Somehow never done a cover letter before

[almoststew1990]

I need to do a cover letter for a role I am interested in. Somehow, despite this being in my fourth role/company since 2012 I've never had to do a cover letter. Googling templates (including 'UK' in the search) for this reveals lots of 'branded' cover letters with coloured headers and your name in large letters at the top of the page, using different font types. Things that I wouldn't consider to be 'letter writing'.

Is this good practice to make yourself stand out or would you think it is gimmicky?

 

[The_Arbiter]

Ultimately depends on the type of role you're going for. It follows the typical rules of CVs, which again, have been deliberately targeting. Knowing who will read will also be relevant, which isn't always obvious, be it recruitment teams, 3rd parties, or direct manager.

But it can be a good way to address any weaknesses in the CV, but sometimes best to not be too direct there, but again depends on the role.

Generic ones tend to be just info dumping in a concise way from the CV that is relevant.

 

[IC3]

Bad cover letter is worse than no cover letter, remember to keep it concise too...

 

[dowie]

Is this good practice to make yourself stand out or would you think it is gimmicky?

Depends on the role tbh. Someone made an Amazon-themed CV for a role there for example:

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/31/business/fake-amazon-resume-cv-philippe-dubost/index.html

Similar thing perhaps applies to cover letters - a creative role at a tech firm, sure. Admin role at your local council, perhaps not so much.

 

[malachi]

I need to do a cover letter for a role I am interested in. Somehow, despite this being in my fourth role/company since 2012 I've never had to do a cover letter. Googling templates (including 'UK' in the search) for this reveals lots of 'branded' cover letters with coloured headers and your name in large letters at the top of the page, using different font types. Things that I wouldn't consider to be 'letter writing'.

Is this good practice to make yourself stand out or would you think it is gimmicky?

Make it basic, I look at the job description and ask chatGPT to turn it into a cover letter.

If you are sending a CV too, they will pay more attention to your CV than cover letter.

 

[almoststew1990]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've gone for a professional/ basic style.

 

[Stu999]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've gone for a professional/ basic style.

I think that's the best way, no need to put your name in massive letters at the top.

I'd mainly focus on how you fit the job description / role profile with some examples.

 

[Zefan]

Make it basic, I look at the job description and ask chatGPT to turn it into a cover letter.

If you are sending a CV too, they will pay more attention to your CV than cover letter.

If you do this absolutely make sure to edit the hell out of the ChatGPT output/only use it as an example, I personally have a nose for AI generated text and use AI detectors on everything recruitment sends me.

 

[malachi]

If you do this absolutely make sure to edit the hell out of the ChatGPT output/only use it as an example, I personally have a nose for AI generated text and use AI detectors on everything recruitment sends me.

So, you use AI to combat AI....Good way to train it

 

[dowie]

If you do this absolutely make sure to edit the hell out of the ChatGPT output/only use it as an example, I personally have a nose for AI generated text and use AI detectors on everything recruitment sends me.

"delve"