[vkou]

Has anyone hiring for a company with more than 10 employees in the 21st century even read a cover letter?

And if they have, are they stupid enough to actually believe it?

For most people looking for work, rent's due next month, and they are machine-gunning applications, they aren't actually deeply passionate about getting a job at <your particular company>.

[Waterluvian]

I love cover letters for this reason. It’s easy to tell who is shotgunning and who is thoughtfully applying. I might be lucky in the sense that I still get the latter.

[yownie]

I'm pleased then this will make it harder for you, cover letters and by extensions job application dumb hoops are asymmetric and just plain rude.

[Waterluvian]

I’m not concerned. Rudimentary communication skills are important.

[waboremo]

What are the tells of a thoughtful cover letter? Maybe people can incorporate those when asking AI to generate their letter for them.

[ghaff]

They're someone who knows you. It's how I've gotten the few jobs I've had since 2001.

Slightly more seriously, if AI makes cutting through the noise of resumes submitted from unknowns even more difficult, maybe people default more and more to hiring people they know--which they already do to a non-trivial degree.

[Waterluvian]

I feel like you’re right. If generating somewhat convincing nonsense becomes too common, it’ll make too much sense to stick with people you know are verifiable.

[ghaff]

This is probably true broadly. To the degree that AI bots overwhelm submission and communication processes in general, people will increasingly say screw it and drop into their networks and private channels.

[Waterluvian]

Hah. “Please make the letter you generate thoughtful. Make up an anecdote that illustrates why I’m uniquely interested in this work.”

Apologies. You deserve a thoughtful answer but I’ve had a day. Maybe others can add in, but the most common one for me is when they bind their qualifications to the role by way of one or two (very) short anecdotes or personal experiences. It also gives me something to ask about that you’re likely comfortable elaborating on. A great ice breaker.

[awesomeMilou]

Don't you think I'd be pretty easy to fool you with ChatGPT?

[Brigand]

Agreed, I read all cover letters and so far they contain a good deal of predictive power on how an applicant will do in the interview process.

[Tao3300]

So you get a kick out of making sure you're not hiring people who really need the work. Nice work, bro.

[Waterluvian]

It’s not a charity. I’m kind of baffled by people who externalize employment like this.

[tomjen3]

It is not charity, it is an economic transaction.

What I don't get is what benefit does a company get by people pretending that they are applying for anything other than the (total) salary?

[PradeetPatel]

Although salary plays a big part in the transaction, it is not everything.

Many years ago I worked as a hiring manager for a PR firm in India, the cover letter is a very good way to sift out the dedicated candidates from the unfocused.

It also provides us with a unique insight into their psyche, using a combination of NLP and targeted interview questions regarding topics mentioned in the cover letter, we were able to discern potential points of leverage when it comes to salary negotiation. For example, an ideologically driven unior associate will accept a lower yearly salary as long as he's personal ego requirements are fulfilled, thus minimising operational expenditure for the business.

[sizzle]

This sounds scary accurate, what other insights on “points of leverage” did you uncover?

[Tao3300]

Didn't say it was. Do you think I'm putting words in your mouth? Or that perhaps I missed some subtle tone?

What's there for you to be baffled about?

[xyzelement]

He's talking about what enables him to effectively screen for his role. Your response and a few others are trying to guilt him for screening.

[Ozzie_osman]

I read them. I don't expect applicants to write them, and if it's a formal letter that they copy-paste around, I skim it and don't really factor it in.

But a lot of times the candidate will say why they are interested in the role (they are passionate about the space, they use the product, etc) and it does give higher intent than just a normal application (which candidates often just spray out).

(I'm at a 20 person company now but read them even at larger companies)

Btw, I do the same when I'm reaching out to a candidate. I'll explain why I'm reaching out and why I think they are a good fit.

[macintux]

I was hoping my last targeted cover letter would at least get me a real rejection letter instead of a form letter, but no such luck.

[Ozzie_osman]

I think that's a fair ask. The hiring manager or recruiter should symmetrically put in as much effort as you did to tour application.

That said, a lot of companies get really high volumes of applicants, and can't always do that.

[tcmart14]

I agree with the first statement, but I can't really say the second statement is reasonable. It is the same on the opposite side. Right now, I may have to apply to 100 jobs to get 10 interviews for one to give me an offer. Just as much as companies have to deal with many applicants, most applicants also have to apply to many places. Both have one-to-many relationships.

[karmelapple]

Yes, I read cover letters.

If you think a successful cover letter talks about being deeply passionate or otherwise over-the-moon about the company, your understanding of what signal they give is misguided in my opinion. I look just for some indication that it’s a human who has even the smallest understanding of our company, and maybe had some connection from their history to our mission. That is still helpful, including for the new developer I just hired two weeks ago.

The cover letter and free-form two questions I ask are, somewhat surprisingly to me, one of the strongest signals in figuring out whether to talk to someone or not. Resumes can list lots of similar skills, but a plain English writing customized for my job application, even if it’s small, tells me oh so much about their priorities, their writing ability, and more.

And I fully understand they’re looking for a job anywhere to pay the bills. Even as a cofounder of a small company, that’s part of why I work, too :)

[pclmulqdq]

My old manager at a 150-person company used to do it for experienced candidates. It was shocking to me. I think his idea was that he wanted you to be at least thoughtful enough to say something specific about the job and your experience.

[Swizec]

On the other hand my SO got a job at a fortune 200 company out of 1000+ applicants because she was one of the two people who could speak intelligently about the role and what she’d do with it in the initial phone screen. The recruiter was surprised to find someone who even knew what the job posting said.

[karmelapple]

As another commenter said, it clearly points out many people shotgunning job apps.

Maybe that will change with AI. But I bet there will be pretty easy ways to detect that - if nothing else, during the first step in the hiring process.

[tobtoh]

In Australia, to keep receiving unemployment benefits, you have to apply for 20 jobs a fortnight (or something like that). So you get a lot of unemployed people shot gunning their resume around to fulfil that requirement ().

Requiring a cover letter becomes a neat shorthand way to filter those legitimately applying and those that aren't. Those seeking to fulfil their 20 applications/fortnight quota don't submit cover letters - they still met their requirement, and I don't waste my time reviewing their CV.

() Even people legitimately seeking jobs would do this. They would spam out their resume to 12-15 jobs, and then with the time saved, they would use that to 'properly' apply for the handful of jobs they were seriously considering.

[Lex-2008]

Happened to me over 10 years ago - rejection letter had this extra sentence at the end: "In addition, I really love your cover letter". The company back then had about 1000 employees, but it was for a position in a remote office which was probably very small.

Regarding "are they stupid enough to actually believe it" - I don't know, but what do people usually write in cover letters? When I wrote it - it was basically CV, just in text form instead of bullet points. But then _lying_ in cover letter is basically the same as lying on CV, no? Or, if companies tend to believe CVs, I would expect them to at least _pretend_ to believe cover letters, too.

[slyall]

I'm applying for places now. I have a cut-and-paste cover letter that I slightly alter between jobs.

Realistically though I'm applying for jobs that match my skills (more or less). It would be nice if you company is cool and saving the world but I've found that most of the time I get a job and then get passionate about the industry.

Even when the company is cool they are the 4th great place I've applied to and the first 3 I struck out at.

It's always the boring banks and such that ask you the "What attracted you to apply here?".

[kube-system]

Depends on the position. 90%+ of the people I interview for an experienced software engineer role are currently employed.

[hartator]

I do read cover letters, but more especially cover emails.

[vkou]

Do you write personalized rejection mails to people who wrote cover letters for you?

If not, why not?