For what it’s worth, just because the frontline person doesn’t read your CV, someone else still might. If you’re a solid applicant who interviews almost well enough & the company is fishing for an excuse to give you a shot, a solid cover letter demonstrating interest can mean the difference between getting hired and not.

A cover letter doesn’t have to be epic. It can be short and to the point, which bucks the trend of “I didn’t have time to write you a short cover letter, so I wrote you a long one.” Something like...

“Hi Company X!

I was scooping out your web page and found a blog article on how y’all invest a bunch of time in your security audits. I’ve been reading up a lot in security myself lately, and I’m quite interested in a company that takes that seriously. My personal approach to crafting software tends towards secure by design. I’d love to work in a place that philosophy would be appreciated :)

Cheers, PopeDotNinja”

Try this... list three to five things you are good at and like. Stalk a company a bit to find something mildly related in their social media, website, or blog. Connect thing you found to thing you like. It take a little work, but not that much work.