Poll of the Day > How long is a cover letter supposed to be, and what should it say?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've never written one.

How long should it be? What should it say? How tailored to the job I'm applying for should it be? Do I have to write a separate letter for each job I'm applying to?

help

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3 quarters of a page long

why you - why youre good for the company

why them - why this company is good for you (with specific examples from specific projects/products of theirs)

how you fit the role. match your experience/skills to the job description with specific examples of how you meet each criteria (or the most significant ones)

your availability for follow-up interview

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And generally yeah tailor it to the company specifically. If youre applying to multiple firms within the same field you can pretty much use the same template and just change names and project specifics

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Fatal covered it. I use the same template but change out my skills and reasons why I want to work for the company. I admit my mind sometimes goes blank on that question as the answer is "I want a job that pays".

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If you need examples, you know how to contact me! @MrMelodramatic

Or maybe you don't lol. I pinged you on discord but feel free to PM me on here.

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Fatal missed one thing which is that yes, you should tailor it to the job you're apping for. Seems obvious given everything else he said, but I thought maybe worth mentioning.

Good luck in your job hunt melo

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glad I don't have to do these, hate writing stuff like that >_>

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Depends on the job and field. I'd recommend looking up examples for things specific to whatever you're trying to get into.

MrMelodramatic posted...

How long should it be? What should it say? How tailored to the job I'm applying for should it be? Do I have to write a separate letter for each job I'm applying to?

Not necessarily. If they're jobs within the same field or in roughly the same position, you can use the same one. If you're going through a job site, oftentimes your cover letter won't even be read anyway (and it's one more reason why you should reach out to a hiring manager directly when possible). You want a few basic templates that you can customize to some extent.

For unsolicited applications (ie, not to a job listing), you can certainly use basically the same resume because you're pitching a job or what you can do for the company. However, if you want to go the extra mile, you can note things specific to that company or industry, although in those cases your cover letter won't necessarily be read so I wouldn't go crazy with it. And I will mention that job seekers often make the mistake of only focusing on job listings rather than initiating an interaction.

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TheOkHornedRat posted...

Fatal missed one thing which is that yes, you should tailor it to the job you're apping for. Seems obvious given everything else he said, but I thought maybe worth mentioning.

What on earth are you on about?

FatalAccident posted...

And generally yeah tailor it to the company specifically.

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Great place to put threats, like if they don't hire you, you're gonna burn the whole company to the ground!!!

Also good place to put what you find attractive in a person and any requests for co-workers/bosses to look like that.

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I personally wouldn't make a cover letter more than two paragraphs long.

There's a few goals of the cover letter one of which is to convince the person who has to read through 300 resumes to read yours, so you definitely want to tailor it for that specific company. Others have covered what should be in it, which I agree with but should only need to be a few sentences.

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wwinterj25 posted...

What on earth are you on about?

That's odd. I guess I had the page open for like an hour and didnt post? That second post wasn't there when I typed that.

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