When are cover letters necessary?

How important is a cover letter and when is one necessary? If you have a thorough application process, cover letters aren’t usually necessary. Any information included in the cover letter is often available in another part of the application. However, you might want a cover letter for a job that involves written communication. It can become a mini writing sample that helps you evaluate the writer’s creativity and grammar.

Deciding if a cover letter is necessary comes down to whether or not you want one from each candidate. Exploring reasons to require or eliminate them can help you decide.

Reasons to require cover letters

Cover letters can give you some extra insight into your job applicants. Even bad cover letters can help you make important decisions since they could be a red flag about the job seeker. Consider these reasons for requesting cover letters from job applicants.

1. Find applicants that fit well

A resume is often just a straightforward list of accomplishments, jobs, education and awards. Most candidates don’t personalize the resume for different positions, so you’re getting the same resume as everyone else. This document can help you determine if the candidate has the right background for the position, but you can’t always determine if someone is a good fit for your company. The cover letter can help the applicant express themselves and show you if they’re a good match.

2. Check their ability to follow instructions

Are cover letters necessary? They are if the hiring manager requests them in the job posting. Requesting certain documents, such as a cover letter, or specific information, such as salary requirements, can check each candidate’s ability to follow instructions if that’s an important characteristic to you.

Ignoring a request for a cover letter or skimming through a posting and missing that request could be a red flag. If the candidate doesn’t pay attention to the details when they’re trying to impress the hiring manager, they might not follow instructions and company processes once hired.

3. Determine how serious the applicant is

You can spot a canned cover letter copied from a template quite easily. Mass-produced cover letters are glaringly obvious when an applicant forgets to change the name of the company or position title. By asking for a cover letter, you can see how much work an applicant is willing to put into the process. If they do nothing to customize the letter for your position, you might decide that the applicant isn’t that interested in working for you.

4. Evaluate attention to detail and writing skills

The cover letter can serve as a writing sample to evaluate how well the applicant pays attention to details and understands basic grammar. This can be especially important if the position relies on writing skills. Obvious typos, grammatical errors and misspelled words show a lack of attention to detail. If an applicant can’t be bothered to proofread when trying to impress a hiring manager, they might slack on the job, too.

5. See the personal side

Cover letters show a little more personality from the candidate. You can get a feel for what they think is important. They might go into more detail on certain experiences that can help you decide if they could benefit your company. Applicants who get creative and take the cover letter seriously can show you how they are as a person, which can help you determine if they’re a good fit for your team.

6. Look for creativity

The cover letter lets applicants stand out for their creativity. The resume is usually fairly standard, but the cover letter offers more creative freedom and allows valuable applicants to shine. This can be especially helpful when you’re hiring for a creative position, such as a copywriter, designer or marketing assistant. It becomes a way for the applicant to show off skills related to that position.

7. Understand red flags in the resume

An applicant who has employment gaps, lives in another state, has a connection to the company or is switching careers can use a cover letter to explain those situations. Resumes can’t always explain why a candidate might have those unique situations or why they might be a good option.

In a cover letter, an applicant might explain that they had a gap in employment due to caring for a sick child. An out-of-state applicant can be a gamble, but the cover letter might explain that the applicant’s spouse already has a job in the area and the family is relocating soon. This can ease some of your doubts and help you avoid missing out on a qualified applicant.

Reasons not to require cover letters

If you’re asking yourself, “Are cover letters necessary?” it might be worth skipping this step the next time you’re hiring. For many companies, a cover letter is a time-consuming addition to the hiring process that doesn’t provide much additional information. Here are some reasons to stop asking applicants for cover letters.

1. People say what they think you want to hear

If the applicant feels that the cover letter is important to the hiring manager, they’ll likely stick to the things they think the manager wants to hear. They’ll rephrase statements found in the job posting or mention things about the company that they find online to make a connection. This can make it difficult to know if the applicant is sincere or simply wants to make a good impression.

2. Some applicants aren’t honest

Dishonesty can come through in any part of the application process, including the cover letter. An applicant might embellish their story in the cover letter to make their experiences sound like a better fit. Someone who’s creative with the written word can make it sound believable even if the cover letter is full of misinformation or exaggerations.

3. They’re often repetitive

Applicants often use cover letters to highlight their key job experiences, skills and education. Those things should be included on the applicant’s resume already, so the cover letter is often repetitive and unnecessary. If you have an online application that also asks similar questions, that’s another place where you can find the same information. It doesn’t benefit you to see the same information multiple times, and it makes the application process more tedious.

4. Many candidates aren’t creative

While you might occasionally find a candidate who does something creative with a cover letter, many job seekers use cover letter templates with minor customizations for your job. When this happens, the cover letter doesn’t give you any extra insight other than how well the candidate can use a template. You can already see the applicant’s experience and schooling on the resume, so the cover letter becomes pointless.

5. Reading cover letters is time-consuming

Are cover letters necessary if you don’t have time to read them? Most hiring managers can’t dedicate time to reading every cover letter, especially if they get hundreds of applicants for a job. If you try to read the letters, you waste time that could be used on other tasks. If you ignore the cover letters, you’re making applicants complete an unnecessary step.

6. You might miss a strong candidate

Following directions, using correct grammar and paying attention to the details are important traits, but eliminating an applicant for a missing comma could cause you to overlook a strong candidate, especially if written communication isn’t a big part of the job. If you use applicant tracking software to save time by screening all of the cover letters and resumes, a quality candidate could be eliminated with the automatic scanning process.

Should you ask for cover letters?

Before your next job vacancy, evaluate your need for cover letters. Consider how you’ve used cover letters in the past. Were they helpful or a waste of time? If you’ve had good luck with cover letters previously, continue using them. If you find that you ignore the cover letter, try skipping them for your next round of hiring. You can always go back if you miss the cover letters.

Here are a few other things to consider when deciding if you want cover letters from applicants:

• Do you have time to read cover letters from every applicant?
• What’s your reason for requesting cover letters? Is it because that’s the way you’ve always done it, or do you get valuable information from them?
• Do you regularly receive unique cover letters, or are they all standard copy-and-paste versions from templates?
• Is there a better way to evaluate candidates?
• Do you care about cover letters?

Alternatives to cover letters

If you don’t feel like a resume is enough but don’t like the idea of cover letters, look for alternative options to learn more about the applicant. Nontraditional hiring processes can give you more insight and better match your company’s methods. Here are some options:

• Structured application questions: Create a list of supplemental application questions that relate to the position. Instead of getting random information that the applicant thinks you want in a cover letter, you get specific responses that can help you evaluate how well the candidate can perform the job.
• Behavioral questions: Include screener questions related to behavioral qualities to choose the best candidates. Questions about particular situations and how the applicant would handle them work well for this screening method.
• Voicemail introduction: List a phone number that applicants can call to leave a short voicemail introducing themselves. This can help you weed out applicants who aren’t willing to complete an extra step, and you can get an idea of the applicant’s personality and how they might fit into the company.

Skills tests: Having all applicants complete a skills test can help you evaluate their qualifications. This is effective when you can easily evaluate skills needed for the job, such as typing speed and accuracy for an administrative assistant or math skills for a bookkeeping position.