Hi all,
I was wondering if cover letters improve my application?
I joined a BCG call sometime ago and they said they do not read it, but for Mck and bain do they?
I am also applying to LEK, OW and Kearney; where I know OW likes a cover letter.
what are your suggestions, thank you!
Previous internship & FT interviewer here: I cannot speak about the role of the cover letter in the first stage of the process, i.e., will HR invite you to a first round. But for me as the interviewer in a later stage, I had access to the full application incl. the cover letter, and I liked to read through the cover letter of the candidate ahead or after my call. It gives me a clearer picture of the candidate (writing style, formatting, etc.) when in doubt. Caveat: I know in times of AI the cover letters might not originate 100% from the candidates themselves, but I still scan through them. Hope that helps!
From a Recruiting perspective: if you can provide a cover letter, do it. In case there are some open questions, the team wants to understand your motivation or why you did xyz when and why, it is super helpful to have a cover letter. Usually it is only beneficial for you.
I would approach this on a firm-by-firm basis and (as you are already doing) take the instructions of the respective firms' recruiting teams as the source of truth.
McKinsey (at least in London) only screens your CV. When I was conducting candidate screening for Kearney London, I also received cover letters which I would scan through and it gave me a chance to better understand particular points mentioned in the CV. However, I can't speak for how much emphasis other colleagues placed on them.
What I will say is HR teams can easily tell if a cover letter has been written with AI assistance. Therefore, if you are going to invest time in creating one, make sure it is yours.
Best,
Bogdan
You're overthinking this.
If a firm explicitly tells you they don't read it, don't waste your time writing one.
If they ask for / accept one, write it.
Cover letters are generally a table stakes item. You need to get them to a certain level of quality, but the difference between a good one and an amazing one isn't that big.
So please don't spend 5 hours writing each letter from scratch!
I have a mass production technique that should take cover letter writing from dozens of hours to just a few for ALL of your applications.
That's exactly what I teach in my Applications Course.
Hi,
Write one wherever the firm asks for it and keep it short where they do not; as Bogdan said, the instructions of each recruiting team are the source of truth here, and a cover letter is almost never what decides a screen either way.
Good luck!
Best,
Franco
Hey there :)
I’d follow the specific firm’s requirements rather than writing a cover letter for every application. If it’s optional and the firm doesn’t really use it in screening, I’d put that time into making your CV as strong as possible.
For firms that explicitly ask for one, like OW in your case, definitely submit it. For McKinsey and Bain, the value can vary by office and role, so I’d only write one if requested or if you have something genuinely useful to add that isn’t clear from your CV.
Best, Alessa :)
