Novoresume has released survey findings suggesting that cover letters remain relevant in recruitment, despite inconsistent employer reading habits and limited use among job seekers. About 60% of surveyed HR professionals said they read cover letters, while only 21.5% of job seekers said they always submit one. Alongside the findings, the resume-building platform is promoting an AI-powered cover letter maker that generates a draft from a candidate’s resume and a target job description.
Cover Letters Remain a Selective Hiring Signal
Cover letters occupy an uncertain place in modern recruitment. Some hiring professionals consider them useful for evaluating a candidate’s motivation and fit, while others prioritize resumes and structured application information. Novoresume’s latest survey highlights this divide and suggests that job seekers cannot assume their cover letters will always be read—or that leaving one out will go unnoticed.
The resume-building company surveyed more than 200 HR professionals and 1,000 U.S. job seekers. Approximately 60% of HR respondents said they read cover letters, while roughly 40% said they did not. Another 21.3% reported reading the cover letter before the resume, and 25.7% said a strong cover letter could influence the final decision on an application.
Reading habits varied by role. Only 22.9% of HR managers said they skip cover letters, compared with 52.8% of recruiters. These differences suggest that the value of a cover letter may depend on who reviews an application and how an organization structures its recruitment process.
The findings are based on Novoresume’s survey rather than a comprehensive study of hiring practices across the labor market. They nevertheless illustrate the challenge candidates face when deciding how much time to invest in an additional application document.
Tailoring Applications Remains a Challenge
Only 21.5% of surveyed job seekers said they always send a cover letter. Novoresume also reported that job seekers who always tailor their letters had a 35.8% hiring rate, compared with 21.2% among those who never write one.
Those figures indicate an association in the survey, not proof that writing a cover letter directly causes a candidate to get hired. Candidates who tailor applications may also invest more effort in researching employers, selecting relevant vacancies and improving their resumes. The survey figures alone do not establish how much each factor contributes to hiring outcomes.
Even so, the findings point to a practical obstacle: writing a different, relevant letter for every application takes time. Candidates applying to multiple roles may struggle to balance personalization with application volume, particularly when employers do not consistently review cover letters.
Novoresume co-founder Andrei Kurtuy said the company developed its cover letter tool to reduce the time required to create a tailored draft. The approach reflects a wider trend in career technology, where generative AI is being used to accelerate routine job-search tasks.
AI Connects Cover Letters With Resume Data
Novoresume’s cover letter maker combines 16 cover letter templates with corresponding resume templates and an AI cover letter generator.
The workflow is designed to start with a resume and a job posting, or information entered manually by the applicant. The AI then uses the supplied details to draft a letter targeted to the role. Users can edit the text within a template and download the finished document as a PDF.
Matching the visual design of the cover letter and resume is another feature of the product. The company offers professional, simple, creative and student-oriented styles, including options intended for candidates explaining employment gaps.
The product addresses two distinct challenges: getting started with the writing and organizing the information in a professional format. AI-generated text can help candidates overcome a blank page, but the usefulness of the final letter depends on how accurately it represents the applicant’s experience and why that experience matters to the employer.
Candidates should review generated content carefully, remove unsupported claims and replace generic statements with specific examples. A letter that repeats resume details without connecting them to the role may add little value, even if it is well formatted.
Human Review Still Matters in AI-Assisted Applications
Novoresume says 14 recruiters, HR leaders and career coaches reviewed its cover letter templates and builder. Their comments emphasized structure, readability and the relationship between a resume and its accompanying letter.
Some reviewers argued that templates can help applicants organize their thinking, while others cautioned that a cover letter is useful only when the content justifies the reader’s attention. That distinction matters as AI tools make it easier to generate application documents at scale.
For employers, a greater supply of AI-assisted cover letters could make generic language less informative as a signal of candidate interest. For job seekers, the advantage is therefore unlikely to come from automation alone. The stronger use case is to identify the most relevant experience, explain its connection to the vacancy and present that information clearly.
The company’s research also found that 49% of hiring managers prefer a cover letter of approximately half a page, while 26% prefer a full page. These preferences reinforce the importance of concise writing, although individual employer instructions should take precedence over general survey findings.
Career Technology Is Shifting Toward Faster Personalization
Novoresume’s launch illustrates how career platforms are incorporating generative AI into familiar job-search workflows. Rather than replacing resumes or application documents, these tools aim to make it easier to adapt existing career information for individual opportunities.
The broader question is whether faster document creation helps candidates communicate their qualifications more effectively or simply increases the volume of similar-looking applications. AI can reduce drafting time, but candidates still need to verify factual accuracy, demonstrate genuine relevance and follow each employer’s application requirements.
For job seekers, the practical takeaway is to treat AI as an editing and drafting assistant rather than an authority on their career history. For recruitment technology providers, the opportunity lies in combining speed with meaningful personalization and transparent user control.
Cover letters may not be essential in every hiring process, but Novoresume’s findings suggest they remain part of the application landscape. The challenge is not simply producing more letters—it is helping candidates create concise, credible documents that give employers useful information beyond the resume.
Market Landscape
AI-powered career tools are bringing resume writing, cover letter generation and document formatting into more integrated job-search workflows. Novoresume’s survey points to continued variation in employer attitudes toward cover letters and suggests that candidates use them inconsistently. AI can lower the effort required to tailor applications, but the impact on hiring outcomes remains uncertain. The reported relationship between tailored letters and hiring rates should not be interpreted as evidence of causation without further research.
Top Insights
- Cover letters remain relevant to many reviewers: About 60% of surveyed HR professionals said they read them.
- Employer preferences differ: 21.3% read the cover letter before the resume, while reading habits varied between HR managers and recruiters.
- Job seekers rarely always include one: Only 21.5% said they always submit a cover letter.
- AI can reduce drafting effort: Novoresume’s tool creates a role-specific draft from a resume and job description.
- Human editing remains essential: Applicants should check factual accuracy and replace generic AI-generated language with relevant evidence.
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