Cover Letters & Thank You Notes - Webster University: Fill & Download for Free

Big disclaimer: I am just one lowly recruiter. There are a lot of other people in my profession and I don't speak for us all. But what I'm about to say is what I feel is an accurate sample size of what most of my peers in my field can all agree on.Hard truth on this one: absolutely not. Not only do we not usually read them, most of the time we don't even open that attachment or give cover letters a cursory glance. It's such a waste of time. Many companies have even stopped asking for them altogether.But I'll tell you who DOES read cover letters: hiring managers. Not all. In fact, a lot don't, but in the entire hiring equation, were I to assign likelihood, a hiring manager is more prone to read the cover letter than anyone else involved. And even then, I'd add another factor that narrows the field - hiring managers at small companies with lower hiring volume (like a small non-profit) are more likely to read a cover letter than a hiring manager at companies like Amazon or KPMG.In my opinion, if you want your cover letter to be read, do these things:Don't apply online but email your resume to a recruiter or hiring manager instead.Don't make it an actual "letter." Instead, make it the body of the email with your resume attached. When people attach a letter AND a resume to an email, let me just say only one attachment is getting opened, and it's always the resume. So don't even bother.Keep it short and to the point. Like seriously, five sentences is all that's necessary. If you're in sales or something maybe a few bullet points. But no multiple paragraphs. Long cover letters are simply not going to get read.Tailor it. Get the name of the company right in the cover letter. When I did campus recruiting for new grads at Expedia, 1 out of 2 times, the candidate got this wrong. They were applying to companies at such volume it wasn't uncommon to see "I'm excited about the possibility of an opportunity at Microsoft or Google or some other company that was not the company for which I worked."Inject some personality into it...please. If your cover letter sounds like that of everyone else, you have completely defeated the purpose.Similar to "objectives" on a resume, cover letters are a bit of a throwback to another era in job hunting where we didn't have fancy applicant tracking systems that connected a candidate's application with a tangible job/requisition. But for some reason we want to continue this exercise, so we may as well do it with more flair. I would also say cover letter requirements are industry specific. In tech one of the more evolved industries, I feel like they're totally unnecessary. That may not be the case in finance or management consulting, or any of the "bedrock" industries.

The fastest a candidate ever failed was two words into his cover letter. The position was related to quality assurance, and the cover letter started with “I is.”Somehow, the applicant got through to me by phone. I don't know how he got my number, or why the call didn't go to HR, but he started arguing with me that it was no big deal.Not only was he wrong for the job, since he either didn't proofread his own cover letter, or did proofread it and missed that, I don't know why he thought that showing me that he was argumentative and belligerent would improve his chances.

Not sure which cover letter are you talking about. I have done 5 internships so far:IIT Kanpur internship - I mailed the professor and got through. Cover letter is attached below.TU Braunschweig internship - This was via our college placement cell and so, no cover letter was involved.Rubrik Software Engineering internship - Cover letter is attached below.Trexquant internship - Cover letter is attached below.Stealth mode startup internship - I got through via a friend’s referral and so, no cover letter was involved.IIT Kanpur internship cover letter:Respected professor,I am Aman Goel, a sophomore at the Department of ComputerScience and Engineering, IIT Bombay. I currently have a CPI of X/10. I originally belong to Kanpur.I would like to work in a research project under you in the coming winters. I have gone through your homepage and would love to explore more about Statistical Computing.I have a decent background in programming and I am also pursuing a minor in Statistics along with a course in Data Analysis and Interpretation.I have the privilege of being the IIT Kanpur Zone topper in JEE Advanced 2013 with an All India Rank 33.Here is a link to my resume: <Link to resume>and here is a link to my web page: <Link to webpage>Hoping a reply in my favor.RegardsAman GoelSophomore, Computer Science and EngineeringIIT-BombayEmail: <My IITB email ID>Rubrik Software Engineering internship cover letter:Dear Sir/Madam,I am a B.Tech Third Year, Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate student at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.I am looking for a summer internship at Rubrik for summer 2016.My web page can be found here: <Link to webpage>and my resume can be found here: <Link to resume>Please let me know if there are opportunities for me to work for Rubrik.RegardsAman GoelB.Tech Third YearDepartment of Computer Science and EngineeringIIT BombayTrexquant internship cover letter:Dear Sir/Madam,I am a 4th year Computer Science and Engineering undergrad from IIT Bombay and I am interested in the quantitative research project offered by Trexquant.I have a CPI of X on a scale of 10. I am happy to mention that I have a pre-placement offer from Rubrik Inc., CA, USA, for outstanding performance during my internship at Rubrik in summers 2016.Please find attached my resume.Hoping for a positive reply.RegardsAman GoelB.Tech Fourth YearDepartment of Computer Science and EngineeringIIT BombayHope that the above cover letters help people to secure internships. Do comment and let me know if it did! :)