6 Reasons Why Cover Letters Are Overrated

Let me preface this post by stating something up front:

You ABSOLUTELY should have a cover letter, because even though the majority of hiring managers and recruiters don’t take time to read them, we notice if you don’t have one accompanying your resume, and the impression left is not a positive one. As with a previous post (here), I am in no way undermining the need of having a cover letter. I’m just pointing out that there are compelling reasons why you should not be spending a ton of time or money on them. Here’s why:


1. The 80/10/10 rule – 80% of your time should be spent networking, 10% working with recruiters, and 10% applying for positions posted online (Does Your Job Search Strategy Follow the Numbers?). I would even go further and recommend you could spend up to 85% or 90% of your time networking because it taps into positions in the hidden job market, and it works, but let’s stay at 80/10/10 for now. When you network and someone asks for your resume, they are asking for just that. You wouldn’t hand them a cover letter too, because the reason for a cover letter is bypassed. You should send one cover letter when you contact a recruiter, but if they deem you as a candidate they want to present to clients, they handle the resume submission. An initial cover letter is all that is required. That leaves 10% (or less) of your time applying to jobs online that would require a cover letter in addition to your resume. Do the math. Why would you spend half a day “perfecting” your cover letter for something that you should only be devoting 10% of your time to?


2. The vast majority of hiring managers are NOT reading cover letters, because they don’t have time – we are seeing an extraordinary amount of applicants across the board. A big reason for this is because people out of desperation are “shot-gunning” resumes to every single position listed out there, regardless of whether they are qualified or not. Put it this way: if I have 800 resumes to sift through, and over 90% of them have no business being submitted, do you think I’m going to read cover letters first?

3. A hiring manager is sold on your resume, not on the cover letter – the old adage that we are sold or dissuaded in 15-20 seconds is true. Anything that is deemed vital to presenting you as a candidate should be in your resume, and not “saved” for the cover letter. If you are leaving important information out of your resume and instead leaving it for your cover letter, then you just made a fatal mistake.

4. Resumes are saved into Applicant Tracking Systems, NOT cover letters – this means that your cover letter will NEVER be seen by a human eye.

5. A cover letter is not getting your resume read, because we go to the resume FIRST – there simply is NOT time to read a cover letter initially, as explained in point 2. Focus on having a cover letter that is concise, covers the mains points, and does not take you loads of time to create. This is all it has to be.

6. Spend time you would otherwise on the cover letter in networking endeavors instead – a major part of devising the strategy for your job search is to prioritize, and work smart. Taking 3 or 4 hours to “perfect” a cover letter, or pay a professional a handsome fee to do so is neither a smart use of your time, or your money. Take 10 minutes on a cover letter, and spend the rest networking and tapping into the hidden job market.

In a recent engagement that a colleague holding a high level position in HR conducted, the question was asked specifically to a group of around 90 people how many actually took time to read cover letters. Five people raised their hands. That is 5.5%. I personally can’t think of anyone I work with who takes more than a moment to glance at cover letters. Convinced yet?

Do you know who are promoting cover letters the loudest? Resume writers! Why? Because cover letters are a big part of an upsell package most advertise as a necessary companion to your resume. DO NOT spend an inordinate amount of money by being convinced that a perfect cover letter, thank you email, reference sheet, or any other service is necessary. Writers can literally double or triple their takings by convincing you that you need these, and upselling all of these items. The truth is, your resume is the centerpiece; the rest combined have no where near the same weight, and any price not reflective of that should be questioned very seriously.