Counterpoint: cover letters are exactly the kind of time-sucking circle jerk that should be automated, and at least your candidate is showing that they can use technology to automate time-wasting menial tasks and prioritize their time effectively.
Honestly, cover letters are something that needs to die out for most jobs, they’re entirely pointless. 99% of the time, it just seems like they want you to rehash the contents of your resume and grovel a bit for the company. Screw that.
You want someone with 5 years experience in a role, my resume shows I have ten years doing that job, make your call if it’s good enough to interview me or not. I’m not writing an essay about how excited I am for the opportunity to count widgets at your company, and how it’s always been a dream of mine to work inventory control for a company that changes the world by ensuring stock buybacks can regularly happen by overworking and underpaying their staff.
Biggest waste of time I see recommended for applications. I don’t apply to any job that requires them.
As a hiring manager I’d have preferred someone not have a cover letter over submitting an AI one. The point is to express yourself in a way that just a list of your job experience and skills can’t. I never discarded an application for not having one but if I knew they didn’t write it they’d get cut for sure.
I’ve been a hiring manager, I simply don’t see the value in them for most job postings. Maybe if you’re trying to get your first job out of school, or you’re trying to pivot into a new industry, sure. If you’re applying for, say, an accountant role, you’ve been in the industry for 20 years and the position you’re applying for is largely in line with your experience, just a step up the career track or a change in volume, I don’t see the point.
Heck, I see retail jobs asking for a cover letter sometimes to be a cashier and stock merchandise. Waste of time for everyone involved, and only serves as a filter for the employer to see who’s desperate enough for a job, or passionate enough about whatever is being sold, that they’ll put up with whatever.
When I got stuck whilst writing a cover letter for a job I really wanted (and needed), I gave up and had ChatGPT write one with heavy guidance. I was prepared for the interviewer to ask if I used AI to write it (applying to IT in a library, so I figured it might come up).
I concluded that I would definitely say “yes” if asked. If they were to accuse me of cheating, I wouldn’t deny that perspective, but I would offer my own: When I reached my limits, I found the right tool for the job, understood its strengths, worked within its limitations, then validated the result.
I did not simply throw the job description and my resume at a robot then submit whatever it spat out without inspection. That would be irresponsible of me, and disrespectful to the hiring manager. I took care to make sure the result was desired and fit my needs, and I made several adjustments (both via prompt and via keyboard) until I was sure that it fulfilled my wishes.
Did I do An Engineering™ on the prompt? Fuck no.
But did I choose the right tool, learn how it works, operate it with care, then ensure the finished product was acceptable to the concerned parties? Fuck yeah, I did.
Come to find out, they didn’t ask, and didn’t care. I got the job and have been here for several months. Boy, am I glad I didn’t let my inability to write an original cover letter ruin my chance at the best job I’ve ever had.
This is legitimately funny
Counterpoint: cover letters are exactly the kind of time-sucking circle jerk that should be automated, and at least your candidate is showing that they can use technology to automate time-wasting menial tasks and prioritize their time effectively.
There are worse practices, like teaching neurodivergent behavioral patterns as “signs of lying” to the HR department.
That’s probably part of the reason I never managed to get, and probably will never get, a corporate job.
The way you worded your comment implies you have a non-corporate job, care to tell more?
Honestly, cover letters are something that needs to die out for most jobs, they’re entirely pointless. 99% of the time, it just seems like they want you to rehash the contents of your resume and grovel a bit for the company. Screw that.
You want someone with 5 years experience in a role, my resume shows I have ten years doing that job, make your call if it’s good enough to interview me or not. I’m not writing an essay about how excited I am for the opportunity to count widgets at your company, and how it’s always been a dream of mine to work inventory control for a company that changes the world by ensuring stock buybacks can regularly happen by overworking and underpaying their staff.
Biggest waste of time I see recommended for applications. I don’t apply to any job that requires them.
As a hiring manager I’d have preferred someone not have a cover letter over submitting an AI one. The point is to express yourself in a way that just a list of your job experience and skills can’t. I never discarded an application for not having one but if I knew they didn’t write it they’d get cut for sure.
I’ve been a hiring manager, I simply don’t see the value in them for most job postings. Maybe if you’re trying to get your first job out of school, or you’re trying to pivot into a new industry, sure. If you’re applying for, say, an accountant role, you’ve been in the industry for 20 years and the position you’re applying for is largely in line with your experience, just a step up the career track or a change in volume, I don’t see the point.
Heck, I see retail jobs asking for a cover letter sometimes to be a cashier and stock merchandise. Waste of time for everyone involved, and only serves as a filter for the employer to see who’s desperate enough for a job, or passionate enough about whatever is being sold, that they’ll put up with whatever.
I’m all for using AI to ease the burden of cover letters, but a real candidate is going to check the result before sending
Ding ding
I don’t care if you used automation to ease a menial task. That’s basically half the reason TO automate things.
I DO care if you can’t even be arsed to read what the automation spit out to fact check.
They cant even bother to read the input! If they read what they were applying for, the would know to remove the extra output
The better way to automate menial tasks is not to do them in the first place.
That’s true, but this is also ensuring that people can vet whatever they get out of an AI and make sure it isn’t just hallucinated garbage
When I got stuck whilst writing a cover letter for a job I really wanted (and needed), I gave up and had ChatGPT write one with heavy guidance. I was prepared for the interviewer to ask if I used AI to write it (applying to IT in a library, so I figured it might come up).
I concluded that I would definitely say “yes” if asked. If they were to accuse me of cheating, I wouldn’t deny that perspective, but I would offer my own: When I reached my limits, I found the right tool for the job, understood its strengths, worked within its limitations, then validated the result.
I did not simply throw the job description and my resume at a robot then submit whatever it spat out without inspection. That would be irresponsible of me, and disrespectful to the hiring manager. I took care to make sure the result was desired and fit my needs, and I made several adjustments (both via prompt and via keyboard) until I was sure that it fulfilled my wishes.
Did I do An Engineering™ on the prompt? Fuck no.
But did I choose the right tool, learn how it works, operate it with care, then ensure the finished product was acceptable to the concerned parties? Fuck yeah, I did.
Come to find out, they didn’t ask, and didn’t care. I got the job and have been here for several months. Boy, am I glad I didn’t let my inability to write an original cover letter ruin my chance at the best job I’ve ever had.