4 ms·

I was applying for a while last year. Spending hours to write a cover letter and then either hearing nothing or getting a canned rejection letter is super frust

I was applying for a while last year. Spending hours to write a cover letter and then either hearing nothing or getting a canned rejection letter is super frustrating. I've come to the conclusion that putting effort into an application is time wasted, so from now on AI is writing pretty much every single one of my cover letters. Doing that allows me to send out 5 applications in the time it normally takes me to do 1. Since I've seen no actual correlation between effort and success, I figured quantity will give better results than quality. Of course, I might put in actual effort for an opening that I find really interesting, but that's an exception.

josefrichter 10mo ago
Cover letters are dead imho. Even before AI came to play.
- GJim 10mo ago
  Total opposite here. If you can't be bothered with a simple cover letter (a paragraph or two is fine) highlighting why you are a good fit and just send a CV..... Frankly, it comes across as low effort spamming.
  - Akronymus 10mo ago
    As someone currently looking for a new job, I stopped bothering with cover letters because they didn't make the faintest of differences. After many dozens of rejections I am just burnt out about writing them.
  - jagoff 10mo ago
    [flagged]
    - GJim 10mo ago
      If you consider briefly highlighting the relevant parts of your experience to a potential employer as "fucking shit", then perhaps you are unsuitable for the role being offered.
      - jijijijij 10mo ago
        I am sure, you hold the employer to the same standards. For example disclosing salary range information beforehand, or writing rejection letters afterwards, so applicants going through the trouble of doing their part aren't wasting their time and energy. Right?
        jagoff 10mo ago
        [flagged]
        GJim 10mo ago
        > I am sure, you hold the employer to the same standards I most certainly do! Incidentally, the very idea of not providing a salary range is truly baffling. I'm amazed any such advertisements generate applicants; other than those phoning up the HR department to tell them to stop pissing about and please state the salary.
      - techbrovanguard 10mo ago
        translated: stop questioning why the economy depends on the Infant Crushing Machine continuing to Crush Infants
  - josefrichter 10mo ago
    That's in ideal world. In real world there's maybe 1% chance your cover letter will reach a human being.
Xylakant 10mo ago
I can tell you that our HR takes the time to write proper responses to every application, but we straight up delete AI written applications. I honor the effort put into any application, but if people haven’t spent the time, then why should we?
- wickedsight 10mo ago
  Your HR is the exception though, not the rule. I'm willing to risk this, since it allows me to keep my sanity. And if a company really seems awesome I will still put in the effort.
  - Xylakant 10mo ago
    I believe you have entered a race to the bottom and while I understand why, I'm pretty certain you can't win this way. You are effectively filtering out the remaining companies that do care from the pool that you're talking to.
VerifiedReports 10mo ago
A place that physically operates near me posts job openings all the time, for which I'm well-qualified. After applying to several of them (with a very specific and targeted cover letter) and getting no response, my final attempt was to print out a letter and resume and physically take them over to their office. I was thinking this would make a positive impression and say hey, I'm really interested and I'm willing to go the extra mile. The person who answered the door and to whom I gave the envelope seemed baffled that anyone would do this... saying, you know you can do this online... I can only conclude that this is a ghost-job situation, where they didn't envision being called out in person and on site. Otherwise, what kind of dicks don't at least raise a respectful eyebrow at (or at least acknowledge) the guy who drives over to their office to hand-deliver a letter and resume? After that I knew for sure that I wouldn't want to work for these jagoffs anyway... even if the job were real.
- HNisCIS 10mo ago
  Having been on the other end of this repeatedly (as an engineer with a desk near the door, not a hiring manager) and I hate it when people do this. People are becoming much more adverse to bring panhandled or solicited in a way they cannot ignore, in the same way spam calls are more annoying than spam texts. It's not "initiative" or "extra mile" shit, it's taking advantage of someone's politeness to waste their time. It also looks hopelessly boomerish, up there with expecting the firmness of a handshake to land a job. I've seen this happen dozens of times and the resumes always end up in the trash within minutes. I've never seen anyone hired this way.
  - GJim 10mo ago
    > It also looks hopelessly boomerish Nice bit of ageism there. Frankly, if desiring to speak to the engineers hiring me is dismissed as "boomerish", then I'm hardly surprised recruiting is in such a mess. In this case, the short conversation VerifiedReports had proved that, no, he wouldn't be happy working there. QED.
  - zaycad 10mo ago
    > Submit resume through company site >AI rejects it for unknown reason and HR never sees it >Go to company HQ to prove I'm human and see the culture >Seething antisocial neckbeard engineer refuses to shake my hand, throws my resume in trash, and HR never sees it The fact a simple human action like job hunting makes you boil with hatred and antipathy is shocking. I guarantee you, none of these people are thinking about you hard enough to consider intentionally wasting your time. They want to feed their families just like you.

josefrichter 10mo ago

Cover letters are dead imho. Even before AI came to play.

