I suppose my initial email outreach for my current gig (How-To Geek) could qualify as a cover letter. It was in reply to a Stack Overflow Careers post. Like some of the commenters here have said, just kept it light and mentioned a couple things in the job posting that I really connected with. Happy to share the full text if there's interest.
Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
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Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#12Always write a cover letter from scratch. It's better to invest time in five most relevant positions and apply with a complementing cover letter (and resume), than to apply for fifty positions without any background research (AKA generic cover letter/resume.)
If you are applying online to a big tech company, it almost always goes into an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). The ATS scans your resume and cover letter for keywords, and matches it with the keywords in the job description or specific keywords as asked my the hiring manager. (You can get through ATS just by copy-pasting the job description in your cover letter. Don't do it). Once you pass through the ATS filter, the recruiter don't seem to care much about the content of your cover letter, but it makes a huge difference when it goes to the hiring manager.
Apart from convincing why you are a perfect fit for the role, share interesting stuff about you like a link to your website (highly recommend this for new grads in tech roles), github profile, previous internship experiences and what excites you about this role.
PS - The most effective way to get a call is to network.(and avoid the whole ATS blackhole).
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#13Always write a cover letter from scratch. It's better to invest time in five most relevant positions and apply with a complementing cover letter (and resume), than to apply for fifty positions without any background research (AKA generic cover letter/resume.) If you are applying online to a big tech company, it almost always goes into an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). The ATS scans your resume and cover letter for…
Didn't even think of the ATS angle. Yikes, so if a cover letter doesn't have enough related keywords it might not even make it past machine filters? That makes me even more anxious - most postings, actually virtually every posting I see, the overlap btw required skills posted and my skills is rarely more than 50% or 60%.
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#14I suppose my initial email outreach for my current gig (How-To Geek) could qualify as a cover letter. It was in reply to a Stack Overflow Careers post. Like some of the commenters here have said, just kept it light and mentioned a couple things in the job posting that I really connected with. Happy to share the full text if there's interest.
Thanks. Please do share
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#15I would write one and keep it short. Nobody wants to read a huge block of text. For startups, I've always kept it informal and sent it as an email. Hi Team, I'm a software engineer in [LOCATION] looking for new opportunities. I have experience with your stack and would love to hear more about the company and openings. You can see more from me here: [WEBSITE/GITHUB LINK] Please have a glance at my resume and see if my…
That’s also how I always did it and it works well for startup jobs. A lot of people are too formal or list too many things that the person on the other end doesn’t care about.
It’s also important to reference something from the company website / job offer in my opinion. I recently had to wade through a bunch of applications we got through Indeed and 100% of them had irrelevant generic cover letters / intro text that could apply to a startup or an enterprise at the same time. Spending your time on that instead of formatting your CV goes a long way.
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#16I repeat parts of their job description and explain why I fulfill it.
Example: Job ad says "we look for a proactive and self-reliant person" then my cover letter says "to successfully finish my PhD, being proactive and self-reliant was important". This technique works even better for the technical parts.
I'm not sure if it was worth the effort. In the german job market, employers are quite desperate these days. A friend sent out simple template letters and got interviews just as easily.
I always sent a PDF. If sent by email, I duplicated the cover letter in the email. My experience is that many had a print out at the interview and PDF works best to ensure a good print.
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#17My own cover letter consists of two sentences plus a little informal or formal fluff around it:
1. Who am I, short description of career so far.
2. Why I think hiring me would be good for your company. This is essentially a sales pitch, based on prior research on the company I'm applying for.
It is also what I like to see when being on the other side. It helps filtering out people that have an actual interest vs the ones that send mass mails, and also it already gives a first personal impression about a candidate.
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#18I think the best cover letter explains what you can do on day one, in three months, six months, and 1 year for the company that may potentially hire you.
Attach the cover letter as a separate document. If you can, get the email of the hiring manager and let them know that you've applied through the standard HR interface. Tone should always be professional and cordial. If you can craft this cover letter well enough you will stand out from others who don't customize their cover letters. Do your research on the company and find where your strengths can play to their business objectives and communicate why you are the one they should choose (then you can link to GitHub projects accordingly). Good luck.
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#19I repeat parts of their job description and explain why I fulfill it. Example: Job ad says "we look for a proactive and self-reliant person" then my cover letter says "to successfully finish my PhD, being proactive and self-reliant was important". This technique works even better for the technical parts. I'm not sure if it was worth the effort. In the german job market, employers are quite desperate these days. A fri…
Great point on attaching an emailed cover letter as a PDF. Never thought about that, thanks!
Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs
#20I can't speak to every hiring manager, but I definitely read cover letters and value non-generic ones. (And in fact my job ad instructs you to include one. So I still look at resumes that come in without one, but it doesn't speak well to your attention to detail.)
The tone doesn't matter that much, but I would avoid the extremes of very informal or very formal. It should be the first thing that I read, so if you're applying by email it should be the body of the email.
A cover letter is an opportunity for you to tell me why you're interested in this job/company specifically and to highlight things that might not be readily apparent by reading your resume. Some of the best cover letters call out specific achievements that are relevant to the job you're applying for, or preemptively address concerns that someone reading only your resume might have. Even just including enough information to show that you did some research on the job/company before applying already puts you above most cover letters. A generic cover letter makes me wonder if you're just applying to every job ad.