Use this templateAre Cover Letters Necessary in 2024?
In today’s job market, cover letters help you showcase qualifications that make you a uniquely desirable candidate. Learn why cover letters are necessary and how they boost your hiring chances.
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Why are cover letters important?
Do I need a cover letter for my resume? If you’re an active job seeker, you’ve likely asked yourself this question before.
Of medium-sized companies, 55% require cover letters in job applications, yet 58% of professionals think they are unnecessary.
Despite conflicting statistics, writing a cover letter when applying for a job is a good idea — cover letters help showcase the qualifications and passion that help job seekers land jobs.
But exactly what can a cover letter help you achieve? There are many benefits to including a cover letter in your job application, so much so that they’ve become a necessary document to land an interview.
For instance, a cover letter allows you to:
- Share additional accomplishments you couldn’t fit into your resume.
- Provide more context to the achievements featured in your resume.
- Explain and justify gaps in your employment history.
- Showcase your career progression.
- Mention connections you have to the company like referrals from current employees.
- Convey your passion for the profession and your motivation to work for the company.
Including any of these points in a cover letter helps you convince employers you’re the right candidate for the job. You can write a letter yourself or make one in minutes with the help of our Cover Letter Builder.
Simply input your desired job title, years of experience and working style for the Builder to generate a fully personalized letter. Alternatively, you can submit your resume and have the Builder create a cover letter based on that information.
6 reasons cover letters are necessary in today’s job market
If you’re wondering whether writing a brand new cover letter is worth the effort for that job you’re eyeing, we’re here to tell you all the reasons you should.
Cover letters are completely customizable meaning you can virtually write whatever you want to ensure employers understand why you’re the best fit for the job, and more importantly, dissuade any doubts about why you’re not.
Cover letters help you explain employment gaps.
Whether it’s because you were unemployed, took time off work to care for a family member or decided to take a sabbatical to enjoy life and work on personal projects, employment gaps in resumes are a common occurrence for many job seekers.
However, to some employers, seeing more than a couple of months or years unaccounted for work can be a big red flag. Since you should never lie on your resume to hide employment gaps (this is an even bigger red flag), the cover letter is where you can briefly tell potential employers what you did during that gap.
Simply keep it brief and to the point. Mention whether the gap was a voluntary choice or not, explain why the gap won’t affect your performance and move on to effectively showcasing your accomplishments in a cover letter.
You can mention employee referrals in your cover letter.
One of the main reasons a cover letter comes in handy is when you have a networking connection with a current employee in the company you’re applying to. A friend recommending you for a job, also known as an employee referral, accounts for 30-50% of all hires in the U.S. and it also increases your hiring chances by 40%.
It’s no secret that having employee referrals gives you a leg up in your career. Therefore, including this bit of information in a cover letter is a must-have. You should include the employee referral in your cover letter’s opening paragraph so employers can identify you as soon as possible. You can check out our customizable opening paragraph examples to include in your cover letter.
Cover letters are ideal for showcasing your career progression.
A cover letter is ideal for showing recruiters your career progression or how you’ve moved up throughout each role in your career. Employers want to see more than just flashy accomplishments. They want to see how each achievement propelled you to a new stage in your career.
Basically, you want to show you’ve gotten better at your job throughout the years. Although tricky to convey explicitly in a resume, you can clearly delineate your career milestones in a more narrative way in a cover letter.
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They provide space to share additional accomplishments.
A cover letter offers you a blank page where you can showcase many more accomplishments and qualifications than an applicant who only submitted a resume. If you have relevant and impressive achievements that you believe can set you apart from other candidates yet you couldn’t fit these into your resume, a cover letter is necessary for you.
However, don’t waste a recruiter’s time by making them read a cover letter filled with anecdotes and achievements that are not relevant to the job. You need to tailor your accomplishments in a cover letter to reflect that you possess the required skills and experience.
Cover letters allow you to give more context about your resume achievements.
In addition to letting you showcase additional achievements, you can use a cover letter to provide context to specific accomplishments in your resume. Because a resume’s content is characteristically succinct, you might not be able to fully convey the professional development it took you to achieve something nor the impactful results of your achievements. The cover letter allows you to reference a resume achievement and provide more details about how you came about your decisions and strategies.
You can showcase your passion and personality in a cover letter.
A cover letter is a great tool to show off your personality and passion for the job. Many jobs, especially in company cultures that are more involved, want to see that you’re a good fit for the team beyond your strictly professional qualities.
In a cover letter, you can mention hobbies or personal projects that reflect the mission and values of the company to which you’re applying. Mentioning genuine motivation and passion for your role is also a great green flag for recruiters looking for quality hires.
