Should You Still Write a Cover Letter in 2025?
The short answer is: it depends — but not writing one carries more risk than most job seekers realize. Cover letters aren't dead. They've evolved. And understanding when they matter, when they don't, and what makes one worth reading can meaningfully affect how your application lands.
Why the "Cover Letters Are Dead" Argument Exists
The skepticism is understandable. Many large employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter applications before a human ever sees them. If a system is scanning for keywords and credentials, a cover letter can feel beside the point.
Add to that the rise of one-click applying on platforms like LinkedIn, where applications go out without any accompanying letter, and it's easy to conclude that nobody reads them anymore.
But that conclusion skips a critical step: just because some employers don't read cover letters doesn't mean yours won't.
What Hiring Managers Actually Say 📋
The reality is mixed, and that mix is important to understand:
- Some hiring managers read cover letters before the resume to gauge fit and communication ability
- Some read them only when the resume is borderline — making the letter a tiebreaker
- Some skip them entirely, especially at high-volume employers
- Some expect them as a basic signal that you're a serious candidate
The problem is you rarely know which type you're dealing with before you apply. Skipping a cover letter to save 20 minutes is a calculated risk — and the downside is asymmetric. If they don't read it, you've lost nothing. If they do read it and it's missing, you may have already lost the opportunity.
When a Cover Letter Carries the Most Weight
Certain situations make a cover letter significantly more valuable:
You're changing careers or industries. Your resume alone may not explain why someone with a background in teaching is applying for a project management role. A cover letter gives you space to connect the dots.
There's something your resume can't show. Gaps in employment, a non-linear career path, or relocating from another city — these are things that might raise questions. A brief, confident explanation can prevent a rejection based on a misread.
The job posting explicitly asks for one. This one isn't optional. Ignoring the instruction signals you either didn't read carefully or don't follow directions — neither impression helps.
You're applying to a smaller organization. Startups, nonprofits, small businesses, and roles where you'd work closely with leadership often involve hiring processes where the cover letter gets real attention. Culture fit and communication style matter more in these contexts, and a letter can demonstrate both.
The role requires strong writing or communication skills. If you're applying for a job in marketing, communications, public relations, journalism, or client-facing work, your cover letter is itself a writing sample. Its quality (or absence) sends a signal.
When a Cover Letter Matters Less
There are also situations where the calculus shifts:
| Situation | Cover Letter Priority |
|---|---|
| High-volume ATS-filtered roles (large corporations) | Lower — but not zero |
| One-click apply platforms where it's not requested | Lower |
| Technical roles evaluated primarily on portfolio/skills | Lower |
| Roles where a letter is explicitly marked optional | Your call |
| Referral-based applications where you already have an internal contact | Lower, but still worth considering |
"Lower priority" doesn't mean "skip it entirely" — it means you can spend proportionally less time on it, or decide based on your bandwidth.
What a Strong Cover Letter Actually Does
A cover letter that earns its place does a specific job: it tells the employer something your resume can't, in a voice that's recognizably human. ✍️
The most effective cover letters tend to:
- Open with a reason, not a formality. Starting with "I am writing to apply for…" wastes the first sentence. Start with what drew you to this specific role or organization.
- Connect your experience to their actual need. Not a summary of your resume — a translation of it. Why does what you've done make you the right fit for what they need?
- Be specific. Generic letters read as generic. Mentioning something particular about the company's work, mission, or recent direction signals that you did your homework and that this application isn't a mass blast.
- Stay tight. Three to four paragraphs. One page maximum. Hiring managers are busy. Respecting their time is itself a form of professional communication.
The AI Question: Everyone's Using It, So What Now?
AI tools have made it faster than ever to generate a passable cover letter. That's created a new problem: a flood of letters that are grammatically clean, structurally sound, and completely forgettable.
If your cover letter sounds like it could have been written for any candidate applying to any company, it's not doing the job — regardless of how it was written. Employers in fields that value communication are increasingly able to spot AI-generated boilerplate, and it can work against you.
Using AI tools to draft, structure, or edit a cover letter isn't inherently a problem. Using them to replace your actual voice and specific thinking is where it backfires.
The Practical Framework: How to Decide 🤔
Ask yourself these questions before deciding whether to write one:
- Did the job posting request a cover letter? If yes, write one — full stop.
- Is this a role where writing or communication is a core skill? If yes, treat the letter as part of your audition.
- Does my resume raise questions that could easily be misread? If yes, a letter can prevent a premature no.
- Is this a company or team where culture and fit are likely to matter in the hiring decision? If yes, a letter is one of the few places you can show that.
- Am I applying somewhere that's clearly running high-volume automated filtering? If yes, your energy might be better spent on keyword-optimizing your resume — though a brief, targeted letter still doesn't hurt.
One Thing Worth Knowing Before You Decide
The question of whether to write a cover letter isn't really separable from the question of what kind of application you're putting together overall. A thoughtful cover letter paired with a tailored resume is a different package than a generic letter attached to an untouched resume. Neither the letter nor the resume works as well alone as it does when they're built to complement each other.
What factors matter most — the industry, the size of the employer, the role itself, how you found the job, and what's in your background — is something only you can weigh. But walking into an application without a letter, when one could have helped, is a quiet way to give up ground you didn't need to give up.
