It’s not just your small business though. It’s Every. Single. Application.
Could I use a template? Actually probably not as more and more businesses are asking for specifics in the cover letters to combat templates and AI use.
To the business owner it’s only a few minutes to write cover letter, but when people are applying for dozens of jobs a day, that all ask for unique responses, and quizzes, and forms that are identical to the CV you are required to upload, it gets very hard to write an even vaguely inspired response to “why do you want to sell kebabs out of my food truck for minimum wage?”
I can’t speak for food truck guy but in a way part of the reason for cover letters is that they discourage drive bys like that. A bit like a bot test for visiting a website these days. “Do a little extra to prove you’re real”.
I totally understand that people work in exchange for money, but there’s loads of places you can work for money. As the employer there’s an advantage in hiring a person that specifically wants to work for me, or at least employers like me.
That means, candidates that reviewed 24 job postings and applied for the 6 which are more desirable to them, are the candidates which are much more desirable to me. People that just want a job and any job will do are obviously less desirable.
A template is fine, and kind of expected honestly.
Dude, there are millions of fake job offerings out there just looking to scrape data. You have to send out hundreds of applications just to get to one or two genuine offers. With the addition of mandatory bespoke cover letters, looking for a job becomes more work than an actual full time job.
I thought it was pretty fuckin obvious what the other people are saying, but I suppose being an out of touch moron is a requirement to be an employer. Realize the struggle people face and how shitty the job searching economy is and get over yourself. Stop asking for cover letters
You probably didn’t see my other comment where I said I don’t insist on cover letters, but without one I need to ask more screening questions.
Regardless, my comment here is pointing out that, as a legit employer I can’t do anything about fake job offerings, nor the grind.
As an aside, it’s been a long while since I hired someone who was unemployed. I certainly don’t think I’ve hired someone who is so busy sending out applications they can’t take a moment to write a cover letter. Make of that what you will.
So, you say you aren’t out of touch and then immediately describe how out of touch you are
As an aside, it’s been a long while since I hired someone who was unemployed
I have 10 years of experience in my field and two difficult certifications where even one is uncommon and highly desired. I am a prime hire. When my company got out bid and had to lay off the entire workforce, it still took me almost 7 months to get rehired and that was with sending an average of roughly 40 applications out every day. I used my entire savings and my partner had to dip into theirs to supplement rent in that time. The single one that called me back ended up hiring me during the interview.
Now, let’s do a little math since your terminal victim brain can’t seem to empathize with people less lucky than you got in life: assume a quick and decent personalized letter only takes 10 minutes. Not so bad, right? For 40 applications, that’s 400 minutes divided by 60 (the number of minutes in an hour) and you get 6.66 repeating. Nearly 6 and a half hours per day just doing a ‘quick letter’ and you’re complaining that you have to ask a couple more questions during an interview, where you’re still making money. You’re right that one of us is definitely an out of touch fucking moron and it sure as hell isn’t me
Ok mate, I’m just going to step back from this conversation.
I dont have to justify myself to you. I started by explaining why employers ask for cover letters. Somehow we’ve descended into something else entirely.
By all means continue to believe that I’m out of touch or whatever else you might think. Good luck with the job hunt.
Do interviews then. Cover letters discourages the real people whereas the"drive bys", as you called them, will just crap something out with AI in 2 seconds.
Asking for interviews also shows you’re as invested in finding a good match for an employee as the employee is in finding a good boss.
Interviews take a lot of time and resources. We’re hiring someone presently and interviews will take an hour for myself and two staff for each candidate. We’ve decided to interview 10 candidates.
People spend months looking for a job, full time with no pay, and you’re here complaining that you need to spend a few days interviewing people, for which you’re being paid since it’s your job.
I have been on the job hunt side of things. I applied for +50 jobs in a week with unique cover letters and CVs catered to the fields I am applying for. I have qualifications and experience in the fields I was applying to.
I got three responses.
One was a scam.
Another was a 2 week temp job with “the opportunity for further work”. So another scam.
The last one was the only legitimate offer I received, and it paid the minimum amount it could under the award.
I can empathise with an employer not wanting to sift through AI submissions or fly bys, but all they’ve done is turn that back onto applicants.
Then they act entitled when people don’t want to jump through their hoops and say stupid shit like “if you can’t write a cover letter maybe this isn’t the job for you”
It’s not just your small business though. It’s Every. Single. Application.
