Should you ask candidates for cover letters?
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Last month, I shared one of the most common mistakes I see in job postings: lists of “responsibilities” and “qualifications” that are too long and don’t list the right things, causing you to lose qualified applicants and get a less diverse applicant pool. (Missed last month’s post? Click here to read about how to avoid this mistake.)
Today, I’m sharing another very common missed opportunity I see in job postings across industries and how to fix it.
The Mistake: You’re not using a cover letter ask effectively.
Why is this a mistake?
It’s very likely you’re making this mistake if you’re either:
A: Getting more applications than you have time to read (indicating you’re not asking for the right kind of cover letter), or you’re…
B: Not getting enough applications (indicating you’re asking for a cover letter when you don’t need it).
I believe asking for a cover letter is almost always a mistake because:
They make candidate pools less diverse. That’s because they take too much time to write (if a candidate is going to write a customized one for you), which favors candidates who have extra time to write them. This usually means you’re missing out on candidates who are part of more marginalized groups, like folks with caretaking responsibilities at home, disabilities and chronic illnesses, or who are working multiple jobs, etc.
They waste your time. They take you too long to read, unnecessarily lengthening your hiring process and adding a burdensome task to your to-do list.
They invite your implicit biases to make decisions for you. Generic cover letter asks also open you up to using your implicit biases to evaluate candidates when you learn information that may be irrelevant to their ability to do the job well.
What should you do instead?
Ask candidates to respond to a quick prompt (or two) in writing. Sometimes, it only takes a 1-3 sentence response to communicate the information you need to narrow your candidate pool down. After eliminating candidates whose responses show they don’t meet key qualifications, my clients usually then have a manageable group of qualified candidates whose resumes they can then review more thoroughly. When you do this, keep in mind:
Give a very specific prompt (or two) that will help you evaluate candidates against specific qualifications that are so important that, if they can’t demonstrate they meet those qualifications, it’s probably not even worth reviewing their resume.
Give clear instructions so you can get the information you need, and candidates can spend their time wisely.
Include a word limit for the responses to these prompts.
Write yourself a thorough, clear rubric to use in evaluating the responses. This will help you ensure you’re evaluating them for the qualifications they were intended to screen for and not letting your implicit biases make decisions for you – moving only your most qualified candidates to the resume review stage.
Here is a quick example:
If you work for a nonprofit or otherwise mission-driven organization, commitment to your mission is likely a non-negotiable qualification for all new hires. So, in your application instructions, you might say, “To apply, please submit your resume and share your response to the prompt, “Why do you want to work for an organization on a mission to (fill in your mission here)?”
In your rubric for reviewing these responses, you might say that, to get the highest score, their answer must display a clear commitment to and understanding of your mission. Conversely, to get the lowest score, their answer would display no commitment to or understanding of your mission. (This might sound straightforward, but I’ve seen a client use this rubric almost exactly (customized for them), allowing them to skip reading over 30% of the resumes that came in!)
If it’s important that someone be able to communicate complex ideas concisely in writing to be successful in this role, you might give a shorter character or word limit as a constraint. If it’s important that someone be able to write clearly with strong use of correct grammar to be successful in this role, you might include in your rubric a space to give them a higher score for doing so and a lower score for failing to do so.