Why Cover Letters Are Overrated
November 18, 2009 CVs/Resumes, Job Searching TrackBack URLHere’s a conversation and some lively banter between me and a friend, a professional resume/CV writer.
We were chatting about my (yawn) not so favourite subject – cover letters:
Sital: “Job seekers who spend tonnes of time and effort on cover letters are simply wasting their time.“
Sarah: “I completely disagree. The cover letter is a vital tool to help candidates get a consistent message out there and leverage their personal brand.”
Sital: “Yeh yeh, stop trying to blind me with your fancy marketing language Sarah!
Is the cover letter necessary? Yes – most firms and recruiters expect a covering email or letter.
Does it have a critical part in ensuring your resume/CV get’s read? I don’t think so.
Sarah: “You don’t think so hey clever clogs?! And what’s that based on?”
Sital: “It’s based on being in the field and seeing the whole recruitment process from the ‘coal face’ rather than just offering career advice from the sidelines.
As a hiring manager, recruitment consultant as well as a recruitment manager within corporate firms – I paid little attention to cover letters apart from a quick glance. And it wasn’t just me, people around me have similarly focussed on the resumer/CV.
Sarah: “Well I should show you the glowing testimonials from my clients who have finally secured interviews and found jobs after we’d polished up a great cover letter”
Sital: “I don’t question that having a strong cover letter gives you a better chance than a weaker one – of course it does. What I’m suggesting is that candidates should focus on having a short, functional cover letter that is good enough (rather than perfect). They should concentrate their time and energy on ‘getting out there’ instead of spending hours tweaking a cover note.”
Sarah: “Well I think we’ll agree to disagree shall we!”
It’s All About Priorities
I don’t think I was in total disagreement with Sarah – I agree that a crisply written, tailored cover letter does give you a better chance than your average cover letter. But it’s all about priorities.
Rather than tinker with a cover letter for a couple of hours, I prefer my clients to be out meeting new people and reconnecting with existing contacts. Rather than trying to be overly perfectionist about the ‘message’ and ‘brand statement’ on a cover letter, I’d prefer them be speaking to people and testing out their marketing message in a live environment.
Like any message, the refinement and improvements come ‘in the field’ by seeing other people’s reaction to you and your message. You can’t do that if you’re sitting in front of your laptop for half the day trying to develop the perfect cover letter.
But hey, that’s just my opinion based on my experiences to date. So what do you think – are cover letters overrated..?
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November 18th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I would even replace the cover letter with a short and punchy email…When I was a recruiter, I never read any cover letter.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Ditto, I rarely looked at cover letter either. Thanks for commenting Laurent
November 24th, 2009 at 12:21 am
[...] Actually read this interesting debate, between sital and a resume writer [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
The higher the level the position, the more I expect from a cover letter. A cover letter should not be a repeat of the résumé. Generally, execs will read the cover letter and not the résumé.