The Trough

“In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” – Bertrand Russell

Dear Recruiter

I started writing this cover letter and found myself feeling frustrated with what I had written, and what I had been thinking I would write. Everything lacked authenticity. Like I was playing a game to the letter but not in spirit. I felt I had to write one anyway, otherwise I would not be a participant in the cover letter arms race. I feel it is important to crystallise why we feel so disengaged and cynical about finding work.

Thank you for considering my application. I really dislike applying for jobs. I think we all feel this way. Cover letters, for me, epitomise why. I could tell you that I think I am qualified for your position, but you could just as easily glean this from my CV (attached by the way). You could certainly gauge my qualities from a face-to-face technical or personal interview, so why do we feel the need to write a cover letters? What additional information could I really pitch here which you would not receive thoroughly and amply from these other processes? My assumption has been that covering letters are really a gauntlet where the writer unwittingly provides (or omits) a reason that can justify reducing the numbers of people you need to interview. For an applicant, trying to understand the recruiter, it’s like playing a game of battleships, or minesweeper. Yes, you can use your knowledge of job description to help but there is generally a feeling of luck driven guesswork, hoping you hit that carrier or miss that last mine. It is an understandably time-expensive process to recruit. I am sympathetic to this. However, us post-graduates, with degrees and experience, are peddled a narrative that our skills and experience will make the world our oyster. Yet, paradoxically, there are so many of us applying to these jobs that companies cannot cope with the resource demands of processing all the applications with the same attention.

Gosh – I think. What is it? What is the offering I can give you in this letter which will make me ‘stand out’ in this field of clever, talented people who are experienced and promised the world. Is it enthusiasm? Is it qualifications? Is it relevant experience? Shall I weave an elaborate and ostentatious tale of how I single-handily ‘solved’ your problem at my previous workplace. The melodrama in that last point aside, I feel an unpleasant egotism about applying for work (perhaps coming from both sides). As if we have to prove ourselves worthy of their consideration. What’s worse, is we tell ourselves that we have been ‘chosen’ for the dream job. Not to be dismissive of those who love their job, but the reality of the relationship is simple: a service is provided for a wage. That service should be good. You should work with good intent. But that’s it. And, the bar is simply: “can you do the job and can you treat your fellow coworkers and customers as you would like to be treated”. Let’s dispel the mysticism about how profoundly important and laudable a well-paying white-collar job in an exciting new market trend makes you. Let’s drop the pageantry of the CEO.

You may be thinking this is a ‘first-world problem’. You’re right. However, flawed systems, which elicit feelings of cynicism and frustration, which we quietly continue to engage with, should give us pause for thought. Looking for jobs is tough as it is. We all engage with this social contract, where we moan, do yoga, climbing, or meditation to stave off our feelings of disenfranchisement and stress. Do grazing sheep meditate?