Do you need a cover letter?
March 30th, 2009 by lewis
TweetStephen Van Vreede wrote a nice guest post titled the “Great Cover Letter Debate” over at EmploymentDigest.net. It address the question: “Do I really even need a cover letter? Does anyone read them anymore?” Stephen’s main takeaway: “the reason cover letters aren’t often read isn’t because they are antiquated or even unwanted necessarily; it is because they simply aren’t effective and hiring people are tired of reading them.”
I absolutely agree with Stephen. As a hiring manager, cover letters fall into one of two categories. At best, it regurgitates the resume. At worse, it’s a page long document filled with dense, meaningless paragraphs.
I haven’t seen the perfect cover letter, but personally, I’d like to see a document that summarizes the top 3 reasons why you’re qualified for the job, backed with concrete examples from your work history. If a job seeker can provide that, I’ll read it.
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