cover letters for entry level software jobs
Im graduating in May 2020. I know cover letters are searched for keywords from the job description and other sources, but how seriously do they read them. If you read my cover letter its kind of obvious that im trying to hit all the keywords, but it still makes perfect sense in english it just doesnt flow to well. I’m also not trying to convince them as best as possible to love me through it becuase im expecting them to glance at it and not weight it too heavily. (mainly for SAP SVNT and Amazon SDE)
Cover letters were important in an age when the number of applications for a job posting was significantly low. Nowadays no one stands a chance to get a call by directly applying on the careers sites. Referrals is the only way to go and in that case you don’t really need any cover letter.
I got hired at Google by applying online. Didn't bother with a cover letter though
You are an exception not a norm.
Possible other people in the office might get a laugh out of it depending what you write
Write a story like 50 shades. Recruiters might be impressed by your imagination.
Don't bother writing a cover letter when applying to something online, nobody reads them. But if you have someone's email, you can treat the email body as a cover letter, but don't make it too wordy. Those get read most of the time.
Optimize your keywords in the rest of your resume (projects, classes, etc), not in your cover letter. You want your cover letter to flow. Resume-wise, it's important to tailor the keywords in your resume to each particular job description you're applying to, at least that's what I've been finding since I've been looking for a job. I wrote my own tool to help me with this cause it made a big difference for me, and it was too slow to do it manually. I can share it if you think it'd help you, lmk
Nope. No one reads them especially for new grads