After scrolling pages and pages on a job board, you find a job description that sounds perfect. You have the experience, the salary is aligned, and it’s the right next step in your career. You fill out your information, attach your resume and then hit this field: “upload cover letter?” You pause. Do you want to upload a cover letter? If your experience is straight forward and your resume says all that you need it to say, you may choose to skip that section! However, here are a few situations when it’s best to submit a cover letter.
1. It’s required! This may seem like a no-brainer, but advice we often share with job seekers is to remember to follow instructions. If a recruiter or hiring team is asking you for specific information or an application step, it’s for a reason. So, always be sure to respond to their asks.
2. You have a personal connection. A cover letter is where you can say “I heard someone from this organization speak at a conference and got inspired!” or “I met _____ at a dinner last week and discussed this position.” Maybe you’ve even volunteered for this organization or attended one of their events.
3. You want to preview your expertise. The application process is about sharing your experience and education and showing the hiring team that you’re well prepared to take on the work of this role. Many job descriptions will preview the type of projects the role will lead. Apart from listing relevant roles, responsibilities and results on your resume, you can speak in detail about a project in your cover letter and discuss how that work prepared you for this role.
4. You want to provide context. Resumes (especially at the recommended length of one page) are such a small piece of your story. When applying for a job, you likely have a lot more information you’d like a recruiter to know. Cover letters are a great place to share some context on things like:
- A gap in your resume
- Untraditional career path
- Desire to shift industries
- Logistical context (ex: you’re planning on moving to the city where this job is located).
Now you may be asking, to be safe, should I just always submit a cover letter? Is there any downside? Frankly, the only downside is the time and effort to write one. When you’re at the peak of job searching, a cover letter can feel burdensome and unnecessary when everything you need to say is on your resume. If a cover letter is optional on an application, take it truly as that: optional.
Not sure where to start with your cover letter? Follow our template here.
