How do you feel about job applications that ask for a cover letter? Do you skip them if they’re not required?
It seems to me that requiring a cover letter could create an adverse incentive where more qualified employees who have more options would not want to spend the time to write one when there’s other applications that don’t have that same requirement.
Do you personally write cover letters when an application requires one? Or would that requirement make you pass over that role?
Top comments (3)
Recruiters definitely add small useless items to the application process to weed out lazy people. However, if the application process is too long, that company will probably be filled with bureaucrats.
For me, if a cover letter is the only useless thing or comes later in the application process, I'll do it. But when they want a bunch of nonsense up front, you can forget about it!
When I’ve applied for jobs, I’ve usually not sent in a cover letter or passed over applications that required one. In some occasions when I’ve been really interested in a role, I wrote a short cover letter. However, when I reflect on this I think it’s mostly been for roles where I felt under-qualified, but was excited about the opportunity.
Has a cover letter ever helped you land a job?
Have you selected a candidate for an interview because their cover letter was particularly impactful?
I haven't needed a cover letter in my 20+ year career, but I may find myself having to start authoring them now that I'm targeting executive level roles for my next gig.