The cover letter also should be designed to save time for the recruiter. Make space for some very targeted items (name, company, position) so it doesn't look like you are sending exactly the same to every recruiter, but don't make the mistake of spending more than 15 minutes on each letter.
Since you don't know which one, the letter or the CV, will be read first, you should optimize both.
I'm a big advocate of making your cover letter and resume fit you personally, but I've got to say, I think you're spending too much time on your cover letter. Researching a company in-depth is a good idea before an interview, but when you're just applying to a company, the cover letter shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes to research and put together.
For me, I prefer to keep my cover letter to three paragraphs. One explains how I found the company and what job opening I'm applying for. One explains a little of my background. One explains why I think I'd be a good fit for the company and the job opening. If I know the person that will be receiving the cover letter, I address them directly, otherwise I come up with a generic salutation or sometimes leave the salutation off all together.
I like to keep the cover letter short enough to read in a few seconds while having enough information to let the person that initially goes through the resumes easily determine whether or not I'm a good candidate.
I review about ~100-200 CVs per week in bulk, for Data Science.
I actually treat a cover letter as a negative signal. Who has time to write one, and why you do think anybody cares? Show where you worked, what you did, link to some interesting stuff, all this in the regular CV structure, and that's it. I have about 10-20 seconds per CV, reading a cover letter is out of the question. The only thing the CV is for is to (i) send some signals to pick out the 5% of applicants that make it to the first screening round, and (ii) at later stages, to quickly open it to recall who the applicant is.
In my last job search which ended 2 weeks ago. I wrote one good cover letter per day, sent directly to both the job poster and the application if it was possible to post a letter.
Then I spent 20 min spamming my CV at anything remotely relevant.
2 interviews came from cover letters, 2 from spamming my CV and one came from an inbound recruiter who contacted me. The offer that I accepted came from the inbound message from a recruiter.
It was still worth applying to the other jobs because I was able to use my offers to negotiate a higher salary.
The cover letters had a higher success rate per application than just sending my CV, but just sending the CV takes 1-2min whereas a cover letter is half an hour, so spamming the CV is a better use of time.
Job search lasted 6 weeks, but the last 4 of those were focusing 100% on my interviews and not applying for more.
Exactly. Also, cover letters should be able to be read in 15 seconds or less. Your resume? 30 seconds for the first pass, 15 seconds for the second pass to focus on interesting details.
Altogether, you have 1 minute, tops, to convince the person reading your cover letter and resume why you should be hired.
You should carefully consider what you're putting into these documents!
I inevitably read CVs with a cover letter before those without (unless the cover letter looks like a wall of text). All I ask of a cover letter is that it reminds me to think of you as a human, nothing more; reading lists of projects, employers or education achievements is very dry and mechanical otherwise.
A bad cover letter is going to be worse than none, but it really takes very little effort to have something decent and reusable. Many modern CV forms include a small space for it, that's less than ideal but still ok.
If you're submitting hundreds of applications, it's unlikely your'e spending hours on each application (which you probably should be)
Each resume and cover letter needs to be customized for each company. It needs to fulfil each of the roles and demonstrate compelling evidence (projects) of how you meet the requirements.
It's amazingly clear if the resume is not written for a specific job and will most likely be immediately discarded from consideration. So why bother sending all of them then?
More time on less applications leads to more interviews
Not necesarly the only way as someone who often interviews candidates, if I'm getting bombarded by spam applications, the least you can do for me to take your CV seriously is a cover letter related to the job posting / company.
I don't understand any candidate who sends out a letter without researching the company for 30 minutes and taking another 10 to write a thoughtful cover letter. if you're not willing to put that effort into your potential future position, it's not even worth opening the CV from my side.
> "Know your unique competencies and experience and present them in a way that matches the company’s needs without sacrificing your personality.
It is also important to understand the peculiarity of the company you are applying to and its specific needs. A startup or a smaller-sized company may have different needs from a bigger company, thus requiring a different skill-set."
This makes the case for targeted CV more than adding a cover letter to a one size fits all CV.
Fwiw, my first page / section is titled: Executive Summary. It's more bulleted but it could be sentences. The idea is to incorporate the concept of cover letter without having to worry it would be ignored.
That said, I'm going to try a cover letter. It might be enough to standout even if no one actually reads it.
>I don't understand any candidate who sends out a letter without researching the company for 30 minutes and taking another 10 to write a thoughtful cover letter.
I sent a cover letter to my first 3 jobs. They never checked it. Never directly asked but it comes up in conversation at some point when talking about other new recruits.
I don't see the point in a CV if you're reaching out to the recruiter. That fried request message on LinkedIn or first email is your "cover letter". Letting them know who you are and what you want.
Sending less resumes to jobs that fits better the applicant CV with a tailored cover letter is the most effective route for both the applicants and the companies offering the jobs - but before all, the company also needs to put some effort creating a good job post.
They do when the cover letter and the CV is short and to the point. When either is not, you're really testing the recruiter's patience. (Recruiters spend 5-7 second on average on a resume.) Much like a brochure, your CV/cover letter is there you to land you a meeting:
I’ve been reading covers letters for most applicants we receive. Generally we get 25-40 applicants (IT management or specialists positions) and if the CV looks half decent I’ll always read the cover letter.
When I've been hiring I found cover letters to be useless. I just ignored them and looked at the CV to determine whether the candidate was worth an initial screening interview.
If the focus is on highlighting how your relevant skills can help the employer then you may have to adjust the CV every time you apply for a role. I suppose my advice is geared more towards getting your foot in the door. There is absolutely nothing wrong with following your CV with an email listing your relevant skills and how they may help. The issue with cover letters is that most people write exactly that, a letter. Employers don't want to read a story, they want concise, easy to read facts that you can substantiate.
I had the opposite experience a few years ago when applying for jobs for after I graduated. I stopped trying to learn about each company and stopped writing cover letters. Instead, I just wrote a 2 or 3 sentence, completely generic blurb about myself, then sent it with my resume to as many companies as I could find in the area I wanted and with the tech I wanted. Only when I heard back did I actually look in to the companies.
I think a key takeaway is that less is more. People don’t have time to read long cover letters and resumes. Keep it as short as possible but no shorter. Cut out everything that’s not your best selling points.
I can put together a customized, good looking and genuine cover letter within 5 minutes + another 5 minutes of research that was already happening to determine if I wanted to apply.
You should always send a cover letter because it can't hurt, can only help, and therefore game theory or some shit.
It matters if I'm reviewing the applications for a job, and has done in all the software jobs where I've been involved in recruitment. I expect the same when I'm applying for a job, so I always include a cover letter.
I feel someone who doesn't make the effort to write a cover letter is more likely to waste our time — cancelling an interview, or not accepting an offer. It's also the applicant's chance to explain why they are a good candidate for this job, and if there's anything odd on their CV.
The CV shows you can do something, the cover letter shows you want to.
Since you don't know which one, the letter or the CV, will be read first, you should optimize both.
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