Are Cover Letters Still Relevant?

Many opinions concerning the relevance of cover letters during the hiring process have gone viral as of late.

No one reads cover letters, they say. Writing them adds needless time to the job search process, they say. Companies requiring cover letters must rethink their strategy, they say. Whether your position is for or against using cover letters during the hiring process, the fact remains that some hiring teams still do and will continue to require them – at least for now. Your best bet? Have a cover letter on hand. It’s better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have one.

Now that I’ve touched on why it’s a good idea to have a cover letter in your toolbox, let’s talk about best practices for generating strong and relevant cover letters. Job seekers should employ a two-step formula when devising cover letters. Let’s break the formula down, starting with step one. While writing cover letters, I recommend that job seekers target their documents to match specific job types.

Targeting means selecting skills and competencies specific to a role type learned through research efforts or industry knowledge and strategically adding them to your document. For example, if you want to apply for a Customer Service Manager opening, research the skills and competencies needed to succeed as a Customer Service Manager if you don’t already know them. Finally, identify and note your skills from that list and add them strategically to your cover letter.

Note: If you want to apply for several role types, the strategy above applies for each cover letter.

Once you successfully write and target your cover letter, it’s time to move to step two of the formula, tailoring. Tailoring, in a nutshell, means adding keywords (skills and competencies) directly from a job description to the right places on the cover letter and ensuring that it depicts you as the best candidate match based on the employer’s criteria.

For example, if you find an ideal Customer Service Manager opening online, your next step would be to locate your targeted cover letter for this role type and study the job description to identify and note your skill sets. Finally, you would add your skill sets/keywords to your cover letter the way you see them written in the job description. Are you wondering where to add keywords on a cover letter? At the end of this article, I will provide the best route to learn this information.  

After reviewing this two-step formula, some job seekers will say it’s too much and decide to submit generic cover letters instead. If this is your mindset, let’s examine a generic, cookie-cutter cover letter and predict its outcomes.

__________

To whom it may concern,

I’m writing to apply for the open position with your company. My skill sets and years of industry experience make me an ideal candidate for the role. Please review my resume for more details, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Job Seeker ABC

_________

What’s wrong with the above cover letter, you ask? Let’s highlight three key points to help you see what’s missing.

1.  “To whom it may concern” is not a valid cover letter salutation. Job Seeker ABC should try to find the name of the person responsible for filling the said role and address them directly.
2. Reread the opening line: “I’m writing to apply for the open position with your company.” What open position is Job Seeker ABC referring to? What is the company’s name?
3. Check this line out: “My skill sets and years of industry experience…” What relevant skill sets does Job Seeker ABC have that match the role he wants to apply for? How many years of experience does Job Seeker ABC have, and what industry is he referring to? 

Other observations can be made concerning the above cover letter. Nevertheless, these three points alone reveal that there is more to be desired, and the likely outcome is a hard pass from a hiring team. Bottom line? Target your cover letter for role types you are interested in and once you find job openings of the same role type, tailor it to match those job openings.

There are other factors to consider when writing a cover letter, but I intended to cover the basics in this article. Happy job searching, and remember, cover letters are still relevant.