I Hate Cover Letters

[groar]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

These days your resume is scanned by a program looking for key words that relate to experience and education that match the job description. They do not scan a cover letter.

this is not true everywhere, and i'd actually be interested to find out what percentage of employers use this method. i have a feeling it's less than people think.

i worked for a huge hospital system (upmc) that employs tens of thousands of people and they didn't use keyword scanning. they had no way to upload a cover letter, though, and it was up to the individual hiring manager whether they read cover letters submitted as part of the resume file.

i also applied for tons of jobs at yale (about 14,000 employees, and very strict state-mandated job requirements) and ended up befriending an hr person. they don't use keyword scanning either. i was also told specifically that having a cover letter was a huge plus with both hr and hiring managers even though they don't require one.

my newest job is at a nonprofit and they definitely had humans looking at every application, and they DEFINITELY read and took into consideration the cover letters. certainly any small business or organization is probably not scanning resumes.

so just saying - the kind of system you describe does exist, but it is not the only thing out there. and who knows if it's even the most prevalent - i don't know if the data exists to demonstrate that it is or isn't.

i do think the OP is right that it depends on your line of work. but increasingly, being able to communicate clearly via the written word is important for most jobs, since that's how most people communicate at work these days. and your cover letter is a chance to show your skills in that area.

[fishbrains]

I completely agree with Groar.

I have worked for a number of very large employers and have been working closely with HR for years. My last 3 employers have not used key word algorithms. One employer was a private corp with 15k employees, one was F500, and the current is state government.