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Ashish Goyal
Ashish Goyal

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Share your cover letter which helped you to get interview for Software Engineer job.

Top comments (3)

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itsasine profile image
ItsASine (Kayla)

I don't know how useful of a discussion this will be since cover letters should be highly specific to the place you're applying to and you as an applicant.

Resumes detail what you've accomplished while the cover letter just needs to, well, cover what excites you about this particular position, whether it be how it matches up with where you've been and where you want to go (but don't parrot the resume) or if there are cultural things at the company that entice you.

My current job was just emailing my resume to HR to be invited to an interview event, but I send this article to anyone looking for cover letter tips.

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vinayhegde1990 profile image
Vinay Hegde • Edited

Absolutely spot-on! Adding to the above, you could compose cover letter to any organization roughly using the below points:

Ensure your name, location & links your social media profiles (GitHub, LinkedIn, Personal Website, Blog) & your email / phone number with ISD code is specified right on top before beginning.

A link to some recent news about the company and what excited you about it.

  • Maybe their product, ideology or the way they conducted some activity?
  • You can get this via their social media (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram)
  • Alternate means like Crunchbase, their Website OR Google Search → Navigate to News section.

Because you mentioned the Software Engineer Role, find the company's technical blogs.

  • Good ones have it linked in their website itself because sharing their accomplishments is a proud feeling.
  • From a candidate's standpoint - It'll also tell you how much active is a company in testing out new technologies as well as detailing their experiences on their current ones.
  • If unavailable on their website, Medium is a great place to start. Use a one-liner to express your thoughts on the above.

Now, express your interest in the exact role by stating a few brief points as to why you're unique for it, more information below:

Sign off by re-iterating what challenges you could help them solve (their job description page should give you 1-2 keywords) and finally, thanking them for their time.

One thing I do to make this quicker is to maintain a Word document as a template wherein I change just the key details as per organization before exporting it to PDF for sharing. Writing a few cover letters will help you get there.

Hope this helps, cheers!

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jfrankcarr profile image
Frank Carr

Cover letters are ineffective and irrelevant in today's job market. In most cases, the hiring manager will not even see it. It will be screened out by recruiters and HR departments. I haven't used a cover letter when applying for a job in over 20 years.

However, there could be some exceptions. For example, a smaller company that isn't using a recruiter and doesn't have a full time HR department may take a look at a cover letter. Another might be if you have met someone at a conference or the like and want to remind them of this encounter.