Hit 1,000 resume reviews last week and it changed my view on cover letters

I keep a spreadsheet of every resume I've helped edit for friends and people on Reddit. Last week I crossed 1,000 entries. What surprised me is that only about 60 of those people actually wrote a custom cover letter for the job they wanted. And every single one of those 60 got at least an interview. I used to think cover letters were a waste of time but now I'm starting to push them harder. Even a short three sentence letter that mentions something specific about the company seems to work way better than a generic one. Has anyone else seen a big difference from adding a personal cover letter to their application?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_thompson623d ago

My buddy finally got a callback after he added a two sentence cover letter mentioning their new product line.

irisross56m ago

Cover letters are useless and a waste of time, @nathan_thompson62.