3 ms·

Cover letter is completely useless and a waste of both parties time IMO. Look at experience. Look at skills. Do they fit the position. If yes, interview. If n

• ineedasername 6y ago
  It tells you if the person can't communicate beyond bullet points in a resume. It's easy to hype up achievements in previous positions. An interview will help there, but if a cover letter demonstrates difficulty communicating, that is a signal you can use to effectively filter those candidates and not waste time on an interview.
  • slantyyz 6y ago
    > It tells you if the person can't communicate beyond bullet points in a resume. I guess it depends a lot on the industry. Most of the cover letters I've seen when hiring are following a template or pattern gleaned from a website or book telling you how to write a cover letter. Also, you're never 100% sure that a job seeker didn't get someone to help them write the cover letter or if it's copypasta. Admittedly, if I was looking for a job, I'd provide a cover letter just to satisfy arbitrary expectations, but I hate writing them. All I do these days is regurgitate the list of the advertised requirements and for each item, indicate if I meet, have comparables or don't meet it. It beats having to come up with a bunch of made up platitudes about why they should hire me. In the same vein as cover letters though, I don't put much weight on post-interview thank-you letters.
    • ineedasername 6y ago
      That's why I phrased is as "can't communicate". Because a positive signal could be false, but a negative signal can probably be trusted. And yes, I couldn't care less if the candidate gave a post-interview thank you. That's not going to influence my decision.