Optional Cover Letter?
If the cover letter is optional for the resume drop (GS IMD) should I even bother to write one up and submit it? I have always been under the impression that CL's are hardly ever looked at and can only hurt you.
unfortunately when it comes to competitive situations, optional=almost required. meaning most people who get in do the optional stuff too.
Well, in 2022, this seems like a very 2010 answer.
Even though I know from experience that nobody ever looks at you cover letter (I mean literally not even for one second)...I personally have never landed an interview after just throwing my resume out there without including the "optional" cover letter
You do the math
I never wrote a cover letter if it was optional. I didn't do a rigorous, controlled experiment about my success rate when writing cover letters vs. not, but I definitely got interviews without submitting a CL.
just write one. it'll also help you craft your story in the interview.
I got interviews with cover letters addressed to the wrong bank. Can somebody who screened resumes in the past please share your concrete experience (did you look through them)? Speculation can go either way on this i was just always curious...
I had the same experience. Got an interview with a bank when I wrote a different name for its CL.
Upload a .doc with 26 font, in bold, saying "HIRE ME"
I almost always refuse to do a cover letter. Probably the biggest waste ever. HR invented it or something.
In my case, we printed out all the OCR submissions - cover letter and resume. Yes, nobody reads the cover letter but we will see whether or not you have one. And its a minor point deduction in my book (simply because he/she is more likely a guy/girl who applied to 100 different postings and thus cant be bothered to do a custom cover letter).
This I actually have seen. Randomly flipping through the pages and coming across a ridiculous "letter" is always a nice surprise (for me, not for the applicant). Side Note: Please don't beg. Nobody is going to want a guy who has to beg.
Interestingly, I've heard that some far out shit gets submitted sometimes as a joke but the career services office filters the submissions and so we never see them. e.g. creatively photo-shopped pornographic images scanned into a PDF.
If cover letter is optional, should it be included? (Originally Posted: 09/28/2015)
Some firms have the option to include a cover letter, but do not require it (example: Lazard).
In such a case, if I do not think there is a compelling reason my candidacy requires a cover letter....should I include one?
All input is appreciated.
If they didn't ask for one, no. If they said it was optional, yes.
Bump
Morgan Stanley Cover Letter optional? (Originally Posted: 02/25/2010)
I see on Morgan Stanley's website that a cover letter is only required for positions in Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Is it actually ok to send out an application w/o a cover letter (from what I hear BB's don't read them anyway), or is that a way to get auto-dinged?
why don't you just attach a letter saying you're a lazy bum who doesn't feel like writing cover letters because it is optional and that you asked WSO and we said it's ok so you should not get auto-dinged.
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