When to submit a cover letter
When debating whether to include a cover letter in your job application, there are some situations when it’s a no-brainer.
When you’ve found your dream job
It’s not every day you find a job opening that meets all your requirements and genuinely gets you excited about the prospect of working. In those cases, you must take advantage of every opportunity to pitch your candidacy and ensure recruiters see all the ways you’re the best candidate for the job. A cover letter allows you to share additional achievements from the ones in your resume and explain why you’re really interested in this particular role.
When you have more to say
If you’ve written a good resume and still feel like it falls a little short of all the relevant skills and qualifications you can offer a company, you should definitely accompany it with an equally strong cover letter. A cover letter can also help you explain many slightly undesirable aspects of your candidacy, such as employment gaps, career changes, or having no formal experience.
When you have time to write a good cover letter
Recruiters can spot a generic cover letter in seconds. Submitting a cover letter that you didn’t put the effort to customize to your unique achievements and the job requirements is a sure way to get recruiters to dismiss you from the hiring process. Therefore, only submit a cover letter if you can truly spend some time editing it to its best version. Of course, you can always get help from our professional Cover Letter Builder and create a personalized letter in minutes!
When not to include a cover letter
There are a few instances where you shouldn’t include a cover letter in your job application:
The job doesn’t require a cover letter.
Although uncommon, some employers will explicitly request that applicants NOT include a cover letter with their resume, so ensure you read the job advertisement carefully.
The online application doesn’t allow you to add a cover letter.
Many companies only accept job applications through their digital forms. If the online application form doesn’t give you the option to submit a cover letter, feel free to omit it.
The application deadline is too tight.
There might come a time when you find a job opening that seems like the perfect fit, but the deadline to apply isn’t enough to write a quality cover letter. We would only say it’s somewhat acceptable not to submit a cover letter on this rare occasion. It’s not ideal, but if you have to choose between writing an excellent resume or a cover letter, the resume takes priority. However, to avoid this dilemma, we created a top-of-the-line Cover Letter Builder that writes you a personalized cover letter in minutes.
What does an “optional” cover letter mean?
You might find a job advertisement that says submitting a cover letter is optional. Technically, “optional” means it’s your choice to include a cover letter, and it shouldn’t affect the prospects of getting a job interview. However, depending on the employer, this can be a “trick question” to see if you’ll take the time and effort to include a letter with your application.
In cases where the cover letter is optional, we recommend always including one. First, although recruiters and hiring managers should be objective professionals, they are humans, and they can be subject to bias. If they receive dozens of applications and you’re the only one that didn’t submit a cover letter, that might shine a negative light on you.
The extra effort it takes to write a cover letter can yield significant results in your job search.
Use these cover letter examples to land your dream job
If you need help writing your cover letter, our cover letter examples are a great tool. Resume experts write these samples, showing you the skills, experiences and phrasing that make your cover letter shine.
Key takeaways
- Cover letters are necessary if the job opening clearly states you should include one.
- A cover letter is essential because it allows you to communicate personally with potential employers and share a referral from someone in the company, your passion for the job and additional career achievements.
- You shouldn’t include a cover letter in your job application if the job advertisement says not to write one, if the online application form doesn’t give you the option to submit one or if the deadline for applying doesn’t provide you with time to write a letter.
- If the job you’re applying for says a cover letter is optional, it’s your prerogative whether to include one or not. However, we encourage you to write one in this case, as it can help you stand out from other applicants who opted not to include one.
FAQ
Do I need a cover letter for an internal promotion?
Yes. A cover letter can help you show current colleagues and potential supervisors many professional qualities they’re not yet aware of, especially if they haven’t directly collaborated with you on a daily basis.
When applying for an internal position, include a cover letter that states all the reasons why an internal hire is beneficial to the company. Bring special attention to all the ways you already know the company and its internal processes. In addition, provide specific examples of instances where you’ve collaborated with potential future team members and any positive impact from those collaborations.
Do I need a cover letter for a part-time job?
Most part-time jobs won’t ask you to submit a cover letter for a job. Unless the job advertisement asks for a cover letter, you don’t need to include one. If the job ad says cover letters are optional, including one can help your chances of getting hired.
Do I need a cover letter for an internship?
Internships may require you to submit a cover letter in your application. Most companies have limited slots for their internships, so competition can be high. A cover letter can help you showcase your accomplishments during your academic career and the goals you hope to achieve in the internship and future job.
How do I format a cover letter?
You should follow the rules of a business letter when formatting a cover letter. Business and cover letters follow the same structure: a header with the date, recipient’s name, address and greeting — in that specific order. It follows with the opening, body and closing paragraphs and ends with an appropriate sign-off.
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