It’s not just your small business though. It’s Every. Single. Application.
Could I use a template? Actually probably not as more and more businesses are asking for specifics in the cover letters to combat templates and AI use.
To the business owner it’s only a few minutes to write cover letter, but when people are applying for dozens of jobs a day, that all ask for unique responses, and quizzes, and forms that are identical to the CV you are required to upload, it gets very hard to write an even vaguely inspired response to “why do you want to sell kebabs out of my food truck for minimum wage?”
I can’t speak for food truck guy but in a way part of the reason for cover letters is that they discourage drive bys like that. A bit like a bot test for visiting a website these days. “Do a little extra to prove you’re real”.
I totally understand that people work in exchange for money, but there’s loads of places you can work for money. As the employer there’s an advantage in hiring a person that specifically wants to work for me, or at least employers like me.
That means, candidates that reviewed 24 job postings and applied for the 6 which are more desirable to them, are the candidates which are much more desirable to me. People that just want a job and any job will do are obviously less desirable.
A template is fine, and kind of expected honestly.
Dude, there are millions of fake job offerings out there just looking to scrape data. You have to send out hundreds of applications just to get to one or two genuine offers. With the addition of mandatory bespoke cover letters, looking for a job becomes more work than an actual full time job.
I have been on the job hunt side of things. I applied for +50 jobs in a week with unique cover letters and CVs catered to the fields I am applying for. I have qualifications and experience in the fields I was applying to.
I got three responses.
One was a scam.
Another was a 2 week temp job with “the opportunity for further work”. So another scam.
The last one was the only legitimate offer I received, and it paid the minimum amount it could under the award.
I can empathise with an employer not wanting to sift through AI submissions or fly bys, but all they’ve done is turn that back onto applicants.
Then they act entitled when people don’t want to jump through their hoops and say stupid shit like “if you can’t write a cover letter maybe this isn’t the job for you”
It’s not just your small business though. It’s Every. Single. Application.
Could I use a template? Actually probably not as more and more businesses are asking for specifics in the cover letters to combat templates and AI use.
To the business owner it’s only a few minutes to write cover letter, but when people are applying for dozens of jobs a day, that all ask for unique responses, and quizzes, and forms that are identical to the CV you are required to upload, it gets very hard to write an even vaguely inspired response to “why do you want to sell kebabs out of my food truck for minimum wage?”
I can’t speak for food truck guy but in a way part of the reason for cover letters is that they discourage drive bys like that. A bit like a bot test for visiting a website these days. “Do a little extra to prove you’re real”.
I totally understand that people work in exchange for money, but there’s loads of places you can work for money. As the employer there’s an advantage in hiring a person that specifically wants to work for me, or at least employers like me.
That means, candidates that reviewed 24 job postings and applied for the 6 which are more desirable to them, are the candidates which are much more desirable to me. People that just want a job and any job will do are obviously less desirable.
A template is fine, and kind of expected honestly.
Dude, there are millions of fake job offerings out there just looking to scrape data. You have to send out hundreds of applications just to get to one or two genuine offers. With the addition of mandatory bespoke cover letters, looking for a job becomes more work than an actual full time job.
What would you like me to do about that, as an employer?
Stop asking for cover letters.
I have been on the job hunt side of things. I applied for +50 jobs in a week with unique cover letters and CVs catered to the fields I am applying for. I have qualifications and experience in the fields I was applying to.
I got three responses.
One was a scam. Another was a 2 week temp job with “the opportunity for further work”. So another scam. The last one was the only legitimate offer I received, and it paid the minimum amount it could under the award.
I can empathise with an employer not wanting to sift through AI submissions or fly bys, but all they’ve done is turn that back onto applicants. Then they act entitled when people don’t want to jump through their hoops and say stupid shit like “if you can’t write a cover letter maybe this isn’t the job for you”