Hiring Managers - What do you read first the cover letter or resume?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read the cover letter first. Says a lot about the applicant.

I agree with this. But I'm looking for critical thinkers and people that are able to adapt to fluid situations. A resume tells you what someone has done, but the reality is there are lots of people doing jobs that they're not very good at and they maybe didn't deserve in the first place. A cover letter is a much better window into a person's actual aptitude and intelligence. You can embellish a resume, but you can't fake good writing.

OP here. I understand your reasoning, but a person can ask a friend to proofread or embellish the cover letter. I think the only way to actually get to know the aptitude and intelligence is through the interview. References may also help in confirming your assessment.

[Anonymous]

Being well written should be a given in my opinion but unless it is very directly related to the job, it does not mean much in terms of quality or skills of an applicant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I understand your reasoning, but a person can ask a friend to proofread or embellish the cover letter.

Is this bad? As the hiring manager, I wish more job applicants did something to improve their dismal submissions... while remaining truthful, of course.
To answer the question - my organization uses an online application system. Not every applicant submits a cover letter so I read resumes first, and may read the cover letter if the resume is decent and if I have time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being well written should be a given in my opinion but unless it is very directly related to the job, it does not mean much in terms of quality or skills of an applicant.

Skills, yes. Quality, no. It just depends if you need specific skills and experiences, or if you need talent. I've always believed skills and experience can be gained/taught. Talent is natural. If you just need someone to execute a specific set of responsibilities, a resume will tell you if they've executed those tasks before (albeit maybe without comment on how well they performed them). Well-written (I.e., error free, concise) is not the same as good writing. Good writing is very hard and most people cannot do it.

John Wooden had a quote that sums it up for me: "I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read the cover letter first. Says a lot about the applicant.

I agree with this. But I'm looking for critical thinkers and people that are able to adapt to fluid situations. A resume tells you what someone has done, but the reality is there are lots of people doing jobs that they're not very good at and they maybe didn't deserve in the first place. A cover letter is a much better window into a person's actual aptitude and intelligence. You can embellish a resume, but you can't fake good writing.

OP here. I understand your reasoning, but a person can ask a friend to proofread or embellish the cover letter. I think the only way to actually get to know the aptitude and intelligence is through the interview. References may also help in confirming your assessment.

Sure, totally agree ... But the post was cover letter vs. resume. Interviews are critical and I would never hire anyone above a certain level without multiple interviews over a fairly long period and with multiple people in the organization that I trust (some people are good employees, but TERRIBLE interviewers/talent evaluators). I'm constantly amazed at how few interviews some orgs do on relatively senior people ... I want to see one on one, group settings, formal, casual, email/written exchanges, etc. before I hire. But I'm hiring pretty expensive folks, so there's a lot of cost to screwing up. If I'm hiring a general worker where critical thinking isn't, err, critical, then a resume and one interview generally suffices.

[Anonymous]

I hire for editorial positions and pretty much never look at the cover letter. While it could possibly be disqualifying, people with the type of experience we look for will write a competent cover letter. We give writing/editing exercises as part of our interview process, which is really where we determine skill.

I also wouldn't include an objective; they make neutral or negative impressions on me--never positive. And they take up space that you could be using to show me your qualifications. Like another poster, I hate long resumes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being well written should be a given in my opinion but unless it is very directly related to the job, it does not mean much in terms of quality or skills of an applicant.

Skills, yes. Quality, no. It just depends if you need specific skills and experiences, or if you need talent. I've always believed skills and experience can be gained/taught. Talent is natural. If you just need someone to execute a specific set of responsibilities, a resume will tell you if they've executed those tasks before (albeit maybe without comment on how well they performed them). Well-written (I.e., error free, concise) is not the same as good writing. Good writing is very hard and most people cannot do it.

John Wooden had a quote that sums it up for me: "I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

It matters very much what type of talent you are looking for though. There are very few positions where you need somebody who is a "good" writer. Well-written is much more important in my opinion. Cover letters are a waste of time - if you're interested in me, set up a quick phone interview. That will tell you a lot more than a cover letter.

[Anonymous]

NP. I don't look at cover letters at all. I am hiring for very technical positions and looking for very specific skills/knowledge. Writing isn't one of them at all, so I don't frankly care how well your cover letter is written.

[Anonymous]

Why are cover letters considered so important when job hunting then? Only one person on this thread really reads them.

[Anonymous]

It may be something similar to functional resume: exists in the world of life coaches and resume writers but virtually extinct in the real workplace.
That said, my DC applied for internships this spring and every posting required a cover letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read the cover letter first. Says a lot about the applicant.

me too. Also, if there's an error in the cover letter, I toss it. It's easy to have a perfect resume. You can work that over all the time but cover letters must be specific to the job.

I also don't respond well to that one cover letter people send to everybody, no matter what the job. Toss those too.

I like the resume and cover letters to be like invitations. I want them to make me want to MEET you. But that's just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read the cover letter first. Says a lot about the applicant.

me too. Also, if there's an error in the cover letter, I toss it. It's easy to have a perfect resume. You can work that over all the time but cover letters must be specific to the job.

I also don't respond well to that one cover letter people send to everybody, no matter what the job. Toss those too.

I like the resume and cover letters to be like invitations. I want them to make me want to MEET you. But that's just me.

You are spoiled. If you get 3 qualified resumes out of 100 submissions, it's not them chasing you, but the other way around. Forget the luxury of tossing a resume with 1-2 grammar or spelling errors.
Yes, I am jealous.

[Anonymous]

Interesting perspective 16:46...I will think about that next time we hire. We are a small shop and so when we hire, we have a box we want the applicant to fill but there's a lot of other opportunity for the right candidate with the right attitude. Of the last 4 hires, 2 have been above and beyond fantastic. Two have been perfectly fine yet preformed their jobs very differently then we envisioned. Works well for one, not as well for the other.

Our final hire, not my doing I might add, isn't really working out. 10-years a fed and she's really into meetings but not doing...trying to break that habit. Not working so far. She's got way more potential than she realizes.

[Anonymous]

Resume.

[Anonymous]

Resume, but I will also toss applications if the cover letter is obviously not tailored to this job. Meaning, references to "your company" or "your firm" -- I work at a non profit organization. Usually the generic letter is correlated with an unimpressive resume.