Do you need a cover letter

Do you need a cover letter Do you need a cover letter? Stephen Van Vreede wrote a nice guest post titled the Great Cover Letter Debate over at EmploymentDigest.net.  It address the question: Do I really even need a cover letter? Does anyone read them anymore?  Stephens main takeaway:  the reason cover letters aren’t often read isn’t because they are antiquated or even unwanted necessarily; it is because they simply aren’t effective and hiring people are tired of reading them. I absolutely agree with Stephen.  As a hiring manager, cover letters fall into one of two categories.  At best, it regurgitates the resume.  At worse, its a page long document filled with dense, meaningless paragraphs. I havent seen the perfect cover letter, but personally, Id like to see a document that summarizes the top 3 reasons why youre qualified for the job, backed with concrete examples from your work history.  If a job seeker can provide that, Ill read it.