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I'm a hiring manager and I always read cover letters. For me, they are your opportunity to clarify some things in your resume and point how relevant they are to

by bbojan 5y ago

I'm a hiring manager and I always read cover letters. For me, they are your opportunity to clarify some things in your resume and point how relevant they are to the position you're applying for. This is actually a win for the candidate, as they don't need to modify their resume for each employer (which is more work). E.g. "Although you use Angular 11 in your stack, I believe my 5 years of experience with Angular.js and 3 years of experience with React will allow me to ramp up quickly." or "Having worked developing CRM systems for 5 years at company XYZ, I believe I would be of great value for this project." While I wouldn't disqualify a candidate for not having a cover letter, I would wonder why they wouldn't use this tool that increases their chances of getting hired.

BeetleB 5y ago
> While I wouldn't disqualify a candidate for not having a cover letter, I would wonder why they wouldn't use this tool that increases their chances of getting hired. The answer was in my original comment: It's expensive to write one, and while you may read cover letters, you are in a minority, and a job applicant has no way of telling which camp you're in. Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one?
- bbojan 5y ago
  > The answer was in my original comment: It's expensive to write one, and while you may read cover letters, you are in a minority, and a job applicant has no way of telling which camp you're in. Why is it expensive? You can write it in 10 minutes. I've looked at the last cover letter that I wrote, it's 12 sentences in total. > Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one? I don't recall ever in my career disqualifying someone based on the cover letter. I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them.
  - BeetleB 5y ago
    > Why is it expensive? You can write it in 10 minutes. I've looked at the last cover letter that I wrote, it's 12 sentences in total. 10 minutes multiplied by how many applications one makes? If you apply for 60 jobs, that's 10 hours of work. Moreover, it's 10 hours of work where there's a good chance no one will read it. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here. It's a question of whether one wants to take a gamble in curating and thinking someone will read it vs going for raw numbers and applying to as many places as possible. Of course, if you know the other party will read it, it makes sense to write one. > I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them. Experience that is different from what you are looking for (or not at the scale you need, etc), which wasn't clear in the resume. The last time I had this discussion on HN, I did get responses that said they have disqualified people for what's on their cover letter.
- waheoo 5y ago
  It's not disqualificstion that matters. It's about selling yourself as more valuable than everyone else in the stack. And to top that off its also about increasing the perceived dollar value that comes attached. I don't know why anyone would pass up the chance to add 10k to their salary because they decided a cover letter wasn't cool. If I have a chance to prove to you I'm professional, diligent, and willing to out effort into your company, I'm going to take it every time.

by bbojan 5y ago

BeetleB 5y ago

> While I wouldn't disqualify a candidate for not having a cover letter, I would wonder why they wouldn't use this tool that increases their chances of getting hired. The answer was in my original comment: It's expensive to write one, and while you may read cover letters, you are in a minority, and a job applicant has no way of telling which camp you're in. Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one?

bbojan 5y ago
> The answer was in my original comment: It's expensive to write one, and while you may read cover letters, you are in a minority, and a job applicant has no way of telling which camp you're in. Why is it expensive? You can write it in 10 minutes. I've looked at the last cover letter that I wrote, it's 12 sentences in total. > Also, I'd like to ask: How often do you disqualify a candidate based on their cover letter? If you do, given that you don't disqualify for not having one, wouldn't you agree that those you disqualified after reading their cover letter put themselves at a disadvantage by writing one? I don't recall ever in my career disqualifying someone based on the cover letter. I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them.
- BeetleB 5y ago
  > Why is it expensive? You can write it in 10 minutes. I've looked at the last cover letter that I wrote, it's 12 sentences in total. 10 minutes multiplied by how many applications one makes? If you apply for 60 jobs, that's 10 hours of work. Moreover, it's 10 hours of work where there's a good chance no one will read it. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here. It's a question of whether one wants to take a gamble in curating and thinking someone will read it vs going for raw numbers and applying to as many places as possible. Of course, if you know the other party will read it, it makes sense to write one. > I can't even think what they could put in the cover letter that would automatically disqualify them. Experience that is different from what you are looking for (or not at the scale you need, etc), which wasn't clear in the resume. The last time I had this discussion on HN, I did get responses that said they have disqualified people for what's on their cover letter.
waheoo 5y ago
It's not disqualificstion that matters. It's about selling yourself as more valuable than everyone else in the stack. And to top that off its also about increasing the perceived dollar value that comes attached. I don't know why anyone would pass up the chance to add 10k to their salary because they decided a cover letter wasn't cool. If I have a chance to prove to you I'm professional, diligent, and willing to out effort into your company, I'm going to take it every time.