I work in marketing and am currently underemployed due to my hours being cut so I have been job searching since early January. I have applied to about 130 jobs since then. I got started on indeed and I have started taking the shotgun approach and haven’t been doing cover letters much. Since it typically requires at least 15-30 minutes in order to trailer my cover letter, save the document, and submit it. I’m not able to apply to such a large quantity of jobs. Especially because some of them require you to create a whole account in their website. I figured it may be better to get more eyes on my application than focus on quality.
Do you guys think a cover letter makes a difference based on your experience? I hate to waste more time if it’s not going to do anything. Most of them just end in a rejection email anyways but if it gives me a significant leg up I’m willing to do it. So far, my interview rate isn’t awful. Maybe around 20% of them I get a phone interview and half of those go forward. Every “expert” will tell you to do it but I’m curious what your experience has been as individuals?