I feel like I am seriously in cover letter hell these days. Does anyone else have that feeling?
Lately I have been avoiding applying to jobs and attempting to use head hunters and temp agencies to find work because I am so tired of writing cover letters and sending my resume into the void only to never hear anything back. Is it really that hard to send a “thanks but no thanks” email these days? How much time would that really take?
Today what especially has me peeved is that I have been researching tips and advice (online and with books from the library) on writing better cover letters since they are supposedly the gateway to getting your resume seen. Every single site and book advises the same thing:
do not address your cover to “Whom It May Concern”
Yet what I want to know is what the hell else are you supposed to write? Job announcements today, especially on Craigslist, Monster and Indeed do not give you a contact to address the required cover letter to. Usually on Craigslist you do not even get a company name let alone an employee. When I have researched companies and attempted to locate an employee roster, I can’t find one, or there are multiple Human Resources team members and you don’t know which one is handling the announcement. Which makes me ask again… what are you supposed to do when addressing a cover letter to someone that you don’t have a name for?
The Permanent Job Hunter 