Do You Really Need a Cover Letter When Applying for Jobs?

Before we get started, do you need help making a cover letter? If so, check out my very own cover letters here and here.

Are cover letters really necessary when applying for jobs? Realistically, this is probably more of a personal preference, but not having a cover letter handy could ultimately limit your future job prospects, both internally and externally. You may never need a cover letter if at least one of the following conditions is true: 

1. You never intend to optionally upload a cover letter when applying for a job
2. You don’t intend on applying to jobs that require you to submit a cover letter
3. You are never never instructed to submit a cover letter when applying for a job

Most people will probably fall into the last case, especially when applying to jobs directly on company websites, or through some of the more well known online job search engines (LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, etc.). However, if you are actively looking for jobs, you will undoubtedly come across the case of an awesome job posting that instructs you to directly email a hiring manager or recruiter with your resume and cover letter. What do you do then? Do you pass up on something that could be potentially incredible because you don’t have a cover letter, or because you are too lazy to make one? Or, should you take the high road, and produce a badass cover letter, so you can find out more about the job? Of course, I should state that there is no implication that you won’t be contacted just because you don’t submit a cover letter when instructed to do so; however, there is implied potential to be filtered out by stickler hiring managers and recruiters for not following the instructions, regardless of how incredible your resume is. This then begs another question: Why would you purposely lower your chances of success, when it takes very little to increase your chances of success? Regardless, my suggestion is to take the high road, and produce a badass cover letter! Need more convincing? Continue reading to find out more about how a cover letter will not only open more doors, but will also help you become a better communicator, both of which give you an edge over everyone else.

If you don’t believe that a cover letter will open more doors for you, then consider the following. We’ve already established that if you apply to enough jobs, you will eventually find one that instructs you to directly email a person with your cover letter and resume. Applying to jobs like these can be ideal since you have the ability to potentially communicate with someone directly, and not necessarily be automatically screened out by software reading through your resume/cover letter. What do you say to this person on the other end? Rather than just saying,”Hi, my name is David Marcus, and I am interested in the job. Here is my resume and cover letter. Please accept these documents as my interest in the position. Thank you for your time.” Hell no! This is the most ideal opportunity to sell yourself because it’s putting all of the information directly into the hiring manager or recruiter’s inbox. In this case, use the contents of your cover letter for your email, state who you are, your interest, your credentials and education, experience and accomplishments, etc. In this instance, having a well polished cover letter with the right words puts you ahead of the curve, and gives the reader an easy insight into whom they may be interviewing and hiring very shortly!

This leads me to the next thing I’d like to establish: the only way to get hired at a company is by selling yourself. You have to convince your interviewers or the company you applied to that you are the right person for the job. How do you do this? You have to communicate effectively to them. If you want to become a better communicator and seller of yourself, there is no better way to do this than by first writing about yourself (resume and cover letter), and then by speaking about yourself (interview). This is called marketing. The better you market yourself and what you’re selling, the more piqued interest you will receive from recruiters and hiring managers. Higher interest in your resume and cover letter will translate to more interviews, which will potentially be converted into offers with desirable salaries. Sure, an item on a shelf will eventually be sold, but if that item gets air time advertisement and has big bright attractions around it, then there is a much higher chance that it’ll be sold quicker!

Lastly, the more I write about myself and the more I introduce myself to people professionally, the more I realize just how much I’ve relied on my professional resume and cover letter to describe, from a professional perspective, who I am, the things I do, and the things that interest me. To put this in EE terms, if you were to look at yourself as a system, your cover letter and resume are the tools you would use to characterize that system. From a non-technical perspective, you have to write a story about yourself. You start out writing a story by outlining yourself: education, professional certifications, work experience, responsibilities, accomplishments, tools you know how to use, volunteering, professional networking, etc. Then, write your story based on the outline. The outline of yourself is called your resume, and the story is your cover letter. You are the author of your story, and can put whatever you want in it. I’ve found that it’s much easier to write about yourself based on the one thing you give to the most people: your resume. I’ve also found that it’s much easier to speak about yourself once you have a script: your cover letter. You will use this script, or variants of it, in every email to recruiters/hiring managers, and when introducing yourself to someone on an elevator ride, during an interview, or even during a project kickoff meeting. Over time, you will revise, refine, and even expand your story to include things you may have previously missed, or to include newly gained information applicable to your quest.

In conclusion, at first, you may be shy or hesitant to sell yourself, and even write about yourself, but over time, you will become so good at both that you will eventually enjoy doing them. My father called this feeling, “going after the jugular,” because you become so focused and so good at talking to people, selling your product, and convincing others to buy your product that it actually becomes a fun game. Once the game is over, it usually means it’s time to conduct business. In reality, depending on the situation, the opportunity to sell your product may not come around very often, which is why you should do it with ferocity, and have fun while doing it. Bottom line takeaway: MAKE A COVER LETTER!