Comments on: The last dinosaur: the cover letter

By: Donna Tatum

Donna Tatum — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:50:44 +0000

I’ve been a recruiter for many years and have to say….I don’t read the cover letter that starts out with the same template as we learned in college back in the….well…I’m not saying. What I suggest to my clients is a comparison of the talent and skills they posses with the talent needed for the successful job candidate. I also tell them to remove the objective from their resumes.

By: Karl Lusbec

Karl Lusbec — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:05:32 +0000

I agree with the fact that cover letters are an old age practice. Although they are often requested by companies/job boards etc, the question is: What can cover letters be replaced with?
How about a personal branding power point presentation which shows creativity and position yourself better for the job you are applying for? Also, it demonstrates your willingness to differentiate yourself from the “crowd” by sending an unexpected document. Building a deck also allows you to better communicates on your attributes and skills.
Now, how recruiters/HR will react to such an approach? Could it be seen as too bold and unconventional and therefore binned? Could it be seen as fantastically creative and thoughtful?
In my opinion, such an approach is definitly worthwhile, as it is quite new, professional, unexpected and….fun.

By: Laura Paris

Laura Paris — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:27:55 +0000

I’m torn on this one, personally. While I do agree that time could be spent in more productive ways, we still see tons of positions being posted with cover letters requested. Now, perhaps that’s due to the audience (I work at a university with students). But, enough employers are asking for them that I have the sense that at least *some* recruiters still want them.

By: Mike Hewlett

Mike Hewlett — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:40:17 +0000

This is how I feel about marketing. Scatter gun spray approaches yield very low results, but get an effective network operating and it brings in proper leads of a quality you can’t beat.

In a service organsiation like mine there is no alternative to owrd of mouth recommendation when it comes to making leads pay.

By: Duncan Elliott

Duncan Elliott — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:51:57 +0000

There is also the issue over misspelled, badly punctuated cover letters which quite often are all about how getting the job would improve the candidate’s ‘skills and experience’ as opposed to how the candidate could benefit the company!

I had one from a graduate the other day with not a single upper case character in it. What Generation Y (and god help us generation Z) has to remember is that the head of HR may not be from the ‘text generation lol’…

By: Laurent Brouat

Laurent Brouat — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:51:15 +0000

But for the experience we have your CV anyway, and the salary is the kind of question you ask during the interview or over the phone…

By: Edwin Thomas

Edwin Thomas — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:41:12 +0000

Well…what ya know!! A professional recruiter with the truth about Cover Letters! Thanks! You acknowledged what my instincts were telling me about this outdated practice. However, the Cover Letter seems useful when providing details about experience and salary history, right?