Cover letters are not as important as they once were.
I've never looked at a cover letter before during my 2-3 years of recruiting.
I don't pay much attention to cover letters. Everyone kind of says the same thing – especially interns, since they don't have work experience. I prefer learning about you (1) through your resume and (2) in person.
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
Honestly, I never paid a lot of attention to cover letters. ... Personally, I'll still look at it (I look at everything that's submitted), but I'm going to spend more time on the resume.
– Former marketing executive @ Time Warner Cable
But does that mean you can skip cover letters altogether?
Well, when a company asks for one, the answer is simple - you should submit a cover letter.
But what if a company doesn't require a cover letter? Should you spend time writing one, or focus on polishing your resume instead?
In this post, we'll break down what employers really think about cover letters based on insights we gathered from 10+ people who've actually hired interns, with some advice from the book Confessions of a Recruiting Director sprinkled in.
To make your decision easier, we've boiled it down to just five key questions you should ask yourself.
By answering these questions, you'll know exactly when a cover letter might help you stand out, and when you can probably skip it. Let's dive in!
Not every employer reads cover letters, but you can be sure they'll all check your resume. And if you have a strong enough resume, you're likely guaranteed an interview – even without a cover letter.
What to do if a cover letter is optional? I think this depends on your resume. If you have a really strong resume, don't feel pressured to submit one.
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
To understand what it means to have a "strong" resume, put yourself in the shoes of a hiring manager and pretend you're looking at two resumes for a marketing internship. Which resume makes you more interested in speaking with the student?
The second resume is a lot stronger, because it shows you have a real interest in the field and even relevant experiences to prove you really are interested.
A weak resume is one that employers will look at and struggle to see why you're applying.
If all your coursework is in nutrition or geology, and you have nothing that talks about marketing research, you're probably not getting an interview unless you have a great cover letter. ...
If you have zero relevant experience, you'd better have a cover letter explaining why you're applying! If you don't, it makes me wonder if you applied because your mom told you to.
You don't need to wax poetic about why you want this specific internship. At this stage, I get that you just need an internship. However, I do need to see some indication of why you're interested in market research.
– Senior market researcher [LINK]
And if you're somewhere in between – you have some relevant experiences but not a lot – it's probably better to have a cover letter!
A lot of big companies that hire hundreds of interns every year don't have time to read cover letters.
I like people going above and beyond but at Deloitte, because we had so many people applying for jobs, I don't know if recruiters actually read cover letters. For example, when we had 600 applicants, we didn't have time to look at them.
Most big tech companies don't require cover letters. The applicant pool is so large that they don't have time to read them.
But if you're applying for a smaller organization, your cover letter will most likely be read.
Cover letters are especially impactful when submitted to the companies who hire dozens instead of hundreds; the start ups looking to change the world with team members who are equal parts talented and passionate; the tribes where each new person immediately sends ripples through the culture—they read cover letters, and make interview decisions based on them.
So if you're applying to a small company, definitely write one.
If you're applying for a big one, you can always ask recruiters if they'll be considered or passed onto interviewers.
If you're applying for a role that requires you to write or present information textually, employers are more likely to pay attention to your cover letter.
If it's a writing job, I'll spend more time looking at the cover letter as it tells me about a skill they should have. Outside of writing, it doesn't really matter unless you can really make it stand out.
– Former marketing executive @ Time Warner Cable
Cover letters are also an opportunity to showcase your written communication skills. Interns and entry level employees are often expected to draft surveys and slides showing the results of the survey, so they need to be clear and concise with good grammar. The cover letter can be a way to show that you’re capable of doing a good job with those tasks.
– Senior market researcher who has run internship programs
For writing jobs – journalism, public relations, publishing – you absolutely MUST write a great cover letter. Would you hire someone for a writing job who didn't compose a unique, interesting cover letter?
– Confessions of a Recruiting Director
Think of it this way: just like employers pay extra attention to how your resume looks when you're applying for a design job, they'll focus more on your cover letter if the job involves a lot of writing.
What does it mean to have something "valuable" to say? Well, every piece of your application should tell employers something about you that they didn't know. So if your cover letter is just repeating what you've already said your resume, you're better off not writing one.
Every piece of information you submit takes someone time to read through. So if your cover letter isn't exponentially better than your resume, it's taking seconds away from time that they could have spent elsewhere (like on your resume) to learn about you.
Also, if a cover letter is poorly written, it's another reason for them to not like you.
Most cover letters are just kind of formulaic. If you can make it interesting and unique, it'll get my attention but other than that, it's just one more thing I need to flip through when I'm just trying to get to the meat of things.
– Former marketing executive @ Time Warner Cable
To learn more about what makes a cover letter "valuable" to employers, see Cover letter examples & insider tips for students[lINK].
The reality is that hiring isn't an exact science. While many hiring managers and recruiters these days do not read cover letters, there are still some who do – and they might even use them to decide who to interview!
If there are two candidates who I'm on the fence about, I might re-read their cover letter to see who I'd want to interview. If you're the only one who submits a cover letter and all other candidates didn't, that in and of itself helps you stand out.
One hiring manager we spoke to sees cover letters as a way to avoid potentially bad hires.
I usually take a look at resumes first. If it's no good, I'll put it aside. If I like the resume, then I'll always look at the cover letter to get a feel for you. Your resume can only say so much.
A lot of people say they don't have the time to read cover letters. But if you make a horrible hire and they're difficult to work with, that's a costly problem that you could nip in the bud if you just read their cover letter and made a decision you're happy with.
– Senior electrical engineer @ Stantec
And if there's a company you're particularly interested in, it's probably worth putting in the time to write a proper cover letter.
Obviously, there’s a fair chance that [your cover letter] will go unread, especially if it’s at a huge company that probably has to filter out applications to some extent, but I would advise, that if you care enough about a given job you are applying to, it’s another complementary component that could spare you from the reject pile. Sort of like a college admissions essay for a reach school.
There is no downside to writing one, and they should only take maybe 3 hours tops, and if you’re in college you definitely have time!