Cover Letters Aren't Going Anywhere

The easiest thing to do while searching for work is to upload your resume to Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor and then shotgun them to every job posting you can find. Chances are, your resume should hit some sort of opportunity, right? From personal experience, this approach has had an embarrassingly low return of investment.

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The best way to wow the hiring team or manager is to simply convince them that you’re fit for the position. A resume can only carry your name so far. I’ve beefed up my resume so that it shows all of my strongest skills and things I’ve accomplished. Yet, it doesn’t say much about me as a whole. Your cover letter, however, can do that and should present your best self. It can even be your written answer to the first and most popular interview question: “tell me about yourself?”

If you’re still skeptical about cover letters, consider if your resume can do the following:

1. Describe why you want to work at the company
2. Research the company and align your goals with theirs
3. Briefly explain what and how this company can benefit from your work
4. Give some perspective on your work ethic and previous responsibilities
5. Exit with an invitation to connect further.

If it can, then great! I haven’t seen one that can, but I’m sure someone has done it. For the rest of us, our resume is merely a list of our previous responsibilities, accomplishments along with our skills. It is what it needs to be. But if you’re expecting it to fully represent you, don’t. I’ve been given compliments on my resume for being detailed and sufficient to hiring managers and recruiters, but even I haven’t made it to as many interviews as when I submitted a cover letter as well.

As Elaine Varelas from Boston.com suggests:

[T]he cover letter provides a platform to convey real reasons why someone should take the extra time to look at your resume. Perhaps you have a mutual connection in terms of experience or knowledge, perhaps you worked for a competitive organization and can offer a unique perspective.

I will say, not every job needs a cover letter. Yet, it does give the company a better idea of who you are and what you can bring to the table.

So fast forward to when you’ve finished working on that masterpiece of a cover letter. You may be itching to start editing it. I’d highly recommend, though, not to. Before you do edit,  save your work first, and close down the program and computer. Take a break. If you try to edit your work seconds after writing it, you won’t find each and every glaring error. While you feel pressured to edit and submit, chances are, you’ll be sending a cover letter with errors and without any callback.

After your break, open up your cover letter and read every word out loud so that you can hear if it sounds natural or not. Be sure to edit heavily, as a one-page cover letter is much more welcoming than a four-page one. Keep working through it until you can confidently say it is good to go.  Bundle it with your resume and add it to the rest of your application.

Sounds tedious, huh?

Rest assured, the process is well worth the trouble. After a few cover letters, instead of applying to a job post because you match the requirements, you may end researching each company to question whether or not you want to work there. Even better, you’ll hone your writing skills, which alone can show how great of a communicator you are. And lastly, you definitely gain confidence in what you know and can provide to others. At the end of the day, you may even see more responses to your applications.

Bonus: If you’re hung up on who to address the cover letter to, research the company you’re applying to and see if there is a hiring manager available for reference. Otherwise, a simple “To The Hiring Team,” or “To The Hiring Manager” may suffice.