You Don’t Need to Write Custom Cover Letters
Hi friend,
Conventional wisdom says you should customize your cover letter to each position if you want your job application to be successful, and a lot of job seekers tell me they spend hours writing a brand new cover letter for every application in an effort to follow this advice! However, I advocate for writing one or two versions of your cover letter independent of any job description, that can be adjusted in just a few minutes before submitting.
Where does writing custom cover letters for every job go wrong?
Have you ever met someone who had something specific in common with you? The same favorite song or movie or restaurant, perhaps? It’s fun when that happens! But what about when you share more of your favorite things, and they respond “Me too!” to everything? Suddenly, an exciting connection starts to feel disingenuous and creepy.
Most job seekers writing custom cover letters for every job get too matchy with the job description or company website. They are focused on molding themselves into an idea of what the other person wants rather than finding a job that’s a great fit for who they already are (translate this to a dating scenario and you can see how catastrophic that is!). Instead of coming across as a great candidate who did thoughtful research, they usually write a cover letter that seems hollow and subtly off putting, and waste a lot of time doing it! Or if they are a good writer, they risk ending up with a job that they don’t actually want.
Why do so many people recommend custom cover letters then?
In my experience, you can swap most “write custom cover letters” advice with “write specific cover letters and only apply to the right jobs”. Generic statements are a cover letter plague: “I’m a hard worker, strong communicator, and team player” said thirty-five thousand cover letters last month (probably). Specificity in your cover letter means it won’t make sense for a lot of job applications, and that’s a good thing— it forces you to be honest with yourself about whether or not it’s really the right job for you. If the answer is yes, it means you need a new version of your cover letter that will match multiple positions of that nature.
What parts of your cover letter should you customize?
The salutation. If you address your cover letter to a specific person, the entire rest of it will feel customized and unique.
If you’re following the cover letter format I use, the last sentence of your first paragraph should mention the name of the organization or title of the position you are applying for.
The end of your cover letter should explain why you are interested in the position and illustrate an understanding of the goals of the organization or position you are applying for. It should probably mention the name of the organization or the position title again.
Optional: If you have multiple versions of a cover letter, you will likely swap out one or two middle paragraphs and adjust your opening identity statement to reflect that.
See you next week,
Karissa
