‘Tis the season to be hiring, and we’re doing a lot of it! Today, I thought we could talk about something a little controversial: the cover letter. I’ve read a lot of them, so I’ve compiled the top 5 most common mistakes I see.

🙅‍♀️ The top 5 mistakes in cover letters.

1. Applying to the wrong company.

You would not believe how many people actually write the wrong company name in their cover letter – or are clearly using a template and haven’t copy-pasted everywhere it’s mentioned. Get this right every time.

2. Applying to the wrong job position.

Similar to the above, people often put the wrong job position in their cover letter. These can be totally different jobs (I got someone applying for an Operations role when it was actually a Design job) or even just variations of the title. You don’t want to draw attention to the fact that you’ve probably used a template or just copied the wrong cover letter. Make sure the job title in the letter matches the job ad.

3. Addressing it to the wrong person.

Sometimes, people will try to be clever and try to address it to the person they think is reading the cover letter. If you aren’t confident, I recommend you don’t do this because it can look like you haven’t done your research correctly. It’s just an unnecessary risk – if you get the name right, it doesn’t score you any points.

In the same vein, I personally hate when I get a cover letter addressed to “Dear Sir,” when I’m the hiring manager. If you want to be careful, you can just address it to the Hiring Manager – or don’t use a formal greeting at all.

4. Obviously AI-generated.

I know a lot of people use AI to help them polish up their cover letters, and that’s a decent use for it. But if yours is clearly written exclusively by ChatGPT, it’s no longer useful to me. If you can’t be bothered to write it, why should I bother to read it?

5. Just your résumé, but in paragraphs.

This one is actually my biggest gripe with cover letters, because it is so ridiculously common and defeats the purpose. Many people use the cover letter to write up their current position, their past experience, and why they would be a great fit for this opportunity. But the hiring manager already has your résumé, and realistically, has probably looked at it first. By just regurgitating your résumé, you’ve given no extra indication as to why you are worth moving to an interview.

The cover letter should complement your résumé. It should showcase skills, results, or experience that you don’t cover in your traditional CV to make you seem more compelling as a candidate.

That’s it for this week! Is there anything you want to know about the job market? Just reply to this email with any topic suggestions 📧 

If you’re in the market, why not check out this post from a few week’s ago about polishing up your résumé?