Could I use a template? Actually probably not as more and more businesses are asking for specifics in the cover letters to combat templates and AI use.
To the business owner it’s only a few minutes to write cover letter, but when people are applying for dozens of jobs a day, that all ask for unique responses, and quizzes, and forms that are identical to the CV you are required to upload, it gets very hard to write an even vaguely inspired response to “why do you want to sell kebabs out of my food truck for minimum wage?”
I can’t speak for food truck guy but in a way part of the reason for cover letters is that they discourage drive bys like that. A bit like a bot test for visiting a website these days. “Do a little extra to prove you’re real”.
I totally understand that people work in exchange for money, but there’s loads of places you can work for money. As the employer there’s an advantage in hiring a person that specifically wants to work for me, or at least employers like me.
That means, candidates that reviewed 24 job postings and applied for the 6 which are more desirable to them, are the candidates which are much more desirable to me. People that just want a job and any job will do are obviously less desirable.
A template is fine, and kind of expected honestly.
Dude, there are millions of fake job offerings out there just looking to scrape data. You have to send out hundreds of applications just to get to one or two genuine offers. With the addition of mandatory bespoke cover letters, looking for a job becomes more work than an actual full time job.
What would you like me to do about that, as an employer?
Stop asking for cover letters.
I thought it was pretty fuckin obvious what the other people are saying, but I suppose being an out of touch moron is a requirement to be an employer. Realize the struggle people face and how shitty the job searching economy is and get over yourself. Stop asking for cover letters
LOL.
One of us certainly is an out of touch moron.
You probably didn’t see my other comment where I said I don’t insist on cover letters, but without one I need to ask more screening questions.
Regardless, my comment here is pointing out that, as a legit employer I can’t do anything about fake job offerings, nor the grind.
As an aside, it’s been a long while since I hired someone who was unemployed. I certainly don’t think I’ve hired someone who is so busy sending out applications they can’t take a moment to write a cover letter. Make of that what you will.
So, you say you aren’t out of touch and then immediately describe how out of touch you are
I have 10 years of experience in my field and two difficult certifications where even one is uncommon and highly desired. I am a prime hire. When my company got out bid and had to lay off the entire workforce, it still took me almost 7 months to get rehired and that was with sending an average of roughly 40 applications out every day. I used my entire savings and my partner had to dip into theirs to supplement rent in that time. The single one that called me back ended up hiring me during the interview.
Now, let’s do a little math since your terminal victim brain can’t seem to empathize with people less lucky than you got in life: assume a quick and decent personalized letter only takes 10 minutes. Not so bad, right? For 40 applications, that’s 400 minutes divided by 60 (the number of minutes in an hour) and you get 6.66 repeating. Nearly 6 and a half hours per day just doing a ‘quick letter’ and you’re complaining that you have to ask a couple more questions during an interview, where you’re still making money. You’re right that one of us is definitely an out of touch fucking moron and it sure as hell isn’t me
Ok mate, I’m just going to step back from this conversation.
I dont have to justify myself to you. I started by explaining why employers ask for cover letters. Somehow we’ve descended into something else entirely.
By all means continue to believe that I’m out of touch or whatever else you might think. Good luck with the job hunt.
Headhunting is a completely different process.
I’m not headhunting.
Do interviews then. Cover letters discourages the real people whereas the"drive bys", as you called them, will just crap something out with AI in 2 seconds.
Asking for interviews also shows you’re as invested in finding a good match for an employee as the employee is in finding a good boss.
Interviews take a lot of time and resources. We’re hiring someone presently and interviews will take an hour for myself and two staff for each candidate. We’ve decided to interview 10 candidates.
So does finding a job.
People spend months looking for a job, full time with no pay, and you’re here complaining that you need to spend a few days interviewing people, for which you’re being paid since it’s your job.
The business is not being paid for allocating resources to the hiring process.
I have been on the job hunt side of things. I applied for +50 jobs in a week with unique cover letters and CVs catered to the fields I am applying for. I have qualifications and experience in the fields I was applying to.
I got three responses.
One was a scam. Another was a 2 week temp job with “the opportunity for further work”. So another scam. The last one was the only legitimate offer I received, and it paid the minimum amount it could under the award.
I can empathise with an employer not wanting to sift through AI submissions or fly bys, but all they’ve done is turn that back onto applicants. Then they act entitled when people don’t want to jump through their hoops and say stupid shit like “if you can’t write a cover letter maybe this isn’t the job for you”