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Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

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Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#51

Post by erichurkman »

_raaq wrote: post #37
huntero wrote: post #10

Cover letters might get lost in the HR departments of larger companies, but they're incredibly useful to me when sorting through applications at a small company. Especially for entry level positions, a well-written cover letter is a much stronger positive signal than a bullet point style resume. Far too often the resume is a regurgitation of university class projects and career center templates. Think of it like a pr…

I find it funny that we have completely reversed methodologies on hiring. If someone gave me a resume with bullet point skills as the first thing on the resume, I would be impressed. Though you can't have too much or too little of any of these elements. That is interesting. We are seeking the best way to do something, but we are forgetting that people, the interviewers are all different, looking for arbitrarily (but…

I like the compromise. A clear definition of background + what they want out of a new role. If they are specifically targeting my company, I want to know that and why ("In a prior role I was a financial analyst. I then went to college to study computer science" will get a very different level of interest for specific roles from me than "I went to college and studied computer science").

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#52

Post by tyingq »

fecak wrote: post #43

Resume writer here that also writes cover letters for clients, converted to writing after 20 years in tech recruiting. Almost any time that a client asks for a cover letter, my response is "Here it is, and I hope you never have to use it". If you're using a cover letter to apply for a job, it means you have no human inside the company that is advocating on your behalf. Your friend wouldn't ask you for a cover letter…

>Almost any time that a client asks for a cover letter, my response is "Here it is, and I hope you never have to use it".

That seems kind of absolute. If I were applying to, say, an auto manufacturer, the cover letter might be the obvious place to state why I'm interested in working there. And why I'm a good choice. Like, "I've always been a car nut. I even wrote an open source library to access CAN bus data here: http://whatever "

Basically to say that a personalized, per-company, cover letter might have significant value. A generic one, perhaps not.

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#53

Post by ChuckMcM »

As a hiring manager I appreciate a cover letter that suggests you have read the job description, a bit about the company, and thought a bit about what skills you bring to the table. So for managers like me, getting one gives the candidate a slight edge over those who don't write cover letters.

That said, just like boiler plate recruiter emails that try to interest me in a job that I'm clearly not going to be interested in based on where I am in my career, a cover letter that is clearly just boiler plate can be a slight negative.

Bottom line, bad cover letter (-1), no cover letter (0), good cover letter (+1) in terms of impact. Regret minimization says you are always safe not sending one, but min/maxers would have you tailor it to the job to give you that extra edge :-).

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#54

Post by jackietreehorn »

I look at a lot of cover letters. The best explain why you want to work there. The resume will show the experience and background. Show some passion. Say if you use the product. What you admire about it. It is a chance to speak beyond the resume and show how you stand out.

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#55

Post by rdiddly »

qznc wrote: post #16

I 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…

I used to paste the job posting into a text editor, splitting it up into bullet-points if needed. Then -- I know you think I'm gonna say I'd paste stuff from there into the cover letter, but no -- I'd keep the window up while working on the cover letter in another window. And I'd make sure to address all those bullet-points if possible, or as many as I could. Imagining myself reading it, if I found myself wanting to shout "BULLSHIT!" at something, I'd take that part out or rework it.

If my letter didn't succeed in addressing at least 3/4 of the bullet-points in the text file, I would scrap the application.

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#56

Post by thomastjeffery »

fecak wrote: post #43

Resume writer here that also writes cover letters for clients, converted to writing after 20 years in tech recruiting. Almost any time that a client asks for a cover letter, my response is "Here it is, and I hope you never have to use it". If you're using a cover letter to apply for a job, it means you have no human inside the company that is advocating on your behalf. Your friend wouldn't ask you for a cover letter…

> applying to a job 100% 'cold' as an outsider.

I really wish that weren't such a problem.

It's difficult for many of us to get a foot in the door, and that is exasperated by the one-size-fits-all solutions that everyone seems to point to, that really aren't the best fit for many of us.

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#57

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Don't write one. I quit using them after in interview where the HR didn't bother to provide it to the interviewer who complained about how sparse my resume was. It was on purpose because the letter had much more background content. I've also never received a cover letter for candidates I've interviewed.

You have zero control over the distribution of two separate documents. ATS systems are geared toward something they can run keyword matches on and the extra fluff of a cover letter gets cast aside if they are even supported at all. Just work the meat of the cover letter into your resume and let that stand on its own.

Of course, outside of tech, where soft skills may need to be displayed a cover letter has more merit.

Re: Ask HN: Writing cover letters for tech jobs

#60

Post by Rapzid »

Cover letter is email body, resume is role description and bulleted list of accomplishments/value added in each role. I found a way to work languages used in each role in without using a vertical list.

For the "cover letter" I try to match tone of whoever wrote job description and convey excitement and cultural fit. I believe this to be very important in hearing back when reaching out and will iterate until I get more responses; though each is taylored.

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