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Sorry, when you're applying to a dozen jobs a day, it's hard to put that personal spin into it. I know you think you're a special snowflake that's different fr

Sorry, when you're applying to a dozen jobs a day, it's hard to put that personal spin into it. I know you think you're a special snowflake that's different from every other company out there, but looking for a job is a grind. A tough one. Why make people dance and sing even more?

JohnFen 3y ago
> Sorry, when you're applying to a dozen jobs a day, it's hard to put that personal spin into it. True, it's a lot of work. But plenty of people (myself included) manage it. I'm not going to say that anyone is wrong for not writing cover letters, of course. But there are lots of people making hiring decisions that put a lot of stock in good ones, so it makes logical sense to provide one.
- danaris 3y ago
  "I did it, so everyone should have to do it" is a mindset that denies the possibility of progress to something better.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    The mischaracterizes what I'm saying. I'm not saying everyone has to do it. Nobody has to do it -- it's your choice. What I'm saying is that doing it can give you an advantage.
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  > True, it's a lot of work. But plenty of people (myself included) manage it. Generally what the person recruiting ate for lunch and the state of their bowel has ten times the influence on the success of your application than any amount of time you spend writing a cover letter. It's all random, and you can't know beforehand if your application will arrive at a serious recruiter or not.
hotpotamus 3y ago
You know, I'm more on the side of the worker than capital a lot of the time and I despise much of modern hiring processes, but a cover letter doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I would think you could template it significantly and still avoid making it too boilerplate. Like start with some bio - as a young child, I took everything apart to see how it worked (much to my parents' chagrin). From that I learned to see the beauty of a mechanical watch ticking away, and I see a similar beauty in a RabbitMQ server ticking away messages, directing them where to go and seeing the inside of the system at work - it's been a lifelong interest of mine. That part can pretty much stay the same. Then write a paragraph or two about the job. You might not know much but try and find a connection. Like if it's a bank, talk about how you'd like to know more about how money moves over the modern global infrastructure, or if it's some service you've used, talk about how it was helpful. If it's hard to find a connection, then you can say I've got some relevant skills, but I don't know much about your industry and I'd like to learn more.
- danaris 3y ago
  OK, now do that a dozen times a day, five days a week. For weeks. Months. Can you still bring yourself to do it at all, let alone find something meaningful to say about each one, after all that?
  - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
    Someone applying to jobs dozens of times per day for months (so over a thousand applications), without bothering to research where the job is, much less write a cover letter, strikes me as working harder, not smarter. If they were to apply to fewer jobs, less frequently, and more personally, putting more effort into each, they might not need to be searching for months, or making so many applications where it's clear to the company that they don't care whether they get that job or 1 of hundreds of others. Maybe think of it like phishing vs. spearphishing. Or sending "hi" as an opening line on a dating app, vs. tailoring it to the person. The latter gets a better response rate per interaction.
    - danaris 3y ago

JohnFen 3y ago

> Sorry, when you're applying to a dozen jobs a day, it's hard to put that personal spin into it. True, it's a lot of work. But plenty of people (myself included) manage it. I'm not going to say that anyone is wrong for not writing cover letters, of course. But there are lots of people making hiring decisions that put a lot of stock in good ones, so it makes logical sense to provide one.

danaris 3y ago
"I did it, so everyone should have to do it" is a mindset that denies the possibility of progress to something better.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  The mischaracterizes what I'm saying. I'm not saying everyone has to do it. Nobody has to do it -- it's your choice. What I'm saying is that doing it can give you an advantage.
carlosjobim 3y ago
> True, it's a lot of work. But plenty of people (myself included) manage it. Generally what the person recruiting ate for lunch and the state of their bowel has ten times the influence on the success of your application than any amount of time you spend writing a cover letter. It's all random, and you can't know beforehand if your application will arrive at a serious recruiter or not.

hotpotamus 3y ago

You know, I'm more on the side of the worker than capital a lot of the time and I despise much of modern hiring processes, but a cover letter doesn't seem like a big deal to me. I would think you could template it significantly and still avoid making it too boilerplate. Like start with some bio - as a young child, I took everything apart to see how it worked (much to my parents' chagrin). From that I learned to see the beauty of a mechanical watch ticking away, and I see a similar beauty in a RabbitMQ server ticking away messages, directing them where to go and seeing the inside of the system at work - it's been a lifelong interest of mine. That part can pretty much stay the same. Then write a paragraph or two about the job. You might not know much but try and find a connection. Like if it's a bank, talk about how you'd like to know more about how money moves over the modern global infrastructure, or if it's some service you've used, talk about how it was helpful. If it's hard to find a connection, then you can say I've got some relevant skills, but I don't know much about your industry and I'd like to learn more.

danaris 3y ago
OK, now do that a dozen times a day, five days a week. For weeks. Months. Can you still bring yourself to do it at all, let alone find something meaningful to say about each one, after all that?
- ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
  Someone applying to jobs dozens of times per day for months (so over a thousand applications), without bothering to research where the job is, much less write a cover letter, strikes me as working harder, not smarter. If they were to apply to fewer jobs, less frequently, and more personally, putting more effort into each, they might not need to be searching for months, or making so many applications where it's clear to the company that they don't care whether they get that job or 1 of hundreds of others. Maybe think of it like phishing vs. spearphishing. Or sending "hi" as an opening line on a dating app, vs. tailoring it to the person. The latter gets a better response rate per interaction.
  - danaris 3y ago