Do cover letters really make a difference when applying for jobs, and if so, why? - Also, how effective is tailoring your resume to each position?

[666NASTYFUCKINGFREAK666]

I'm sure the answer is just "yes" because extra effort is always good, but what do hiring managers/recruiters/etc like so much about cover letters? Is it just a way to break down technical barriers, or is it merely a form of dicksucking that satiates management's ego?

 

[Max Free]

Imagine asking this question in the age of AI.

Just let ChatGPT write your job application for you.

 

[TheArtilleryman]

Almost every job now uses an applications portal or asks for an e-mail instead, I haven't written a cover letter since my first job, before realising they aren't necessary. I think they're just a holdover from when you would have to print multiple generic applications, then use your cover letter to give some specificity for each job application (depending on the job). This is now redundant with electronic documents and submissions being ubiquitous. You can re-edit your CV and make it more specific to the job in just a couple of minutes.

 

[StacticShock]

Almost every job now uses an applications portal or asks for an e-mail instead, I haven't written a cover letter since my first job, before realising they aren't necessary. I think they're just a holdover from when you would have to print multiple generic applications, then use your cover letter to give some specificity for each job application (depending on the job). This is now redundant with electronic documents and submissions being ubiquitous. You can re-edit your CV and make it more specific to the job in just a couple of minutes.

i'd wager it depends per location.
i mean here people still prints the CV's so if you write a cover letter it's as bad as making a black CV because it means more printer ink used, keep it brief, simple and lie a little because if you lie too much or is overqualified your application is insta denied because the company can't afford the printer ink.

 

[Idiotron]

Just write this:
"I'm the best and if you won't hire me, your competitors will and their market share will go up instead of yours."

Fuck all this being humble crap.
Brag about how amazing you are, that's how you get paid.

 

[Bogan]

I've been told in interviews that they don't read cover letters, and I've never seen my cover letter printed out by whoever is interviewing me.

That said, I made a generic cover letter using ChatGPT and then just modify it slightly based on what job I'm applying for.

Right now I'm looking for new work and the conversations I've had in interviews, I get told that they receive hundreds of applicants and only maybe a dozen are people who are even legally able to work in the country. The rest are looking for visas and have no qualifications for what they're applying for.

My advice now would probably be to call the place you're applying for and introduce yourself over the phone.

 

[Not 6 Foot]

To be fair, in my experience most companies don't even actually read most of the resume. They look at the dates, the jobs you worked, and ask about gaps. Other than that it's always been generic questions that are stupid easy to answer and wow them.

 

[Lovely Kin]

It may be that I work in public sector at the state level, but I believe most applications are read through by a computer for certain words. My coworker did this when he applied by just adding keywords here and there, and he got hired pretty fast despite him not having the experience. So no, they wouldn't make a difference here. What really matters to some state jobs and federal positions is if you had military service or not, as you will get prioritized if you do.

 

[Soyjak Enjoyer]

Way I see it, when you're applying for jobs, 99% of them will seem hopeless or like garbage, so when you get the 1% that seems like a good fit for you and it seems plausible they will value it, you may as well write a cover letter for that application. At least that's the philosophy I used, applied to a few hundred jobs, wrote I think 3 cover letters the whole time, and one of those 3 was the job I landed. Not too time consuming either, it's a short piece of writing and over half of the information stays the same from job to job

 

[Myrtle the Turtle]

For large companies? No.

I considered them a waste of time and so did most everyone else. For small and niche companies it may be different but in general they are useless, even more so with ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Claude. Just tailor your resume to the position as best you can.

Im sure you can find some boomer or faggot on LinkedIn who jerks off to them still but these days HR is AI driven to cherry pick things out.

 

[Soggy paper straw]

If it's a job with a salary for upper-middle class and up, then probably yes. It does really depend on the job and the industry
It doesn't need to be long or particularly complicated. You can have the same text, and just change a few sentences that show that you have bothered to google the company or read the job ad in its entirety.

One thing that should be more obvious but it is not:
if the application includes questions you have to answer and you are given a max word count, you need to write basically that maximum!
It is so common when reviewing applications to see that about 50% of them are completely half-assed. I am talking that you were given 250 words (couple of paragraphs) and just wrote 3 short sentences.

People who score applications also love when you use the same language used in the ad. If someone is asking for someone with initiative, they want you to use the word "initiative", not a synonym. Although I wonder if this has (or will) change with AI

 

[The Strongest Haaton]

I once held a low-skill, no real requirements job where the boss told me that since they had so many applications that those who submitted a cover letter and resume would be first selected. Those with only a resume would be picked only after that. And those without either after that.

 

[Mojo Thief]

Without PL'ing, I do hiring and I haven't read a cover letter in years, and I never gave a shit about them even when I did. I check the resume, verify the pre-interview questions are answered properly, and then do a quick background check to verify this candidate wouldn't be a potential massive liability. Then phone interview, which if they pass would become an in-person interview. I find that the pre-interview questions (which generally ask basic questions about the job, or even simple reading comprehension) tend to filter out a lot of the chaff, no CV needed.

I mostly hire for technical positions and unskilled manufacturing labor if that helps.

Also, I don't have a HR background, so my approach may not be the norm among the social sciences majors that make up most hiring teams at Fortune 500 companies.

 

[Not 6 Foot]

I mostly hire for technical positions and unskilled manufacturing labor if that helps.

That does make a huge difference.
Generally the unskilled manufacturing just requires that the person is able to read and follow basic directions (and even that can be hard to find somehow). The technical position would really depend on what they're doing.

Still not sure how a cover letter would help, though. It's like when you hear about jobs that give personality tests and don't hire you if you aren't one of a few combinations related to the majority of the already hired workforce even if you're far more qualified than any of the rest of them.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

A short, sweet cover letter makes a huge difference because you explain to the company why they should hire you. It's basically a way that companies determine whether you have communication skills or not.