Does Anyone Actually Read Cover Letters?

I Had an Existential Crisis Writing One

While preparing to switch jobs, I sat down to write a cover letter. Staring at the "motivation for applying" section, I suddenly wondered: does anyone actually read these? I asked 13 developer friends, and 11 of them said "probably not."

(Meanwhile, I'd spent 3 hours polishing my opening sentence. Should have solved an algorithm problem instead.)

What It Looks Like From the Hiring Side

Last year, I got to participate in hiring. We were looking for one senior backend developer and received 247 applications. There's physically no time to carefully read each person's cover letter. I did look at resumes — scanning work history, tech stack, and project experience, spending about 2 minutes per person. Cover letters? Honestly, I only read the first two lines.

But there were exceptions. When a resume was borderline, I looked to the cover letter for the deciding factor. If it specifically addressed "why I'm applying to this company" or "what problems I solved in previous projects," that earned points.

Cover Letters Aren't Completely Meaningless

Out of 247 applications, 3 people made it to interviews specifically because their cover letters were impressive. They had something in common: instead of abstract flowery language, they used specific numbers and experiences. Not a single line of "I will work passionately." Instead, things like "reduced response time from 340ms to 89ms in a previous project."

The problem with cover letters isn't the format itself — it's that most people write them the same way. "I want to grow," "I value teamwork" — these sentences make no difference whether they get read or not.

The Copy-Paste Incident

This is embarrassing, but during my second job switch, I sent Company A's cover letter to Company B. Without even changing the company name. Obviously, I got rejected at the screening stage. That's when I realized cover letters do get read. In the most humiliating way possible.

So How Should You Write One?

Based on my experience, here's what works. You don't need to write long. Three to four paragraphs is enough. The key is specifically showing "why I'm the right fit for this position at this company." Read the company's tech blog, check their tech stack, and connect it to your experience.

"I'm interested in your MSA migration. At my previous company, I was responsible for API gateway design during a monolith-to-microservices transition, and helped keep inter-service latency under 47ms on average."

Write something like that and you'll at least stand out in the first two lines.

A Portfolio Beats a Cover Letter

Honestly, in developer hiring, a GitHub profile says more than a cover letter. Commit history, code style, quality of project READMEs. These are more direct ways to demonstrate skill.

But it varies by company. Big corporations still require cover letters, while some startups only look at portfolios. You have to match the target.

If you ask me whether anyone actually reads cover letters — yes. But they don't read the whole thing. If the first two lines aren't specific and differentiated, that's where they stop. So if you're going to invest time in your cover letter, go all in on those first two lines.