Everything about applying for jobs sucks, to be honest.

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.

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.

I had AI write mine yesterday and then just modified it.

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 never submit a cover letter. I’ve been casually looking for about six months and seriously for two: got several first round phone screens and one offer.

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

What do you look for? What makes an outstanding cover letter to you?

Anonymous wrote:Please put the cover letter. You can skip the long boring bit with a bunch of BS, but I just want to know how you know about the job and why you are specifically applying to it. Your resume probably doesn't explain as much as you think it does. If you don't tell me, I'll assume the worst.

This is so over the top. I’m over thinking every job has to be a passion project. What I want to know is can they do the job and will they be a good fit? Random BS trying to kiss butt in a cover letter tells me nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cover letters and references are so passé. Who makes the decisions about these things and why haven't they retired?

+1
I used to hire people and references are just the most pointless exercise! And many places won't even give them anymore. They can also take forever to obtain.

I have two neighbors who recently became police officers, and a cop showed up at our door both times to ask for references! It was so interesting to me they do this in person and unannounced. It feels like a good way to find out some info about the person.

Anonymous wrote:Cover letters and references are so passé. Who makes the decisions about these things and why haven't they retired?

+1
I used to hire people and references are just the most pointless exercise! And many places won't even give them anymore. They can also take forever to obtain.

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

I should add that the cover letter was listed as required or I never would’ve bothered

Who is still doing cover letters?

You don’t have to provide a cover letter.

And they don’t have to provide you with a job.

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

It feels antiquated, especially since few even get back to candidates at all. Rude to expect someone to spend 1 hour + writing to you and not even respond.