I haven’t written a cover letter in years, if the application requires it, I just don’t apply or shove in some AI generated letter (Used to have a genericized one, but the generic gave way to AI generated ones in today’s genAI age lol)
This is what ChatGPT’s real use case is. I will never write another cover letter.
There are now companies that use AI tools to screen CVs and cover letters.
So you have an LLM generating the letter and another LLM reading it to extract the key points.
What a wonderful time to be alive /s
AI detection models are hot garbage at detecting AI. I’m not bothered.
Drew Gooden’s most recent video addresses exactly this.
Cover letters can be meaningful for an entirely different reason. When I was still an undergrad, I wanted to apply for an internship. I tried hard to write that cover letter, tell them what motivates me to do that job and why I wanted to work there. I just couldn’t. I felt like I was lying to myself. That was when I realized I should switch professions.
I have a template I make minor alterations to that I send out as a cover letter. Mostly, it’s just a pain in the ass to have to print out a personalized PDF or copy/paste it each time I apply.
it’s just a pain in the ass to have to print out a personalized PDF
That is exponentially more complicated than changing a few words in a document, hitting print, and then clicking Print as PDF.
I haven’t changed jobs in quite some time, but back when I was applying, I wrote a Python script that would generate a PDF from a YAML file. Maintaining the YAML file was easier than maintaining a whole document.
edit: spelling.
This involves changing a few words in a few places. Like the name of the company and the job I’m going for. Again, that seems like it would be a lot more complicated.
Sure, writing the script is more complicated than changing a few words in a document, but after the initial effort of writing the script I would argue that changing a few words in a YAML file is approximately the same amount of effort as changing a few words in a word document.
I wrote the script because I enjoy scripting, plus now I can change the format of the output if I want to (as I was doing at the time), plus I built versioning into the script so I can easily refer to older versions. Of course if none of that applies to you, maintaining a document is probably the way to go! (Edit: Though I can easily edit YAML with vim, which I find strongly preferable to Word or the more open alternatives.)
edit: stupid client posted half a comment initially.
I refuse to write company fan fiction without getting paid
You still call them ‘cover letters’? I’ve been calling them ‘corporate fellatio’ for years…
She should submit a resume to the kid who hates writing in the third person
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Maybe Fisher Price should make more “My First PowerPoint” kind of things in that case. I’m sure there’s some demographics where it would sell like hot cakes.
Depends on the level of the organization you’re applying for. The higher the more important you share your views and direction you envision the role going in or how you’ll execute.
