It's Time to (sort of) Kill the Cover Letter
Rethinking a far-from-optimal tradition.
What's in this month's Newsletter?
It's Time to (sort of) Kill the Cover Letter
Jobs and Talent (I’m moving this section down a notch - just trying it out!)
Personal and Professional Updates
It’s Time to (sort of) Kill the Cover Letter
I’m going to argue that the typical usage of cover letters is untenable. The traditional approach not only yields minimal useful information about potentially qualified applicants, but is prone to encouraging unhelpful biases and even impedes desirable candidates before they even enter the hiring pipeline.
Instead of the typical approach, I’m going to suggest rewiring the hiring process in a way that still nets the screening-out benefits of the traditional cover letter and also yields far more useful information for hirers while building rapport with qualified prospects.
Stay with me…
****
Imagine: You’re searching for a new job. A quick search populates a significant amount of leads and you click on a position that looks promising! To apply, you must submit your resume and a cover letter. Maybe the cover letter is listed as “optional”. (Optional. Right. Paying taxes is optional too, I suppose).
You could sink hours pouring your heart into a truly great cover letter. A letter so epic that it alone is the differentiator that earns you a coveted initial screening interview and saves your resume from being banished into the abyss known as the Applicant Tracking System.
But will it even get read? How do you have confidence that recruiters and hiring managers will actually take the time to digest your brilliant prose? Why sink that much time and energy into an endeavor with so many unknowns?
You reason that it’s not worthwhile to craft an epic cover letter only to send it into the void on a wing and a prayer. But you should apply, especially if doing so is a low-effort proposition.
So you dust off your standard cover letter template. (You know, the basic four-paragraph one that talks about your “progressive experience” and your “passion for collaboration”). You spend about 15 minutes tailoring your cover letter to highlight a few specifics about the role or company that will hopefully stand out. You know this letter most certainly won’t be the differentiator, but the hope is that it’s good enough that it (along with your resume) keeps you in the game and lands you a conversation.
Now; Imagine: You’re hiring. You post a job. You know you can’t interview everyone who might be interested (obviously), so you ask applicants to submit their resume and a cover letter (maybe it’s optional).
Requesting cover letters, the thinking goes, can funnel out those who lack sufficient communication skills or sincere interest in the role. Now that job websites and decent applicant tracking systems make applying for some jobs so effortless (click a single button to upload your resume and apply), merely asking for a cover letter can discourage unqualified or barely-interested candidates.
Sure, you’ve seen the rare cover letters that did advance a candidate who might otherwise have been overlooked, but the overwhelming value of cover letters is to deter and discard weak candidates.
You look through the applications. The resumes are useful as an initial screening tool, but the cover letters leave a lot to be desired. They read like generic templates. You can even tell the precise points where the applicant inserted specific-keywords-unique-to-this-opportunity in an effort to tailor their application.
It’s better than nothing, you think, but it doesn’t net you very much. Where are all the great applicants?!
****
At best, it’s tedious song and dance. At worst (read: in reality), it’s an antiquated, sub-optimal approach with significant cost. There are three main problems with the typical approach to cover letters:
Bias. Because the hiring process is (often rightfully) fraught with humans, it’s also fraught with biases. Often read by one or two people at most, the cover letter can be a bias buffet, inviting a litany of unconscious projections and stereotypes (Eberhardt, Dasgupta, & Banaszynski, 2003; Erber & Fiske, 1984; Koomen & Dijker, 1998) that distort our ability to make optimal judgments.
Deterring Desired Applicants. Want to attract a more diverse candidate pool? Lower the barriers to engaging with them that are unintentionally constructed by the traditional approach.
An excellent HBR article by Tara Sophia Mohr, “Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified”, highlights some great reasons why women have a higher bar for submitting job applications than their male counterparts. By far and away, the top reason why women (and interestingly, men too) don’t apply for a job is “I didn’t think they would hire me since I didn’t meet the qualifications, and I didn’t want to waste my time and energy,” (italics added for emphasis).
Writing a good cover letter takes time and energy. Given that the data on whether cover letters matter in hiring or even get read is all over the map (and I mean all over: some say it matters a lot, some say barely at all) it’s reasonable to see why many potential applicants believe that there isn’t a great reason to sink much effort into anything beyond boilerplate. The cover letter is often just another hurdle. Considering their relative reluctance to engage with prospective employers, organizations that can minimize the friction between themselves and desirable applicants have a distinct advantage in acquiring desirable talent.
Lack of Differentiation. Today’s job market is a buyer’s market. Every employer is looking to stand out and attract top talent but few leverage the hiring process itself as a mechanism for differentiation.
(Side note: If your organization is still requiring job applicants to type in their experience line-by-line so your Applicant Tracking System can catalogue, codify, and keyword search, stop reading this right now and immediately prioritize finding a new system. You’ve got much bigger fish to fry than changing your cover letter approach. And yes, this also goes for those systems where candidates upload their resumes and have to then go and reformat each line because your ATS muddles the Word and PDF documents. I can’t even begin to tell you how many great candidates you’re missing out on because your application system is burdensome. And rightly so: applicants know that if this is what the company rolls out to attract prospective candidates, just imagine how brutal things are for them once they’re hired!).
