Cover letters are a waste of time — and they're on their way out, says a former Apple recruiter

Rachel Bitte

It's safe to say that many job seekers dread writing cover letters.

And, as it turns out, most hiring managers think they're a waste of everyone's time.

"Cover letters have got to die," Rachel Bitte, chief people officer at recruiting software company Jobvite, tells Business Insider. "They're already starting to die. They're on their way out. Let's just cut them out and be done with it."

So what's with all the hate for this one aspect of the job application process?

Bitte, who has over 20 years of HR experience at companies like Apple and Intuit, says that cover letters should be cut because they often contain redundant or useless information.

She says they're also often an ineffective measure of whether or not someone sincerely wants to work at an organization.

What's more, they're yet another task for already busy job seekers to tackle.

"I wish that candidates would not even bother to spend their time and energy on them," she says.

According to Jobvite's 2017 job seeker survey, only 26% of recruiters surveyed said they consider cover letters to be important when it comes to making hiring decisions.

And the push against cover letters seems to be taking hold with some job seekers, too. The same Jobvite report, which surveyed 2,000 US job seekers, found that only 47% of applicants even submitted a cover letter with their most recent job application.

Ultimately, Bitte says it's up to companies and recruiters to stop asking for cover letters. Otherwise, there will always be job candidates who will take the time to write them up, just to be safe.

"They've just got to go," Bitte says.

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