Top resume, poor CL

Question

Hello,

Quick question to experienced consultants : do you screen applicants with top profiles who sent a generic CL ?

Thank you

Update: Hi there, many thanks for your replies ! To give you an update, I applied to all 3 MBB, Bain rejected my application (mainly for headcount reasons according to the HR) while I had interviews with McK/BCG. Secured only 1 offer, I finally declined to return at a GS/MS/JPM.

I don't think it is necessary to overkill its CL, particularly when the market will start recruiting again.

Btw, I was really surprised and disappointed by the interviews. Be prepared to a lot of BS (only my pov)

Hope it helps :)

Answer 1

Hello,

There are 3 types of companies that I have seen:

1) Companies that require a cover letter: Of course, in this case it is pretty clear that they WILL read your cover letter. It depends on the recruiter if a bad CL is a deal breaker. Typically, if your CV is an A+ and your CL is a B+ this should do the trick.

2) Companies that say cover letter is optional, and they don't mean it: There are companies that say the CL is optional but will still always read your CL if you choose to submit it. In this case, my philosophy is - if you really care about getting the job, then make a B+ CL and submit it, if you are not too excited about it, then don't submit the CL.

3) Companies that say cover letter is optional, and they mean it: These are the companies that truly don't care about the CL whether you submit it or not. They might glance through it, but will not be a deal maker/deal breaker.

Now, of course, the challenge here is to identify where does your company fall in this. The best way to understand this is to speak to your recruiter and pay attention to what they MEAN, as opposed to what they SAY. And of course, it doesn't hurt to ask your seniors/career center about specific locations for specific firms.

All the best!

Rushabh

Answer 2

Hi there,

Why not just create a good CL?

No 1 piece of your application is the most important. No 1 piece of your application can be ignored. Make sure you've optimized:

Resume
Cover Letter
Networking
Online Assessment
Screening call

Answer 3

When I was screening candidates, yes, a generic/poor CL was a negative point. Whether you will be rejected or not depends on:

Firm (geography specific) practice - some HR teams do not always look at CL or give more weightage to CV
Relative strength of other CVs (and CLs) in the same batch, especially if you are applying through OCR/fixed cycle
- There may also be other equally strong CVs, and if there needed to be a choice between your ‘top’ CV and poor CL vs another ‘top’ CV and strong CL, they will go with the other candidate

Answer 4

Hi there,

Q: Do you screen applicants with top profiles who sent a generic CL?

Depending on the company, they may or may not screen your cover letter. The problem is that you won’t know that in advance. So the safe bet is that you also prepare a great cover and avoid the risk to be rejected due to that.

You can find some tips on that below:

▶ How to Craft a Great Cover Letter

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 5

At McKinsey the answer is almost certainly HELL NO. If you're recruiting from a target school, there's a 90% chance that nobody will even look at your cover letter. Consultants review an insane volume of applications, and they certainly aren't thoroughly reviewing your cover letter and grading you against its uniqueness. Your resume & responses to the questions on your application matter much more.

In fact, of the hundreds of Yale profiles that I reviewed, I don't remember the HR team ever providing us screeners with copies of cover letters.

At other firms, or if you have a non-traditional background, this may not be the case.

Answer 6

I've worked for multiple companies. The main criteria by far was resume. In some cases we would check the Cover Letter, usually when we were in doubt.

But in some cases would also check the CL of those who passed. Not expecting something brilliant, but at least to be 100% professional (no typos, no mistakes, minimal logic, nothing stupid there, ability to write in fluid english, etc.)

Answer 7

It really depends on the Firm - some only look at the CV if someone is borderline. It’s worth putting the effort in - you need to make sure that you have a coherent story that hangs together, explains why you've made the choices that you have and makes it seem that consulting is the obvious next step.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Every CV is screened, having a generic cover letter is a bad message to provide.
Overall at the end of the screening (CV+CL+referral), we sum up the quality of the candidate and we decide whether or no to go ahead.

Answer 9

In my experience, a lot of the CVs pretty much look the same. It's the cover letter that does a lot to differentiate between candidates. Both are screened in conjunction typically.

However, the cover letter is purely a matter of effort whereas the CV is what it is based on your track record (not factoring in things like poor formatting or typos). So if the cover letter is poor, it suggests that the applicant does not care enough which is a bad sign.

Answer 10

Hi there,

Depends on the company. McKinsey usually does not care about the cover letter.

For other firms, why not invest 2 hours to create a strong one? There is no downside to this.

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 11

I tend to look at both. The CV is much more heavily scrutinised as that gives you a real sense of what they did. The cover letter helps me understand why they applied.

With a generic CL, I would probe the candidate quite hard on why they are keen on joining the firm and the sector.