No I do not owe you a cover letter

[Anonymous]

Nobody owes lazy whiners a job either.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I read cover letters.

[Anonymous]

I'm a supervisor at a mission driven nonprofit. We can teach almost anyone the specific content, but I have to know that you care about the work and understand our clients. The cover letter is critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent an hour writing a cover letter yesterday just to get a rejection email 45 minutes after hitting submit

Same. I wonder if cover letter hurt me.

[Anonymous]

I really like to see the cover letter. We usually ask for a fit question to be addressed in the cover letter. It would be something very rarely addressed in a resume. Three paragraphs are sufficient for the cover letter.

[Anonymous]

I hate having to sort through cover letters. If your resume doesn’t convince me of your qualifications, then it can’t be saved with a fluffy cover letter.

[Anonymous]

I don't write them and I don't read them. Hasn’t been an issue.

[Anonymous]

Agreed OP. I'm a fed applying for state and local jobs right now and they're killing me. I have to enter data for each job into the online system (revising each time because they're such different jobs), so I can't just upload a resume, plus a physical address for every school I've attended and reference info, and the answer a series of short answer questions. I can't even manage to do all of that in one night after my kids go to bed. Add a cover letter, and I'm not even able to finish a single application in one night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody owes lazy whiners a job either.

I just went through a job hunt in my 50s. It’s just self destructive not to provide requested documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's nice that PP takes 5 minutes to write a cover letter, but my husband, my best friend, my son and myself agonize over our cover letters and they do indeed represent a burden when applying widely. Each of them needs to be tailored specifically for the job, and each position is sufficiently different that it takes more than 5 minutes to retool a previous one.

DP
I spent 5 hours on my coverletter last week. I can't see how 5 min would produce something that represents my attention to detail, which is my strength.

They should have you submit how long you spent on your cover letter together with the letter itself. That way they could make a judgement about your efficiency.

I’m a contract negotiator - being able to write with exacting detail is the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed OP. I'm a fed applying for state and local jobs right now and they're killing me. I have to enter data for each job into the online system (revising each time because they're such different jobs), so I can't just upload a resume, plus a physical address for every school I've attended and reference info, and the answer a series of short answer questions. I can't even manage to do all of that in one night after my kids go to bed. Add a cover letter, and I'm not even able to finish a single application in one night.

Yes, I hate these systems. I am a hiring manager and my employer uses this. But when I review candidates I just look at their resumes. I find it so disrespectful to job seekers to make them input all of this information. What a pointless waste of time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make my decision about whom to interview based on the cover letter. It’s invaluable.

It's who.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the jobs. The biggest skill for the work in my office is writing ability. A great cover letter can mitigate a weak resume. But a great resume isn’t going to overcome a poorly written cover letter or one with lots of typos.

Exactly this. I work for a trade association. We don't use AI. I like to see some effort and also weed out those with typos or who didn't bother to really connect what we do and why they're qualified. We get hundreds of applications for jobs, a good cover letter helps.

[Anonymous]

We ask for cover letters, and not including one is instant grounds for weeding out those who can't follow directions. Not to mention, we want to see if you can write, and if you "get" customer service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really like to see the cover letter. We usually ask for a fit question to be addressed in the cover letter. It would be something very rarely addressed in a resume. Three paragraphs are sufficient for the cover letter.

in your experience, would one paragraph be enough if it directly addresses fit and gets right to the point?