I Hate Cover Letters
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
A recruiter from Meta wrote that she hates cover letters.
“I’m a recruiter and I hate cover letters.
If you are taking the time to apply for the role, interest is implied, so why the need for an additional letter?
In my experience, most cover letters end up being copied and pasted for every company and most recruiters don’t read them.
Let’s make the hiring process more efficient by focusing on the tasks that will actually allow the team/ candidate to get to know each other in the quickest most respectful way possible.”
I replied:
I am going to be the #unpopularopinion I am a former recruiter, worked successfully for many years and I liked the right kind of cover letters. I also think it is disingenuous to complain about cover letters when you represent a firm that uses an #applicanttrackingsystem (I understand the reasons why; it’s just people hate them) to require homogenized pasteurized #resumes to make it through your system.
When you state that fit is implied by #applying, we both know that almost all resumes we read in no way shape or form fit the requirements for #theposition that someone is applying for and is little more than spam.
When I coach people to use a cover letter with an #ats, I tell them to make it page one their #resume, to use your #jobdescription to connect the dots between what you’ve indicated you’re looking for and what their background is. In doing so, it connects #keywords so the system can recognize the #fit. If you think people want to use #coverletters, obviously they don’t. But to defeat #theblackhole, you make them do it. #begreat
Job Search Advice for Students
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2400 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, and Amazon, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.
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