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tbarone | 3 years ago

Very aggressive screening at the outset, with all the submissions in an easy to read list.

At my last job, we would ignore every single submission that didn't have a cover letter. If the cover letter has even the slightest red flag; for example if it doesn't mention anything specific about the company, then onto the next one. The next step would be an equally aggressive phone screen.

It's ruthless and you might miss out on some great candidates, but the time wasted by interviewing the wrong people is a killer.

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fwungy|3 years ago

A lot of people have stopped writing cover letters because they don't seem to have any impact.

LazyMans|3 years ago

Yeah. I don't write those.

simplotek|3 years ago

> At my last job, we would ignore every single submission that didn't have a cover letter.

It's funny because I automatically drop a job prospect if they mention cover letter. If they request it right in the job ad and the job description is interesting, I send my updated CV and my contacts, but leave out anything resembling a cover letter.

If you care about getting to know me, set up a meeting. I already sent you a doc with what I did and where I did it. I'm not going to waste significant amounts of time on a document that I'm not even sure anyone will read. If your rationale is that it saves up your time, well it wastes mine, and mine is more valuable.

And finally, anyone can write anything about anything in a cover letter. It boggles the mind why anyone would think this sort of document has a critical role in figuring out anyone is a decent hire.

tbarone|3 years ago

All very fair points, I suppose it just comes down to whatever the particular company is looking for. At the time it was important to find people that showed enthusiasm and would fit well with the rest of the engineers. Taking the time to show that enthusiasm in a personalised way was a good start.

It's interesting though that there are such large differences in approaches out there.

> anyone can write anything about anything in a cover letter.

I could say the same thing about a CV.