The purpose of a cover letter is to make a hiring manager want to read your resume.
It is a short, focused document that connects your experience directly to the role you are applying for, demonstrates that you understand the employer's needs, and gives you a voice that a resume alone cannot provide.
What is the main purpose of a cover letter?
The main purpose of a cover letter is to persuade a hiring manager that your application is worth their full attention.
It does this by bridging the gap between your resume and the role, showing not just what you have done but why it is relevant to this employer right now.
A resume is a structured record of your experience.
A cover letter is the argument for why that experience matters here.
The two documents work together, but they serve different purposes.
Your resume reports the facts but your cover letter explains them.
A well-written cover letter gives you space to do things a resume format cannot:
- Show that you have researched the company and understand what they are looking for.
- Explain a career change or employment gap in a way that reframes it positively.
- Highlight one or two achievements most directly relevant to the role, rather than listing everything.
- Demonstrate your written communication skills before anyone has met you.
The cover letter is also where personality comes through.
Two candidates can have nearly identical resumes.
The one whose cover letter feels genuine, tailored, and considered is almost always the one who receives the interview call.
Applicants who include a cover letter are 1.9 times more likely to land an interview than those who do not, (Resume.io Cover Letter Statistics, 2025).
For most job seekers, that single data point makes the case for writing a cover letter more persuasively than any other argument could.
What is the importance of a cover letter?
A cover letter is important because it gives you a meaningful opportunity to stand out at a point in the hiring process where most candidates look nearly identical on paper.
When a recruiter has reviewed dozens of resumes with similar job titles and experience levels, the cover letter is often what moves one application from the pile to the shortlist.
The data is direct on this point.
87% of employers consider cover letters when deciding which candidates to invite for interviews, even when a cover letter is listed as optional (Resume.io Cover Letter Statistics, 2025).
Most employers are reading them regardless of whether they asked for one.
This matters across three situations in particular:
- When your resume is not a perfect match: A focused cover letter can close the gap between your background and the job requirements by making explicit connections your resume cannot contextualize on its own
- When the role is highly competitive: In high-volume hiring situations, a cover letter that is genuinely tailored to the company and role is one of the few ways to differentiate your application at the top of the funnel
- When the posting requires one: If a cover letter is required and yours is absent or generic, that alone can be enough to remove you from consideration before anyone looks at your resume
The importance of a cover letter is not about following convention.
It is about making full use of every tool available to you in a competitive process.
Does a cover letter actually get read?
Yes, the majority of cover letters do get read, though often quickly.
Employers spend less than a minute on the average cover letter during an initial screen, which means your opening lines carry most of the weight.
This is useful to know, as it tells you exactly what a cover letter needs to accomplish: answer the employer's first question within the first two or three sentences.
That question is always a version of: why are you applying for this particular role?
If your opening sentence addresses that directly, you have done the hard part.
If it starts with "My name is" or "I am writing to apply for," you have already lost the reader's attention before making your case.
A few factors determine whether a cover letter gets read carefully or skimmed:
- Whether it is clearly written for this role, not recycled from a previous application.
- Whether the first paragraph makes a precise, relevant point rather than a generic introduction.
- Whether it is concise; most employers favor cover letters that stay within half a page.
The cover letter that gets read is not the most eloquent one.
It is the one that makes the employer feel, within the first few lines, that this candidate understands exactly what they need.
When is a cover letter most valuable?
A cover letter adds the most value when your application needs context that a resume cannot provide on its own.
There are four situations where a well-written cover letter can be the deciding factor in whether you move forward.
1. Career changes
These are one of the clearest examples.
If your work history is in a different field or function, a cover letter is where you make the connection between what you have done and what this role requires.
Without that explanation, the person reviewing your resume may not make that connection themselves.
2. Employment gaps
A resume that shows several months without work raises a question.
A cover letter that addresses it briefly and honestly, without over-explaining, answers that question before it becomes a reason to move on to the next candidate.
3. Referrals
Referrals are worth naming directly.
If someone inside the company has referred you for the role, mention that in your cover letter.
A referral carries weight, and making it visible in your opening paragraph immediately gives your application more credibility.
4. Highly competitive roles
When a position attracts hundreds of applicants with similar qualifications, a targeted cover letter is one of the few ways to differentiate your application before a recruiter has reason to read further.
Conversely, cover letters carry less weight in certain contexts, such as applications submitted through staffing agencies, where the recruiter typically introduces you to the employer.
Even then, a brief note helps the recruiter understand your goals and what you are looking for.
How does a cover letter complement your resume?
A cover letter complements your resume by adding the narrative layer that a resume's format cannot accommodate.
Where your resume lists facts like roles, dates, responsibilities, and results, your cover letter explains what those facts mean for the employer reading them.
Your resume answers "what did you do?", whereas your cover letter answers "why does it matter for this role?"
The two documents work by design as a pair, not as alternatives or duplicates.
A common mistake is using a cover letter to restate the resume, listing the same roles and skills in paragraph form.
This wastes the space and gives the employer no additional reason to keep reading.
What a cover letter should contribute that the resume does not already contain:
- Your direct reason for applying for this role at this company, not a general statement of interest.
- The one or two points from your background most relevant to what they are hiring for.
- Any context the resume raises but cannot resolve, a career change, a gap, a level change, or a relocation.
- Evidence of your written communication ability, which for many roles is itself a qualification.
A well-constructed cover letter also makes the resume easier to evaluate.
It gives the employer the right framing before they reach your work history, so the experience they are reading lands with the relevant context already in place.
That is a small advantage, but in a competitive process, small advantages are often the ones that matter.
Key takeaways
- The main purpose of a cover letter is to persuade the employer to read your resume and invite you for an interview.
- A cover letter adds the most value when your application needs context a resume cannot provide: career changes, employment gaps, referrals (references), and competitive roles.
- A cover letter should not restate the resume, it should add the narrative that explains why your experience is relevant to this specific employer.
Frequently asked questions
The questions below address some of the most common uncertainties job seekers have about why and when cover letters matter.
Is a cover letter necessary if the job posting says it is optional?
Yes, including a cover letter is still advisable even when listed as optional.
Most employers read cover letters regardless of whether they required one, and submitting a focused cover letter when others do not is a direct way to stand out.
The risk of skipping one is greater than the effort a short, well-targeted cover letter takes to write.
What is the difference between a cover letter and a resume?
A resume is a structured record of your work history, skills, and qualifications.
A cover letter is a brief written case for why you are the right person for a particular role.
They serve different purposes and work as a pair, the resume provides the facts, and the cover letter explains why those facts are relevant to this employer.
