5 Strategies to Distinguish Yourself from the AI-driven Competition: Write your own cover letter!

Jobseekers and their AI agents may click off hundreds of online job applications per day without writing cover letters. And, because employers can be deluged with application material, even in industries with labor shortages, hiring teams may not read letters. Yet, recruiters and hiring managers say cover letters still matter.

In fact, our research suggests that hiring teams may rely on cover letters, also called job search letters, to differentiate among job candidates. A CEO we contacted on LinkedIn a few years ago even called cover letters “crucial.” And a recruiter stated in a short YouTune video that “anyone who says you don’t need a cover letter does not understand how to stand out in the job search process.”

Estimates on the percentage of managers that read letters vary. Melanie Woods at CGL Recruiting posted results of a survey on her YouTube channel that shows 69% of her respondents read letters. Other estimates are lower.

You may miss out on an opportunity if you do not prepare a letter. The information and analysis you do to build a substantive letter will enhance your job search regardless of whether or not the hiring team reads it.

What you will learn in this post.

Here are a few cover letter tips:

1. Establish your job target,
2. Obtain contact information for the hiring team,
3. Open your letter with a marketing hook,
4. Show you are qualified, and
5. Demonstrate knowledge of the company and industry.

Preparing a cover letter will help you find a job faster because, at a minimum, you will be ready to explain how your skills and experience match the job.

Establish your job target.

Know your job target. For example, I once received a cover letter email from a jobseeker with the subject line “looking for a job.” I had no idea what she was looking for. Her AI could have written the subject line in the letter so why would an employer read it?

Employers do not have an opening for “any job.” They have specific business problems and challenges to address, and they want to learn quickly whether you will address their needs.

Obtain contact information for the hiring team.

Job leads can include links to online applications or general email addresses. This means you are applying for a job without enough information to follow-up with a member of the hiring team. As a result, it is worth gathering the information you need to address a formal cover letter.

Your first step might be to locate the company’s postal address. . This may be relatively easy. It can be more of a challenge to acquire the hiring manager’s name, title, phone number, and direct email address.

Company street addresses are commonly listed on their web sites and the footer on marketing emails. You can do a Google or AI search too. Your letter will have a professional polish when it includes the address even though you will send it electronically.

Locating the hiring manager’s name, title, and direct contact information can be more of a challenge because employers do not always provide this information in job announcements. LinkedIn is an excellent source for this information. You may be able to ask someone in your network for the name, contact information, and title of a hiring manager if you cannot immediately find the correct person on LinkedIn.

There will be occasions when you will find no information about the hiring manager despite excellent research. An alternative is to include the company address and then omit the salutation.

Match yourself with the job posting.

Jobseekers periodically tell me their resume is not working for them. They are clicking on job postings, and then sending resumes with applications in response to hundreds of daily job leads without results. When this happens, I ask them to show me examples of the jobs they are applying to fill. Often, the jobseeker was applying for positions they don’t match.

Recent graduates, for example, may apply for jobs that require years of experience. A prospective client who just completed an advanced degree asked me to write a letter so she could apply for a job that required 10 years of industry experience. This would have been an exercise in futility since she lacked experience in the field.

Avoid wasting your time applying for jobs where you do not match the requirements. Put two columns on a page or screen—your requirements and my background. You will quickly see whether you are likely to be considered for the job.

Your favorite AI can also do this analysis for you when you provide it with complete and accurate information, including the job description and your relevant qualifications. This is especially useful for complex senior-level and highly technical jobs. For many of us though, the analysis is quick and straightforward enough to do either on a keyboard or with pencil and paper. This old school approach may make it easier for you to address your gaps at the interview because you will remember them better and have thought about them before speaking with the hiring manager and their team.

Start your letter with a marketing hook.

Traditionally many of us have started cover letters as if they were typical administrative business letters. For example, we would open with “Please accept this letter with the enclosed resume as my application for the position of…” Today any AI can “think” of this opening so we must be more creative. The letter should open with a marketing hook.

Here is the hook we opened with for one of my senior-level clients as the pandemic was winding down in 2021.

“The Pandemic turned jobs upside-down shortly after I started my role as the first full-time director of policy and legislative relations at (company name redacted).  It thrust me into leading a 5-member task force charged with acquiring PPE for the direct service workers at our member organizations. The team under my leadership purchased $1 million in PPE within 3 weeks from non-traditional sources, as well as medical suppliers although none of us had procurement experience. Then, I returned to my legislative role and secured millions in CARES Act funding through advocacy with members of the US Congress.

A vignette or success story such as this gives you two great advantages. First, it would be valuable to relate this story at an interview even if your letter is never read. Also the story adds personality to your letter — something no AI has.

Show you are qualified.

Use the worksheet you just filled in to demonstrate that you match the job well enough to be considered. For example, after reviewing a client’s worksheet, part of the analysis we recommended she use to demonstrate her match for a specific job was as follows:

Your Needs	My Qualifications
Have at least 3 years of legislative experience.	Have more than 18 years of experience representing 3 organizations.
Expected to work independently on the association’s many legislative and regulatory policies.	Secured passage of 9 landmark legislative initiatives at the Pennsylvania Statehouse while independently leading advocacy.
Be familiar with legislative tracking tools such as PLS and grassroots platforms.	Fostered grassroots issue advocacy by creating citizen action teams, and tracked results using online platforms.”

Demonstrate knowledge and enthusiasm for the company and industry.

Last, but not least, show that you are knowledgeable, interested, and excited about the company and its industry. For example, Susan Friedenberg, President – CEO at Corporate Flight Attendant/Tech Training – Consulting in Philadelphia, PA told me prospective employees and trainees are not always aware of the difference between commercial airline and business aviation. She needs to educate them.

With regard to cover letters, Ms. Friedenberg said “Your resume gets you in the hangar door, but I believe that your cover letter is what sells you to the corporation. You need to use the company’s slogan in it, mention the CEO and something about him/her and why you are a good fit for their corporate culture.”

On the other hand, we previously noted that more than 30% of hiring teams don’t read cover letters. Tiffanie Meritt, a senior talent manager at the Crossfire Group, a recruiting and staffing firm, told me “Honestly I don’t read cover letters. Most of my clients don’t ask candidates for cover letters.”

Key takeaways

While we don’t know whether your thoroughly researched and carefully crafted letter will make a difference or even be read, you will be better prepared for the interview. You will also know, with a high degree of confidence, whether or not you qualify for the job.

Take the time to write that job search letter!