What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in 30 days

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by xmprt on Saturday August 01, 2020 @02:04AM (#24018063)

My rule of thumb is I don't write a cover letter unless I have a good reason to write one. For example, I found a mid size company through an interesting blog post and felt like that was something worth mentioning and that I thought the company seemed interesting too. It was probably as short as a tweet but I got an email and subsequently an offer very soon after. Generic cover letters are a waste of everyone's time.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by BeetleB on Saturday August 01, 2020 @02:12AM (#24018092)

> Generic cover letters are a waste of everyone's time.

"Generic cover letter" is an oxymoron. Cover letters are supposed to be individualized.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by another-dave on Saturday August 01, 2020 @03:42AM (#24018533)

The sample cover letter in the article is quite generic & doesn't seem much tailored to a particular job description.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by azangru on Saturday August 01, 2020 @10:33AM (#24020710)

> The sample cover letter in the article is quite generic

Yes, the first paragraph in the cover letter is almost identical to the opening paragraphs of numerous spam emails. "You're building a great feedback organization product I think has great potential". Really? Well, ta very much; now tell us something we don't know.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by ghaff on Saturday August 01, 2020 @10:54AM (#24020876)

While I generally think a cover letter, even if mostly generic, is a good idea as a way of at least somewhat personalizing your application, there's a lot about that one that sort of turns me off. It would be a net negative for me.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by ciceryadam on Saturday August 01, 2020 @05:30AM (#24019063)

Yup, exactly. I'm in central Europe, I've never written one and no-one missed it. If a cover letter was mandatory I didn't apply. Same when I was at the other end of the hiring process, I never required a cover letter, good people are in high demand, so why make them jump through unnecessary hoops.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What I learned from doing over 60 technical interviews in... by chiefalchemist on Saturday August 01, 2020 @09:07AM (#24020166)

> good people...unnecessary hoops.

This is an excellent point. A point that plenty of hiring outfits still don't get. They're so focused on their needs and their (self) importance that they forget who "the customer" is.

I do web dev. When I see this is marketing agencies I laugh (and don't apply). If you're a marketing agency and you don't understand who "the customer" is then you've got serious problems.

The rule applies elsewhere as well. It's a relationship. If you're process says "welcome all plebes" then that's exactly what you'll get.

[ Parent | on HN ]