General help with a cover letter
I just saw the M&I format for a cover letter, while I am hoping to go into consulting, I was planning to use their investment banking format. But, I think the opening line is a little redundant. As I understood it, I thought the opening line was supposed to be "the catch" essentially something to catch their attention. Their format just has you saying your name, even though it is also at the top of the page.. Just looking for some feedback, wondering if people do the same. Wondering if you have any good cover letters you would be willing to post.
They have:
[Your Name] [Your Address] [Your Phone Number] [Your Email Address]
[Name of Recruiter] Title [Name of Bank] [Recruiter’s Address]
Dear Mr. / Ms. [Recruiter’s Name],
My name is [Your Name] and I am currently [a Year in School and Major / Business School Student at [School Name]] / [Working at Company Name in Division Name].
You're right. Cover letters should NOT be generic. They need to be interesting and unique, explaining your specific connections to the firm. Otherwise they will just be ignored.
They actually take a lot of time to write if you want to do it properly. Do not use a template when writing a cover letter.
I don't think you understand what I was saying. I was explaining that a generic cover letter is not the right way to do a cover letter, not whether a cover letter is helpful or not.
I can say FOR SURE that a unique, interesting, impressive cover letter will be much more helpful than a generic one.
I agree that a lot of people don't even read them, and that resume is usually more important, but for some jobs a good cover letter can help differentiate you a lot.
Not gonna lie. As long as you don't completely screw up, the cover letter is close to useless. Resume way more important as most the time cover letters just get scanned quickly. Theres nothing wrong with a template for a general format. Almost all the successful cover letters I've seen and used myself just use a generic introduction as the first sentence.
Keep it short 'n sweet.
But still following the generic cover letter format is probably best. Companies spend approx 30 seconds on your resume, how long do you think they spend on your cover letter? The generic format allows them to easily locate the information they are interested in. For example, they know they can ignore all of the first paragraph except for the last sentence, and the last paragraph.
They are really only trying to extract some basic information from you like why you think you are a good fit for the firm/position. Having a generic format makes it easy for them to scan for that info and key words. Making a unique cover letter may annoy them, I've heard most managers are not very hesitant to toss your application in the pass pile.
The smaller the consultancy the more important the cover letter.
Wait, what should be in the last sentence in the first paragraph that they will pay attention to? And what is in the last paragraph that can be completely ignored...
Labore iste quos quidem et perferendis. Non tempore in distinctio nisi.
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