Yes, you can and should solicit great candidates by making it easy to apply with one-click and easy-upload application processes. But it goes beyond just your technology. You can further differentiate by having a more human, applicant-centric hiring process. One that showcases that your organization is willing to be practical and think differently, making candidates feel valued and building goodwill with them before you even speak.
By rethinking what you ask from applicants and when you ask them, you can differentiate in a crowded marketplace.
Here’s a different way:
Rather than asking applicants to submit their resume and a cover letter, first ask those interested in applying to submit their resume along with a brief Statement of Qualifications (SoQ). The Statement of Qualifications is a brief list of bullet points highlighting which of the listed job qualifications the applicants believe they meet, exceed, or may not meet.
Here’s a template of how your job posting might frame this request: “To apply, please submit your resume along with a Statement of Qualifications. The Statement of Qualifications is a simple list of bullet points noting which of the aforementioned job qualifications you believe that you meet, those which you believe you exceed, and those which you believe you may not yet meet.”
As they may not have heard of an SoQ before, you should also include a downloadable template for them to use or at least post an example.
The information you gather from their resume and SoQ should be enough to screen out those who are under-qualified and move the rest into the next phase in the hiring process: Screening-in.
To learn more about sufficiently qualified candidates without having to conduct time-consuming screening interviews, we next reach out to candidates who have made the first cut and ask them to submit a Statement of Interest (SoI). The Statement of Interest allows them to showcase their interest in the position as well as elaborate on their resume and SoQ if they find it necessary. Importantly, I recommend allowing candidates to submit a Statement of Interest in writing – no more than one page – or via video. This will cater to their personal preferences and allow them to show up in a way that highlights their strengths.
Yes, this is a lot like a cover letter. Only there are two major differences between the Statement of Interest and Cover Letter:
Cover Letters are generally designed to add color to a resume, which is a retrospective statement of prior experience. The Statement of Interest is explicitly forward-looking concept: Rather than talk about what they have done and who they are, it asks them to focus on what they want to do and who they want to be.
There’s far more incentive for an applicant to put effort into a Statement of Interest because they know it will be seen. Unlike the traditional cover letter, there’s a reason to put time and effort into this project if they want the job. Plus, the opportunity to record and submit a video or a written letter allows candidates to optimize their time. Personally, I would be excited to put together a brief video Statement and it wouldn’t take me much time at all, while I know many others that would prefer to write a letter and would do so much better and faster than me.
Here’s a template of how you might reach out to candidates at this stage and request a Statement of Interest: “Congratulations! After reviewing your resume and Statement of Qualifications, we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to advance in our hiring process. As a next step, please submit a Statement of Interest (SoI). The Statement of Interest should express what appeals to you about this position and what aspects of the job you are most looking forward to or are curious about. You can submit your Statement of Interest in writing or via video, whichever you prefer (do not submit both). Written SoIs should be no longer than one page. Video recordings should be shared as Unlisted YouTube links and be no longer than 3 minutes in length.”
Candidates that submit SoIs at this point in the process will have sincere interest in the job and also appreciate a unique and sound hiring process. From there, you can proceed with interviewing and testing the best candidates in the pipeline.
The beauty of this approach is that it better serves both organizations and applicants. Organizations can still easily screen-out unqualified applicants with resumes and SoQs, and by killing the traditional up-front Cover Letter they don’t discourage decent applicants from applying. Organizations get more high-quality information when they need it and differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Applicants get to allocate time and energy when it’s really warranted by first establishing whether or not they’re truly in consideration for a position. If they make the initial cut after submitting a resume and SoQ, they can be sure their Statement of Interest will be seen and rationally devote time to the task.
Everybody wins!
Jobs and Talent
Jobs: If it seems like everyone is hiring, that’s because there are myriad jobs available! This is backed by a very unscientific poll I conducted on LinkedIn. As a result, I’m not going to be posting any specific listings this month for fear of turning this edition into a copy of Indeed.com. If you are on the hunt for a new job – be it in the Talent space or elsewhere – please send me a confidential message and I’ll try to help!
Talent:
An NYC-based friend is searching for a new opportunity in organizational and/or talent effectiveness and development. With over a decade of experience, this person would be outstanding at a Director/VP leadership role. They’d prefer to stay in NYC but would be willing to relocate for the right in-person (non-fully-remote) role. If you’re hiring for someone at this level, message me and I’ll do some matchmaking if appropriate!
If your organization is looking to build or improve your podcast and don’t know where to turn, check out podcast.love. My friend, Alex Kapelman, has been creating and producing podcasts for nearly a decade (before they were really cool) and is a master of his craft.
Personal & Professional Updates
If you’d like to pilot the revamping hiring process I just described, let’s discuss how tailor it to your organization. Shoot me an email!
It’s a busy time of year! I’m deep into qualitative interview coding for my dissertation and finalizing work for next year. We’ve got a handful of exciting new clients and a few new courses planned. Looking for training, coaching, keynote speaking, or executive search help? Message me as always!
If you’re a beginner to intermediate runner looking for an amazing experience to kickstart a great year, join me in Austin on February 17-21.
That's it for this edition - please reach out if I can be at all helpful.
Stay safe, get your booster shots! Be compassionate and intentional.
