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Old me wrote 3 page cover letters, now I keep it to 5 sentences
Three years ago in Austin I would spend hours researching a company and write these long cover letters about their history. Got maybe one callback out of 30 applications. Last month my buddy who hires at a tech firm told me he skips anything over 150 words, so I cut mine down to a short paragraph. Now I just list three specific things I did at past jobs and a line about why I want in. Does anyone else keep a template they update per role, or do you write fresh every time?
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theas281d agoTop Commenter
The "five sentences" thing caught my eye because that's pretty close to what I do now, but I gotta say, I think you're giving the template too much credit. Even a short paragraph needs to be tailored, not just copy-pasted with a new company name. For example, if you list "increased sales 20%" but the role is in customer support, that number means nothing to them. I keep a skeleton of three bullet points, but I rewrite the "why I want in" line every single time. That part should show you actually read their job post, not just their About page. Also, 150 words is a good rule of thumb, but I've seen hiring managers skim even shorter than that, so every word has to earn its spot.
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dylan4631d ago
Hell, what if they use AI to screen it out before a human even reads it?
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