GJim 10mo ago
Total opposite here. If you can't be bothered with a simple cover letter (a paragraph or two is fine) highlighting why you are a good fit and just send a CV..... Frankly, it comes across as low effort spamming.
- Akronymus 10mo ago
  As someone currently looking for a new job, I stopped bothering with cover letters because they didn't make the faintest of differences. After many dozens of rejections I am just burnt out about writing them.
- jagoff 10mo ago
  [flagged]
  - GJim 10mo ago
    If you consider briefly highlighting the relevant parts of your experience to a potential employer as "fucking shit", then perhaps you are unsuitable for the role being offered.
    - jijijijij 10mo ago
      I am sure, you hold the employer to the same standards. For example disclosing salary range information beforehand, or writing rejection letters afterwards, so applicants going through the trouble of doing their part aren't wasting their time and energy. Right?
      - jagoff 10mo ago
        [flagged]
      - GJim 10mo ago
        > I am sure, you hold the employer to the same standards I most certainly do! Incidentally, the very idea of not providing a salary range is truly baffling. I'm amazed any such advertisements generate applicants; other than those phoning up the HR department to tell them to stop pissing about and please state the salary.
    - techbrovanguard 10mo ago
      translated: stop questioning why the economy depends on the Infant Crushing Machine continuing to Crush Infants
- josefrichter 10mo ago
  That's in ideal world. In real world there's maybe 1% chance your cover letter will reach a human being.

Xylakant 10mo ago

I can tell you that our HR takes the time to write proper responses to every application, but we straight up delete AI written applications. I honor the effort put into any application, but if people haven’t spent the time, then why should we?

wickedsight 10mo ago
Your HR is the exception though, not the rule. I'm willing to risk this, since it allows me to keep my sanity. And if a company really seems awesome I will still put in the effort.
- Xylakant 10mo ago
  I believe you have entered a race to the bottom and while I understand why, I'm pretty certain you can't win this way. You are effectively filtering out the remaining companies that do care from the pool that you're talking to.

VerifiedReports 10mo ago

A place that physically operates near me posts job openings all the time, for which I'm well-qualified. After applying to several of them (with a very specific and targeted cover letter) and getting no response, my final attempt was to print out a letter and resume and physically take them over to their office. I was thinking this would make a positive impression and say hey, I'm really interested and I'm willing to go the extra mile. The person who answered the door and to whom I gave the envelope seemed baffled that anyone would do this... saying, you know you can do this online... I can only conclude that this is a ghost-job situation, where they didn't envision being called out in person and on site. Otherwise, what kind of dicks don't at least raise a respectful eyebrow at (or at least acknowledge) the guy who drives over to their office to hand-deliver a letter and resume? After that I knew for sure that I wouldn't want to work for these jagoffs anyway... even if the job were real.

HNisCIS 10mo ago
Having been on the other end of this repeatedly (as an engineer with a desk near the door, not a hiring manager) and I hate it when people do this. People are becoming much more adverse to bring panhandled or solicited in a way they cannot ignore, in the same way spam calls are more annoying than spam texts. It's not "initiative" or "extra mile" shit, it's taking advantage of someone's politeness to waste their time. It also looks hopelessly boomerish, up there with expecting the firmness of a handshake to land a job. I've seen this happen dozens of times and the resumes always end up in the trash within minutes. I've never seen anyone hired this way.
- GJim 10mo ago
  > It also looks hopelessly boomerish Nice bit of ageism there. Frankly, if desiring to speak to the engineers hiring me is dismissed as "boomerish", then I'm hardly surprised recruiting is in such a mess. In this case, the short conversation VerifiedReports had proved that, no, he wouldn't be happy working there. QED.
- zaycad 10mo ago
  > Submit resume through company site >AI rejects it for unknown reason and HR never sees it >Go to company HQ to prove I'm human and see the culture >Seething antisocial neckbeard engineer refuses to shake my hand, throws my resume in trash, and HR never sees it The fact a simple human action like job hunting makes you boil with hatred and antipathy is shocking. I guarantee you, none of these people are thinking about you hard enough to consider intentionally wasting your time. They want to feed their families just like you.