Why Cover Letters Are Worth Writing
Even if a cover letter is optional on a job application, you’re certainly more likely to receive an invitation for an interview if you submit a cover letter along with your resume when applying for a job. Why is that? Well, it’s because a cover letter proves that you have enough interest in a job to do a little extra work for it, and just small amount of effort can go a long way in the eyes of a hiring manager.
Writing a cover letter might seem like a royal pain in the neck, but I promise it’s easy enough to do if you have a good template to work off of. Googling “easy cover letter template” takes literally 2 seconds, and those 2 seconds can make or break your ability to receive an offer for an interview. Yes, it will take more than 2 seconds to actually write your cover letter, but not by much. Just think of your cover letter like a Tinder Bio but for your work. You get to highlight all of the things that you are great at doing and you can write out all of your most flattering qualities. All you have to do is hype yourself up and then link those great traits to the job you are applying for.
Also, if writing isn’t something that you normally do in your day-to-day life, writing a cover letter gives you the opportunity to break out those rusty writing skills! Writing is good for the soul (move aside, chicken noodle soup), and while writing a cover letter is not the most creative endeavor, it may inspire you to write something else that you would not have thought of otherwise.
Truth be told, there is no “one size fits all” approach to cover letters, so you can make yours as short and sweet or as long and detailed as you would like. I wouldn’t recommend making yours extremely long or extremely short, but it could hypothetically be written that way if you really felt that your cover letter needed to be written at a certain length. Make sure to be on the lookout for any word counts or page limits though, because some job applications will only accept cover letters that reach a certain length.
I promise that writing a cover letter is not a waste of time, and more often than not the job applications that you submit with a cover letter are the ones that you will get a response for. Writing a cover letter isn’t rocket science, but with the right cover letter you might just get the chance to become one.
Written By
Madeline Thomas
Writing intern at Hired By, Ohio University student studying journalism and music production/industry recording, and writer for Odyssey Online.
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