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Cover Letters are rarely read, for 2 reasons:

Reason 1: Recruiters (and Hiring Managers) are extremely busy, and they already have a limited amount of time to review each resume. Most of the assessments are based on your resume, and in 99% of cases they won't bother even opening the file.

Reason 2: Let's be honest, most cover letters are boring, full of fluff, and don't tell you much more about a candidate. So the few Recruiters who are adventurous enough tend to quickly run back ;-)

But... this doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a cover letter.

There is 1 case when a Cover Letter is used: during the final stages of the interview process. This could happen, for example, when hesitating between 2 candidates before making an offer. Hiring Managers & Recruiters might want to know “how much you want it”, and that letter could be a make or break factor.

So here are my 2 rules to use cover letters effectively, without wasting your time:

Rule 1: Only write highly targeted cover letters for your top 3-5 target roles/companies. You’ll maximize your chances where it really matters, while saving time on the rest.

Rule 2: If you get to a final round of interview for another company: write one then and send it to the recruiter.

• You’ll be able to use information gathered during interviews, and explain how you can contribute. This will make for a concrete, honest and targeted letter, because it will be based on actual interactions.
• Send it to the recruiter, explaining that you’ve “taken the time to reflect on your exchanges with interviewers and decided to put your motivations in writing to complement your answers”. It’s almost cheating: almost no one does that, so you’ll stand out and score extra points.

Here's a simple way to understand what sets a Profile Summary (on your resume) and a Cover Letter apart:

• A Profile Summary is about you -> the primary goal is to demonstrate your fit for a type of role.
• A Cover Letter is about the company -> it's intended to show that you have researched the company, and to explain how you can help their team.

The nuance may feel a bit "abstract" at first, but it's crucial to understand that these 2 pieces are complementary.

In most cases, no.

Realistically, you don't have the time to write a new cover letter for each employer. This would be inefficient, and as mentioned above you would get a very low return on investment (that time is better used applying to more roles).

First, you need to understand what actually matters to a Recruiter/Hiring Manager when it comes to Cover Letters: they have read your resume (and maybe even interviewed you at that stage), so they have a decent grasp of your skill set and track record.

What they actually care about are 2 things:

• (A) Do you care about their company and do you have a specific reason to work for them?
• (B) Do you understand what is required of you in the role that you're applying to?

This means that you can write 1 letter tailored to your skills and experience and change only a small part of the content to show that (A) you have done research on the company and have identified something interesting and (B) you've analyzed the job description and can list their key priorities back to you.

All that you need from the Recruiter is to think: "oh, they've got it.". As you probably noticed from (A) and (B) above, this is more about them/the company than it is about you, so the letter should be written from their angle and outline "what's in it for them".