No I do not owe you a cover letter

[Anonymous]

HR leader here. I haven't looked at cover letters in a decade. IMHO, they are a waste of everyone's time.

Your resume should be GREAT, and if it is we should TALK to you and that is how we'll learn about you.

A cover letter represents your ability to find a template online, or use ChatGPT to write it for you. Those aren't the skills I'm looking for.

Clearly there are people who feel differently, but I think the demise of cover letters can't happen fast enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, attention to detail AND efficiency are my strengths. I can write a flawless, well-crafted and customized cover letter in 5-10 minutes. Even without AI. You would not be a good fit for my organization or industry if it takes you 5 hours to draft a cover letter. That's not a sign of attention to detail; it's a sign of inefficiency.

"Jim Halpert. Pros: Smart, cool, good-looking. Remind you of anybody you know? Cons: Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project, and he will finish the same project in half an hour. So that should tell you something." --- Michael Scott, The Office

And who was manager? Michael Scott was a genius, getting paid more to be terrible and slow at his job.

Yep! Perception is king. You never know how long it took to write that flawless letter. 5 min, 5 hours, 5 days. You can't tell how efficient someone is by the letter. You can perceive if they would be a good fit.

[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.

Wow, attention to detail AND efficiency are my strengths. I can write a flawless, well-crafted and customized cover letter in 5-10 minutes. Even without AI. You would not be a good fit for my organization or industry if it takes you 5 hours to draft a cover letter. That's not a sign of attention to detail; it's a sign of inefficiency.

"Jim Halpert. Pros: Smart, cool, good-looking. Remind you of anybody you know? Cons: Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project, and he will finish the same project in half an hour. So that should tell you something." --- Michael Scott, The Office

I'm 100% certain your letters are not flawless.

[Anonymous]

Applying for jobs absolutely sucks and so many employers really do put candidates through the wringer. I agree that for many jobs a resume should be enough, at least for initial screening. Once you're down to, like, 5-10 candidates, then make those people do extra work, IMO.

I am an AI newb and had honestly never really used it prior to being laid off, but I definitely used it for cover letters and it's a game changer. Even if you have to rewrite a lot of it, there's something about having text to edit rather than staring at a blank doc that makes the process seem more achievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, attention to detail AND efficiency are my strengths. I can write a flawless, well-crafted and customized cover letter in 5-10 minutes. Even without AI. You would not be a good fit for my organization or industry if it takes you 5 hours to draft a cover letter. That's not a sign of attention to detail; it's a sign of inefficiency.

"Jim Halpert. Pros: Smart, cool, good-looking. Remind you of anybody you know? Cons: Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project, and he will finish the same project in half an hour. So that should tell you something." --- Michael Scott, The Office

And who was manager? Michael Scott was a genius, getting paid more to be terrible and slow at his job.

It doesn't mean I want to hire Michael Scott though.

It means you won't know if that's who you chose for the interview. Doesn't matter what you want - point is there's the CV and cover letter, plus whatever you sleuth from the internet, which is more and more limited as time goes on for higher paid roles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HR leader here. I haven't looked at cover letters in a decade. IMHO, they are a waste of everyone's time.

Your resume should be GREAT, and if it is we should TALK to you and that is how we'll learn about you.

A cover letter represents your ability to find a template online, or use ChatGPT to write it for you. Those aren't the skills I'm looking for.

Clearly there are people who feel differently, but I think the demise of cover letters can't happen fast enough.

And you are the reason companies are not getting the technical skills they need. You are pushing your field out of jobs with ai because of your own laziness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From an employer perspective, they’re not interested in people sending out a high volume of applications. Write a letter or not. I’ve seen plenty of good resumes that tailored the summary well enough to avoid needing a cover letter. I’d be more concerned with hiring someone who is going to complain about every policy and process, since that’s just part of having a job.

Conversely, I'm very interested in people who challenge "the way we've always done it" because they will move my department forward.

Not converse. Whining is annoying for a manager, period. Norm breakers still need to be able to work within the system. Actually, even more so.

You must work for the Fed.

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a hiring manager. I barely skim the resumes, who has time to read the cover letters.

AI do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, attention to detail AND efficiency are my strengths. I can write a flawless, well-crafted and customized cover letter in 5-10 minutes. Even without AI. You would not be a good fit for my organization or industry if it takes you 5 hours to draft a cover letter. That's not a sign of attention to detail; it's a sign of inefficiency.

"Jim Halpert. Pros: Smart, cool, good-looking. Remind you of anybody you know? Cons: Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project, and he will finish the same project in half an hour. So that should tell you something." --- Michael Scott, The Office

I'm 100% certain your letters are not flawless.

LOL, this.

[Anonymous]

If you can't show the slightest interest in the actual company or position, I'll just hire someone who does.

[Anonymous]

No. You don't owe me a cover letter.

No. I don't owe you a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HR leader here. I haven't looked at cover letters in a decade. IMHO, they are a waste of everyone's time.

Your resume should be GREAT, and if it is we should TALK to you and that is how we'll learn about you.

A cover letter represents your ability to find a template online, or use ChatGPT to write it for you. Those aren't the skills I'm looking for.

Clearly there are people who feel differently, but I think the demise of cover letters can't happen fast enough.

This is a confession that you know you're an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Back in the 1970s we felt Columbia University was in the middle of nowhere.

Why go all the way uptown when you could go to NYU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applying for jobs absolutely sucks and so many employers really do put candidates through the wringer. I agree that for many jobs a resume should be enough, at least for initial screening. Once you're down to, like, 5-10 candidates, then make those people do extra work, IMO.

I am an AI newb and had honestly never really used it prior to being laid off, but I definitely used it for cover letters and it's a game changer. Even if you have to rewrite a lot of it, there's something about having text to edit rather than staring at a blank doc that makes the process seem more achievable.

Most job postings receive way too many applicants as it is. Employers are not incentivized to make the process easier. They’d just end up with even more applications to review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

And, LinkedIn in can be such filler and baloney.
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.

Wow, attention to detail AND efficiency are my strengths. I can write a flawless, well-crafted and customized cover letter in 5-10 minutes. Even without AI. You would not be a good fit for my organization or industry if it takes you 5 hours to draft a cover letter. That's not a sign of attention to detail; it's a sign of inefficiency.

"Jim Halpert. Pros: Smart, cool, good-looking. Remind you of anybody you know? Cons: Not a hard worker. I can spend all day on a project, and he will finish the same project in half an hour. So that should tell you something." --- Michael Scott, The Office

And who was manager? Michael Scott was a genius, getting paid more to be terrible and slow at his job.

It doesn't mean I want to hire Michael Scott though.

It means you won't know if that's who you chose for the interview. Doesn't matter what you want - point is there's the CV and cover letter, plus whatever you sleuth from the internet, which is more and more limited as time goes on for higher paid roles.