Pro tip: I was writing cover letters wrong for 8 years

I was applying for a marketing manager job in Boston and a friend finally told me to stop using the same generic letter for every company. He said, 'Your cover letter sounds like a robot wrote it, man.' I looked back at my last 20 applications and realized I was just swapping out the company name. Has anyone else had a wake-up call about their application process?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_gonzalez461mo ago

My first year out of college I sent maybe fifty cover letters that all said the same thing about being a hard worker. Tbh I didn't get a single call back. Then my sister pointed out I never even mentioned the actual job I was applying for. I started adding one line about a specific project from the company's website, like their food drive if it was a grocery store. Honestly it felt silly but I got an interview the very next week.

juliashah1mo ago

I did something similar to what @grace_gonzalez46 described, just adding a short bit about their work, and it made all the difference.

graydavis1mo ago

My old boss used to say people treat job applications like shouting into a crowd. The company website is basically a cheat sheet for what they actually care about. It's wild how many people skip the free answers.