When applying for a job, is a cover letter necessary when not mentioned?

7 comments

1. No

2. For postdoc or any academic position it has a high chance that they will ask for a recommendation letter (1 or 2). Maybe this is the just the first step.

3. For a printed and snail-mailed resume, the purpose of the cover letter is to identify the purpose of your correspondence and point out what other documents the employer should expect to find in the envelope. I would always write a cover letter for anything sent this way, unless the instructions explicitly demand otherwise.

   If an online submission has a well-designed UI for both sides of the experience, your prospective employer probably doesn’t need a document from you telling that you are applying for a job, nor do they need you to provide a list of everything you will send. So I wouldn’t send a cover letter unless asked for or I was applying by email, in which case the email itself may serve as the cover letter.

4. If they don’t ask for one, don’t give them one.

   Remember that academics are busy people. If it were up to us, we’d just ask for a link to your ORCID/ResearchMap and leave it at that. HR forces us to ask for more, but all the extra stuff is annoying.

5. Not necessary but if you really want the job there’s no harm in writing one to show you’re keen, IMO. Will help you stand out.

6. Gakushin? Nope. You need your advisor/sensei to have some pull.

7. US-style cover letter never needed but some people will include a simple “these are the contents” list cover letter. I’d assume more common when applications were snail-mailed but I still see em for digitally collected application materials