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Comment by loup-vaillant | Hacker News Reader

> When I was recruiting programmers I always read them, though maybe 1 out of every 10 applicants included one.

So few? Just to make sure, does the body of the email counts as a cover letter? I always put mine there, surely that doesn't make it invisible?

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The body of an email with a resume attached is an explanation to the person you are emailing about why you're sending them a resume and what you want them to do with it, no more. If the company is bigger than 80-or-so people and the person you're mailing is a recruitment inbox, then they are not going to be particularly interested in anything the email says other than which job you're applying for. Your heartfelt explanations about why the company is the place where you have always dreamed of working will never make it to anybody who has hiring decision authority.

So basically, the first person who receives my email will lose relevant information. It's like they don't even know how email works. Often at a technology company.

Such blatant stupidity is hard do fathom.

>surely that doesn't make it invisible?

It makes it perfectly visible, to the person who receives your email. After that only your attached resume is printed or passed on to other decision makers.

Putting your "cover letter" in body of an email is anywhere from bad to worse practice, depending on the initial recipient of your email (hiring manager vs low level recruiter).

> Putting your "cover letter" in body of an email is anywhere from bad to worse practice

So, the onus is on me to put this information in a place that is less convenient to reach than the body of the email?

This is ridiculous. The onus should be on them not to lose information. Sure, if I need that job badly, I may have to work around their stupidity. Hopefully I have more leeway than that.

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