Cover Letter's Importance?
How important is the cover letter to getting an interview for an internship? Is it absolutely necessary to go on and on about the company's good qualities?
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I have seen some very well known BB selecting candidates...They basically only print the CVs, dont care about the cover letters, put everything in a folder, and give you 10 sec attention span...so dont bother that much, try to right it correctly, but I think cover letters are more important at smaller firms.
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From my experience the whole point of a cover letter is to tell the company a few things about yourself that are not in your resume. That said, as pacio said, I am not sure how many of the BB firms in NYC actually read the cover letters. I should point out that I interviewed with a handful of BB firms in regions and they had my cover letter printed out and scribbled on when I walked into my first round interviews. So it is definitely worth writing a good one...you never know.
For my interviews I don't think anyone ever read the cover letter. At the BB where I got my offer for SA (and then FT) they only had my resume printed out when I came for the interview. No-one mentioned anything about the cover letter. However, you should still write something decent in case someone glances at it. But personally I didn't spend a lot of time on it and basically copy-pasted the same one for all my applications.
I'm not sure where the rest of the people on this thread have gotten their information, but my B-School career councelor has polled alumni and recruiters currently on the street, and the overwhelming majority of them will not even read your resume if it is not accompanied by a well written cover letter. Some people have erroneously concluded that since the cover letter did not appear on the interview, it was not read. This is not an indication of anything. At the very least, the cover letter serves as a quick an easy method for HR to distinguish between candidates to pursue (those with one) and candidates not to pursue (those without). At most, the cover letter will be read by hiring managers in order to decide who they think will best fit the job. That being said, the last thing you should do in a cover letter is go on, at length, about how great the company is. I'm certain that whoever reads the letter knows how great the company they work for is already and is more concerned about what you will contribute. The cover letter should describe how you heard about the opportunity and why your background and skills will make you a valuable new addition to the team. You should speak about the firm to which you are applying only to specify how you will be able to add value. Putting the time into cover letters is definately time well spent.
There's a difference between what people say in a poll and do though. Imagine the question, "How likely would you be to read a resume if it was accompanied by a poorly written cover letter?" Very Likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very Unlikely Well everyone would answer that unlikely and someone could say the data concludes they are vital. However, as far as actual behavior is concerned, its still up in the air whether the analyst with 500 to sift through will actually read it or not
boutiques read them.
We're about to enter a Great Depression. Don't you want a president who's already dressed for it?
Cover letter importance (Originally Posted: 01/13/2013)
Ive heard everything from no one reads a cover letter to it is equally as important as your resume...Any insight?
Here's the skinny:
A great cover letter will do nothing for you. A shitty cover letter will hurt you a little.
What does it take to draw up a great cover letter? Not much. Google.
Thanks...ive written up a couple but never had anyone comment on any of the content
Your cover letter has a 1/100 of being read.
To make sure that 1/100 doesn't hurt you simply make a "three paragraph essay" that you can use ctrl+H to fix for you and change 1 sentence in the first paragraph to be firm specific so they think its "authentic'. The change sentence will simply say something along the lines of. "In particular I'm interested in XX deal or XX sector as your firm was recently noted for XX and XXX".
Rest of the entire essay should be nonsense about why you're good for Research/S&T/Banking etc.
To give you an idea your average person filtering this resume is reading along the lines of 200 applicants over the course of a month... Their interest in your life story is right up there with their interest in the weather conditions in Antarctica.
So make that resume sparkle and the rest is history.
Mergers and Inquisitions answers 99% of the dumb questions on this site. FFS, use it.
Ok let me explain the cover letter situation to you. Here is the rule of thumb.
If it is a big company, don't do a cover letter, there are so many applicants, its not even worth it.
If its a small company, definitely do a cover letter. If there are five applicants for one spot, a cover letter will help you stand out.
Thats pretty much it, there is nothing more to it.
OCR cover letters matter- if it is the alumni that are reading them, most definitely. Same can be said for a smaller firm. Larger firm where you are applying online or through a referral but ultimately the large candidate pool I would just send in something generic with a name change.
While I agree that a cover letter always needs to accompany a resume in an application if it is asked for, there is not much importance attached to it. I have personally left the name of another company in my cover letter a couple of times in a time crunch, and was still selected for an interview for all three BBs I applied to. I think that may have been unusual, but as long as the cover letter is well-written and there are no obvious mistakes, don't fret over it.
Do Cover Letters matter? (Originally Posted: 09/25/2015)
When doing SA resume drops, whether for a target or non-target, do you actually read cover letters?
Assuming I don't have typos in mine and I don't say anything blatantly stupid/offensive, am I good to go?
I've got the impression that a great cover letter won't help you but a screwed up one can get you dinged.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-23/the-case-against-cove…
Yes, of course you need to write a cover letter! My point was not to say that you don't need one...of course you do. But whether or not they are read is I think debatable/depends on the bank. I just wouldn't agonize over it, just write one that you can easily use as your standard format for all your applications and that you just need to make minor changes to when you submit it.
when i interviews a BB in London (it was over teh phone), the first question the analyst asked was about something i wrote on my cvr. i dont know if hr read it when shortlisting, but interviewers read it. maybe not all of them, maybe it will depend on who is interviewing.
Take it from someone who actually screened resume this recruiting season...it's completely arbitrary, entirely depends on who's looking at them (at least based on my firm).
That being said, most resume in the book I reviewed had no cover letters. So it's not a make-or-break decision. If you wanna go the extra mile, however, definitely write a SHORT and SWEET one that highlights something unique about you that makes you stand out. You just never know. Just make sure there are no errors on the letter if you do, otherwise the outcome will be pretty obvious.
True Story
I wanted to see if people really read your cover letter so I applied to a bunch of places last year to places I would definitely not ever go to or be interested in working for. So in my cover letter right in the middle of the paragraph I wrote in the word Shit. Just like if you were reading it you would see it. Well two of the places emailed back to schedule first round phone screens. Well I took the offer to practice my interviewing and well to see if it came up in conversation. Well it didn't, not one mention.
So well moral of the story, most places don't read your cover letter.
We have a winner
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