William here. I need to make a confession:
I was wrong. And it’s time to fess up.
After doing executive search for 17 1/2 years, I used to think cover letters for resumes didn’t matter very much. I advised people to be plain: vanilla, unassuming, and brief if they wrote a cover letter at all.
But with the influx of AI, the cover letter has become a new opportunity. It may be the single quickest hack to sifting through applications. It may also be the single quickest hack to landing your next job.
Why the correction?
In the old days, resumes had to (a) be brief, (b) be bright and, (c) be over. A cover letter was not necessary, but a nice touch. The problem was, very few people knew how to write a cover letter at all. It’s almost like the old saying, “Better to be thought of fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
So my advice used to be if you’re going to write a cover letter, keep it simple and not too personal.
But along came AI…
Now, hiring managers are finding that nearly every cover sounds the same. Like, almost exactly the same. The same is true somewhat with resumes, but for now let’s focus on one simple page. It can change your job search. I’ll tell you how.
What would happen if your cover letter were professional and yet very personal? I was recently advising my son who is a senior in college about his cover letter, and I encouraged him to include a few sentences about what it was like finishing the New York City Marathon this year.
Why?
AI will never write that. It will cause him to stand out. And as a person who’s run several marathons, I’m particularly partial toward people who finish long hard projects like that. But above all, it gives employers a chance to know who you are on a personal level. While I used to be worried about people going overboard with too many photos and too much personal commentary, it seems that AI has dehumanized the cover letter and made it ubiquitous.
That leaves the door wide open for you to have an opportunity and an edge up in your job search. As you write your cover letter, here are three distinct points you can include that will show your humanity and prove that you–not an AI agent–took the time to write the letter.
1. Show some self-awareness.
What have you learned in your recent jobs and what are you learning about yourself? What is your personality, how are you wired, and how does it affect the job that you’re currently in? When I wrote the book Work How You Are Wired, we found that there are 12 lanes of work where most people will find a fit. How can you show that your current job is a fit? Or, how can you show that previous jobs were more of a fit than your current job? Be sure not to talk badly about your current manager or any personnel at your employer. But show self-awareness and where that’s pointing you for your future. This shouldn’t take more than a few sentences.
2. Talk about the company you’re interviewing with.
This is a super high level of customization. If you’re sending out 50 resumes to 50 different companies, it’s going to take you a while. Maybe pick the ones that you really have high on your list. Take a few minutes and research the company you’re interviewing with. Feel free to use AI for this part. Use your findings to show how the job and company that you’re interviewing with excites you and matches your wiring. If you need help with that, take a look at the research we found in Work How You Are Wired. Above all else, make sure that this is a highly personalized section of your cover letter that talks about the good work the company you’re interviewing with is doing, and how the job they need filled aligns with your wiring.
3. Include something interesting about your personality.
Ideally, this would have something to do with your wiring and the work you’re interviewing for. My son is going to finance. That can be tedious work that requires a lot of endurance. So without mentioning finance, I’ve encouraged him to signal endurance in his cover letters, most recently by mentioning the New York City Marathon.
I’m finding that (at least for now) every time AI creates an automated breakthrough, there’s an opportunity for humans to shine. AI is writing everyone’s cover letter and nearly every resume I see right now. If you’ll take the time to humanize and personalize a cover letter, you’ll stand out in the crowd and have a leg up in your next job search.
P.S. If you’re hiring manager, look for some or all of these components in a cover letter. If you see a cover letter that is human and personalized, give it an extra point in your assessment of a candidate. Not everyone’s exceptional at expressing themselves or writing a personal cover letter, but people who take the time and effort to do it are the kind of people that will carry your team to a higher level in our new AI saturated world.
