Time to say goodbye!
More and more I feel like we are getting ready to say goodbye to the motivational letter.
So, I already went ahead and wrote a goodbye.
”
Dear motivational letter,
There you are again, to complete a CV of candidate. You hold such beautiful words, but from a recruiter’s perspective I wonder….
Are you truly written by the applicant?
Does the candidate really mean every letter?
I do not – and will not ever know.
Most of the time I will just quickly scan your content. Unfortunately, barely acknowledging the time someone spent on writing you. Maybe just to check if you hold some spelling mistakes or if you hold some surprising content.
To be honest, sadly – most of the time I would find you quite standard.
As a candidate, I dreaded to write you. Thinking of ways to make it easier so I could apply for the job I wanted so much.. I usually ended up using a template and changed few words here, and phrases there, to better fit my profile. Other times I would just call the company, and by introducing myself over the phone, I would often be excused from writing you.
In this new day and age less and less recruiters are making you a part of their process. And to be honest, I’m not sorry about this.
You have been useful in a way and in some fields, that is for sure.
But now my dear motivational letter – It’s time to see goodbye.
Until we never meet again!
Regards,
Sandhna
I do have to say – I feel much better after having written this. Recent study also show that I’m not alone in this.
According to Jobvite’s 2017 Job Seeker Nation Study, 47% of candidates that applied in 2017 did not use a motivational letter. I see this as a truly growing trend.
Using digitalization to replace motivational letters in recruitment processes are increasing in popularity. In this digital time where (almost) everyone owns for example a recording device it also makes sense. By using pre-recorded question to you can test the motivation of a candidate and from their answers actually feel their enthusiasm. It also saves you time by not having to read the pile of letters you received (or if you didn’t read them I like did, it at least saves a candidate time with not having to write one)
So what do you think? Are you ready to say goodbye?
Happy Hiring!
