Are Cover Letters Still Relevant?

Yes! Cover letters are still a thing! Not every job application will require one, and not every hiring manager will read them, but it is still recommended to include one. Before I started writing resumes full time, I did a lot of hiring for my previous company in a Senior Management role. Hundreds and hundreds of resumes and cover letters would clutter my email inbox every time I had a job opening. Truth is, I rarely spent the time reading them, and chose to jump straight to the resume to look for what I was interested in to quickly determine a small candidate pool. My boss, however, spent quite a bit of time reading through the cover letters

, trying to get a good sense of “who the candidate is” and getting their “1st impression” before even glancing at the resume; they would even decide to completely rule out a candidate for the lack of a cover letter. Moral of the story? Although your cover letter may be obsolete to one person, it may matter a great deal to someone else. No one will rule out your application because you included a cover letter, but some will because you didn’t.

What is a cover letter and what should be on it?

Before the age of computers and online applications, we used to mail our resumes off to potential employers and companies and included a letter on top to introduce ourselves and explain why we were the right fit for their available position. This became known as the cover letter. Though the need to mail your resume via the postal service is pretty much non-existent today, the idea of a cover letter lives on, typically presenting itself as the body of your email to a hiring manager, or as an additional attachment to an online application. Regardless of how it is submitted, cover letters are a professional introduction to your resume.

The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself, express your interest in working for a company or position, and motivate the reader to look at your resume. Hiring managers and HR representatives look at your cover letter to ensure you understand their business and that you care about what they are looking for in a candidate. Therefore, having just 1 master cover letter to send out to the masses is not recommended. A high-quality cover letter is more like an interview on paper, it’s your chance to showcase that you 1. understand the nature of the job; 2. are qualified for the position; 3. are interested in the position / company and excited for the opportunity.

Fox Valley Career Connections suggests using a point-by-point cover letter style. Read through the job posting you are interested in, take notes, and make sure you fully understand the qualifications and needs of the position. Compare those qualifications and needs against your resume and see what aligns. Do you have the education / training requested? Is there a specific number of years of experience required? Are there soft / hard skills listed as desired qualifications? Once you have answered these questions and identified commonalities between your resume and the job posting, you can then draft your cover letter in either paragraph form or in bullets to explain why you would be the best candidate. Though both methods are fine, I prefer bullets to allow the reader to scan the cover letter quickly and pull out easy-to-read information. If you choose to present your cover letter in the more traditional paragraph form, just make sure you are using short / concise paragraphs to avoid making it look too dense.

Expert Tips and Tricks

· Keep your cover letter to 1 page and make it easy to read. Though a resume could vary between 1 and 2 pages, a cover letter should never exceed a single page. The last thing a hiring manager wants is to read a long, dense, and wordy cover letter – make it simple, easy to scan, and to the point. Just like you resume, save the fluff and extra details for an interview.

· Match your cover letter with your resume.Make sure whatever you are highlighting on your cover letter matches what you have on your resume. Don’t reference a skill or previous job if it isn’t included on your resume; those types of inconsistencies raise red flags. Not only should the content be consistent, but the font, style, and format should be as well. You are submitting a package of information: resume, cover letter, references, etc., therefore everything should fit together.

· Don’t be afraid to create a cover letter template for yourself. Typically, I hesitate at recommending any kind of template when it comes to job search documents, however I would suggest creating a personalized cover letter template for yourself and tailor it as you apply to different positions. This will save you time in the long run, already having a foundation to work from. Just don’t forget to make changes each time.

· Make it about them! Though the purpose of job search documents is to sell yourself, skills, and experience, a company wants to be sure you understand who they are and what they want out of a candidate. Make sure you are outlining key points from the job posting to demonstrate that you actually read through the posting in detail. Do your research and spend some time reviewing the company website and getting to know their mission and vision and reference it in the cover letter; trust me, you will earn some extra brownie points for doing so!

· Try to find a contact person to address your letter to. Add a personalized touch and include the name of the HR person or hiring manager. If the job posting doesn’t include a name (which many do not), check the company website, search on LinkedIn, or even call to ask. If you still come up short, you can always put “Dear Hiring Manager”.

· Don’t point out what you are missing. Focus on what you have to offer, not the qualifications you may be lacking. Sometimes your achievements, skills, and experience may overshadow a desired skill they are asking for so don’t bring attention to what is missing.

For assistance with your cover letter and other job search documents, contact Fox Valley Career Connections. You can also view our other blog posts for resources and information on resume writing.

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