There are many good reasons why a recruiter won’t read your covering letter but it’s interesting to find out why so that you don’t make that mistake and wait to wonder why you have not heard anything about a particular job.
Some of the below are reasons why a recruiter won’t read your cover letter.
Why a Recruiter Won’t Read Your Cover Letter
Wrong job
They may not read your covering letter if you have applied for the wrong job or that you do a totally different job to the one that they are recruiting for. Make sure that you have read the whole job description of the vacancy.
Wrong industry
If you come from the wrong industry for a role, a recruiter probably won’t read your covering letter as they will see a little point when purely matching from an industry perspective. You wouldn’t want to waste your time by applying for jobs that you are not related to.
Related: Top 10 Tips to Make Your Cover Letter Stand Out
Not the right profile for a client
If you do not have the right profile for a particular client then they may not bother to read your covering letter as they can see straight away a client would not be interested. Recruiters see hundreds of CV’s and covering letters so get used to being able to pick them out quickly. So this may not be about you at all. It’s about choices.
Wrong location
If you are in the wrong location for a particular job then there is not much point in a recruiter reading on. The employer may want their employees to live near the work place so if you apply for this type of job then they may not even read your letter and read the ones that are close.
Wrong salary level
If you have the wrong salary level whether it is too high or too low the recruiter will probably not want to read on as they will only have a certain amount of movement in the salary that the client is looking to offer. This is the only case if you include your salary requirement.
Not enough experience
If you don’t have enough experience for the role that they are recruiting for then there will be little point in them reading your covering letter for that particular role. Try to apply for roles that are you are qualified and experienced to do to ensure that your covering letter gets read every time you send it in for a particular role. Recruiters usually state what level of experience they are looking for in the job ad so it’s best to read it again!
Too much experience
If you are too experienced for a job then again a recruiter will think there is no point looking at your letter in detail as they feel you would be unable to do the job they need to fill. Being too good is not always great!
Not available straight away
If the job is to start straight away and you are stuck on a notice period of a month or worse three months then unfortunately there is little point in a recruiter reading your covering letter as you cannot fulfil the clients requirements at this time.
Full of grammatical mistakes
If your covering letter and or CV has spelling and grammar mistakes then any recruiter won’t want to read any further on as you have not spent the time to check your details before sending them in for what should be an important application and they will feel that this is how you operate and could be as such in your work life. Always double check and get someone to check for you also to ensure that you do not send in any letters or CVs that have mistakes.
Just interested in looking at skills on the CV
Some recruiters may not be interested in reading a covering letter at all and may just be interested in seeing what skills are listed on your CV. If a recruiter is in a hurry to find good candidates this could explain the reason why they don’t read your covering letter.
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