Listen to talented applicants and understand what they need
In the current debate surrounding cover letters for applications, it should not be a question of whether or not pupils are capable of putting together such a letter. The goal should be to understand what they need. Abolishing cover letters is worthwhile from our point of view – and not only for apprentices, but for all professional groups and tiers. Companies need to learn to listen to their applicants more and to show an interest in their needs if they want to procure talent for their business.
At OTTO we therefore decided two years ago that we would no longer ask for cover letters. We are capitalising on digitalisation within our recruitment process. In addition, we are seeking exceptional tech talent. Think of it this way: you’re sitting on the train, scrolling through job sites on your smartphone and you come across an interesting position. What do you do next? Go home, boot up your PC, update your CV and write a cover letter? We want to make our application process as convenient as possible: you’ve found a position, you apply with XING or your LinkedIn profile, answer two short questions and submit. Thus we are making the pyschological barrier to applying as small as possible. Because it’s not just school leavers but specialists, too, who find the cover letter difficult. According to a survey, every second applicant is deterred or irritated by a cover letter. Many consider it a waste of time, don’t know what they should write, or liken writing a cover letter to visiting the dentist or sitting an exam.
Many liken writing a cover letter to visiting the dentist or sitting an exam. That's why we abolish it.
Applications without cover letters, the right decision
Our decision to stop asking for cover letters was exactly the right one. In retrospect we are realising that our two motivation questions, which need to be answered as part of the application process, are much more informative than the usual cover letter. We as a company get answers to exactly the questions that interest us (“why me” and “why this job”). Everything else in a cover letter is mostly just added embellishment. From these two answers our experts can draw more conclusions, work through the application process more quickly and ask targeted questions in the first interview. So our future talent benefits from this as much as we do. At an early stage of the application process the candidates already get a glimpse of how we approach our work at OTTO: personably, straightforwardly, digitally and quickly.
