Are Cover Letters Obsolete?

There has been a 91 comment discussion going on through LinkedIn’s “Career Change Central” lead by Phil Rosenberg. He makes many interesting points to support the idea that cover letters are obsolete. It is common knowledge that the typical resume is scanned by the Human Resource specialist, manager, or recruiter for maybe 30 seconds. Recruiters use weighted key word searches on posted resumes. Many companies use an Applicant Tracking System ( ATS) as a HR database. Most HR people scan the resumes into the ATS not the cover letters. Rosenberg cites a LinkedIn poll that he conducted as well as anecdotal interviews he has lead to support his claim. He reports percentages from his poll but we don’t know how large his sample size was nor does he offer the raw data for perusal. Rosenberg is a Career Coach and he also has a blog spot repeating his mantra on cover letters so he may have an agenda with this discussion.

He is a proponent of customizing your resume per company and even per job in one company using keywords from the job description or from your research on that company. Each position has its own set of keywords. He explains that a resume shouldn’t list the things you can do but rather “Here’s why I can do that better than anyone else.” It should answer why the company should hire you to help them solve their problems. I heartily agree with targeted resumes, it only makes sense when you are marketing your skills to a specific job or company however I hesitate to endorse the blanket statement that cover letters are obsolete.

Perhaps for general jobs, a cover letter is discarded and not passed on to the hiring manager, therefore a waste of time and energy. But for specialized niche positions or upper level jobs, I think the cover letter would be read. Cover letters serve as a writing sample, a means to further your cause and a method to differentiate yourself.

So how do you know if cover letters are going to be read or not? Smaller companies don’t use ATS and may very well use all the materials sent to them to vet applicants. If you send a resume to a networked contact, the cover letter will be read by the contact. At a PhD or post doc level, your qualifications put you in league with a smaller pool of candidates. Maybe that cover letter will help you get that interview.

Laura Smith Dunaief writes of her experience, “In the not-so-distant past, I sat across from a senior manager in an informational interview; I had been invited in response to a blind (but customized) resume and cover letter I had sent to the firm. Toward the end of the interview, the manager flipped my resume over to reveal my cover letter, where she - or someone - had circled a section of my cover letter, drawn a star and two exclamation points next to it, and had written: ‘Find a way to hire this person.’" The cover letter obviously worked for her.

Some suggest using a “T-letter” which is like a cover letter except that after the introductory paragraph you write two columns, one that has the company’s job requirements and in the other column your qualifications that meet their specifications to connect the dots for the reader.

I suggest that if you are applying online to a medium or large company, don’t bother with a cover letter. If you are sending your resume to a specific person then definitely include a cover letter. Use a T-letter if you have a job description to work from and it feels appropriate. If you are in a very specialized field, I would recommend writing the cover letter. They may not read it but if they do, it could give you the competitive advantage to get that interview. Phil Rosenberg may see this as a black and white no-brainer issue but for the sciences at the graduate level, I see this as a grey area that calls for common sense.