During my coaching sessions, candidates asked me how to write a cover letter

During my coaching sessions, candidates asked me how to write a cover letter, and here is my response:

Do you really need a cover letter when you apply for jobs?

Or put it in this way, will HR or recruiters interested to read it?

You have heard that HR will scan your CV in less than 1 minute?

And hiring manager only read CV from those HR shortlisted.

As we received hundreds of resumes for most openings, do we have time to read your cover letter?

Recent research saying that only 26% of recruiters consider cover letter is important for them to proceed with your applications.

However, almost 47% of job seekers do write cover letters, why?

I think for fresh graduates or those who would like to change their careers, it really can explain more about your transferable skills and how you will bring value to the company, and also it gives an extra “hope” that someone will read it and select you to the Interview.

But as you may aware, since Social media (e.g. LinkedIn), is playing a big role in the recruiting process, the cover letter is very likely to become obsolete.

Even if the job does, in fact, require a cover letter, the research mentioned only 18% of the hiring managers rank the cover letter as an important element of the hiring process.

Do ask me questions or feel free to comment.