rowan2•15d ago

The mistake people make in cover letters is just listing job duties

I was reviewing resumes for a manager role at a small marketing firm in Austin last month and saw this over and over. People copy their job descriptions into cover letters, talking about what they were assigned to do. But I realized the ones that stood out described a specific problem they solved. Like one guy said he turned a $500 ad budget into $4,000 in sales by focusing on local Facebook groups. That told me more than any list of tasks ever could. Has anyone else noticed this pattern when hiring?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo82515d ago

That one guy's story about the $500 ad budget is exactly the kind of thing that cuts through the noise. I've noticed the same pattern outside of hiring too, like when people try to explain how good they are at cooking or fixing things. They always start by listing all the fancy tools or skills they have, but what really sticks is when they tell you about the time they saved a burnt dinner or rigged a broken part with duct tape and it worked. It's like we're all trained to show off our credentials instead of just showing what we can actually do with them. A real example of work speaks louder than a list of equipment or a resume of roles you held. That's probably why social media is full of people bragging about their setups but not their results.

margaret_jackson7315d ago

Hugo nailed it. Fancy setups just mean you spent money.

williamhill15d ago

That $500 ad budget story from @hugo825 stopped me cold. I mean five hundred bucks and it outran a campaign that cost someone else five grand? That's wild. Most people I know blow that on a single weekend of boosted posts that go nowhere. But a real story like that sticks because it proves the person actually knows what they're doing instead of just owning expensive gear. I've seen the same thing with small businesses who buy all the top shelf tools but can't get a simple job done right. Story telling beats resume fluff every time.