the_joel•5d agoMost Upvoted

Realized I'd been writing cover letters completely backwards for 5 years

Last month I sent out 30 job apps and got zero callbacks. My buddy who works as a hiring manager at a tech company in Austin read one of my letters and laughed. He told me I was spending 3 paragraphs bragging about myself before even mentioning the job title. He said the first sentence needs to say why I want THAT specific role at THAT company, not a history of my whole life. Has anyone else had a hiring manager give them the real talk on what works?

2 comments

2 Comments

rosejackson5d ago

Buddy was right about leading with the role and company, but he missed something. You also gotta name drop a specific project or problem they're working on and say how your exact skills fit that. Like if they're building a new customer portal and you've done UX testing for similar rollouts, say that in the second sentence. Cover letters work best when they read like you already did your homework and know what they need, not just that you want the job. Most applicants skip that step entirely.

joel_singh844d ago

Oh man, that's a solid point but I think there's a catch. In my experience, if you get the project name wrong or misunderstand what they're actually building, you look worse than someone who kept it generic. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather see a cover letter that focuses on the problem the role solves instead of trying to guess at specific internal projects you might not have full details on.