i haven't seen a good one.

most cover letters i've seen are either BS or suck up letters.
if a person want to work for a company that's all about BS, then yeah may be it will work. but i wouldn't want to work there myself

Just because you have experienced a low caliber employment pool, doesn't discredit the purpose of the cover letter.

No matter your personal experience, you cannot seem to comprehend the benefits of one. I feel sorry for you the next time you look for a job.

I think we can only agree to disagree. but like the other poster has said, YMMV.

I'd like to ask you this, what constitutes as a good cover letter? or a bad one? a letter that looks like gold to one person may be pure BS to another.

and since you said you only recently came out from college, you probably didn't look for a lot of jobs, there will be a lot of times when references and past relationships matter over everything. build relationships and network, the more people know about you and your work ethics the better. that's a more powerful tool than ANY cover letter. relying on simply a resume and a letter will not get you very far.

edit: and yes thats only my opinion, and i know people will disagree. and YMMV on this as well

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: EKKC
maybe i haven't seen a good one.

most cover letters i've seen are either BS or suck up letters.
if a person want to work for a company that's all about BS, then yeah may be it will work. but i wouldn't want to work there myself

Just because you have experienced a low caliber employment pool, doesn't discredit the purpose of the cover letter.

No matter your personal experience, you cannot seem to comprehend the benefits of one. I feel sorry for you the next time you look for a job.

I think we can only agree to disagree. but like the other poster has said, YMMV.

I'd like to ask you this, what constitutes as a good cover letter? or a bad one? a letter that looks like gold to one person may be pure BS to another.

and since you said you only recently came out from college, you probably didn't look for a lot of jobs, there will be a lot of times when references and past relationships matter over everything. build relationships and network, the more people know about you and your work ethics the better. that's a more powerful tool than ANY cover letter. relying on simply a resume and a letter will not get you very far.

edit: and yes thats only my opinion, and i know people will disagree. and YMMV on this as well

I didn't dispute the importance of good references, but why risk consideration for a job that you will enjoy just because you are too lazy to understand what a cover letter is and how to construct one properly.

Coming out of university you apply to a ton of jobs, and interview with many companies to get an understanding of the business and which will be the best fit for you. If you are going to use the BS excuse, sure....you can do that on a resume too...a crappy application is a crappy application.

 

[EKKC]

oh yeah dont get me started on resumes!
let's save that for another thread.

resume is like the only leverage or tool a company has to interrogate the interviewee to see if he's a liar these days.