If I thought anyone was going to read it, I would feel less bad about writing them.
I just use AI to summarize it for me so it takes less time to read it.
I wish I never looked at your username.
2026 is all about burning gasoline to drive into an office instead of using the infrastructure that was proven to allow WFH, while forests are burning from global warming and countries are running out of oil. All so you can read and AI summary of something written by another AI.
Not judging you, ya gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills. Just remarking at how absurd the world has become.
I literally had one generic cover letter, and just changed the company and position title when submitting it.
As a EUrangutan I had to google what a cover letter means and now I am depressed.
Are your CVs typically just bullet points about experience and education?
Yep pretty much, we have a EU format for CVs and maybe add a little letter of why you think you are the right person for the job and that’s it, something short
Some examples:
Examples
maybe add a little letter of why you think you are the right person for the job…something short
You’ve succinctly described a cover letter :)
Yeah but you don’t have to send one, just if you wanna be fancy and no one makes long ass letters like in the USA, that was the point of the comment
Yes, makes it easier for the recruiter. that’s how it’s taught at school, too. At least was, haven’t been in school for a while but have applied for jobs using this format.
Sometimes they ask to write a small letter about how you think you are right for this job. I thought that was the cover letter. It’s not supposed to be very long.
Yes, that’s a cover letter.
I honestly don’t know. I found my job through an employment agency, I worked there a few months and they offered me a permanent contract. I said yes and that was nine years ago.
Why ARE cover letters still a thing??
The more willing someone is to jump through hoops to get a job, the less likely they are to demand to be paid what it’s worth.
Confirms candidate knows what job they have applied for, can read simple instructions like “send cover letter”, also vibe / culture check.
Abuse me harder, Corpo Daddy 🫦
Congratulations, you’ve passed the vibe check.
I get that the grind looking for a job can be tough.
As a small business with just 3 or 4 staff hiring is also tough.
Hiring the wrong person is very, very costly.
I dont think that asking for confirmation that an applicant has read the job advert is “abuse”, but if you do then there’s no need to apply I guess.
It’s not just your small business though. It’s Every. Single. Application.
Could I use a template? Actually probably not as more and more businesses are asking for specifics in the cover letters to combat templates and AI use.
To the business owner it’s only a few minutes to write cover letter, but when people are applying for dozens of jobs a day, that all ask for unique responses, and quizzes, and forms that are identical to the CV you are required to upload, it gets very hard to write an even vaguely inspired response to “why do you want to sell kebabs out of my food truck for minimum wage?”
I can’t speak for food truck guy but in a way part of the reason for cover letters is that they discourage drive bys like that. A bit like a bot test for visiting a website these days. “Do a little extra to prove you’re real”.
I totally understand that people work in exchange for money, but there’s loads of places you can work for money. As the employer there’s an advantage in hiring a person that specifically wants to work for me, or at least employers like me.
That means, candidates that reviewed 24 job postings and applied for the 6 which are more desirable to them, are the candidates which are much more desirable to me. People that just want a job and any job will do are obviously less desirable.
A template is fine, and kind of expected honestly.
Dude, there are millions of fake job offerings out there just looking to scrape data. You have to send out hundreds of applications just to get to one or two genuine offers. With the addition of mandatory bespoke cover letters, looking for a job becomes more work than an actual full time job.
What would you like me to do about that, as an employer?
Do interviews then. Cover letters discourages the real people whereas the"drive bys", as you called them, will just crap something out with AI in 2 seconds.
Asking for interviews also shows you’re as invested in finding a good match for an employee as the employee is in finding a good boss.
Interviews take a lot of time and resources. We’re hiring someone presently and interviews will take an hour for myself and two staff for each candidate. We’ve decided to interview 10 candidates.