This cover letter got me an interview at Forbes

For the Forbes hiring team, in case they see this: Hey there, Forbes hiring team! I hope you don’t mind me sharing my application experience with my subscribers. Anything helps in this job market, and maybe the tips here will help someone else land an interview (and later, a job!).

All the fancy corporate articles about how using AI for writing cover letters will help you stand out are…not all true. Like, at all. Now, it seems like we’re living in a time where just being human can help you stand out (which I am all for).

I mean, it’s really no surprise. If I were a recruiter and saw cover letter after cover letter generated by AI, I would want to rip my hair out and beg to read genuine words from a human about why they want the job and what makes them different.

I saw this job opening 2 days ago at Forbes for a staff writer position covering careers, something that I’ve done for years as a freelancer.

Even though I’m not really looking for jobs right now and have a pretty full schedule with my part-time technical writing job and other projects, the position was 100% remote and looked perfect for me. Before I knew it, I was already filling out the application, and when I hit submit, I was met with the deadly red box showing that a cover letter was required. 🫠

I really don’t like writing cover letters because I feel like there’s so much pressure to create the “perfect” one to stand out. Add AI filtering to the mix, and we don’t know if those ever make it to any human eyes.

(BUT I can see why many writing applications have them. They want to see how you write under pressure and market yourself.)

My wife was like, “just do it,” and I was like…. “well fine”. What’s the worst that could happen? Getting a rejection email or never hearing a word form them? Pshhhh — I can take it.

It seems like so many people write cover letters with AI these days anyway. Maybe my human words will strike a chord.

I sat down and literally just raw dogged the thing with my bare thoughts, and cranked in out in 20 minutes. I threw all caution to the wind and didn’t even follow my own past advice of using a template and making it all perfect. There was no clean, shiny professionalism to it AT ALL.

And weirdly enough, the next morning I had an email in my inbox to set up an introductory 30 minute interview. My interview is Monday! 💃

For some weird reason, my unhinged human…ness in that cover letter got me an interview? I’m not really sure. It might’ve been that, my resume, or maybe they really were impressed by my experience.

Either way, I wanted to share with you all what I did.

I just kept it as simple and to the point as possible, and included these 4 things:

Without further ado, here it is! In the flesh!

(Don’t use this as a direct template. Please just use it for reference and inspiration for when you write your next cover letter.)

My phone number is also redacted below. As much as I’d love to chat with any of you over phone, I’d rather keep that data to myself.

Daniella Flores

Phone number | [email protected] | LinkedIn

Dear hiring manager,

First off, thank you for opening and reading this cover letter! I am applying to the Staff Writer position to lead Forbes’s career coverage. I have about 9 years of experience writing in the financial, career, and business space, ran my own financial and career literacy website, I Like to Dabble, which I sold last year, and have covered careers for several publications, including Salary Transparent Street, CNET (as a member of their Money Expert Review Board), CNBC, and Social Work to Wealth. That’s all in my resume and portfolio, but reiterating this information isn’t the point of this letter.

I’ll cut right to the chase. You probably want to see the actual results my work has been able to bring over the years. Here’s a quick look at those:

Working for Forbes would be an absolute dream and a chance for my experience covering careers to come full circle. I know I could make a truly meaningful contribution with the unique perspective I bring from working in several industries throughout the years. You’ll see my resume is a mixed bag of tech and finance experience. That’s because before I was a writer, I was a software engineer for a decade, which also brought me to technical writing. I’d love to connect and chat more about the role and how I can best contribute.

Sincerely,

Daniella Flores

If you find this helpful, please share it with a friend who could also use it!

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by their hiring process so far. The job posting was up for a week before I applied, and I honestly thought I wouldn’t hear anything, thinking they probably already hired someone or my application would be lost to the AI gods for eternity.

But that wasn’t the case. I didn’t get filtered out. I didn’t get a soulless automated email for setting up the interview. And the response time was fast. It all seemed like an actual human was on the other side of the application.

Which I SO VERY MUCH appreciate, as I see every other company throwing their sincerity by the wayside. So Forbes, you’re doing something right.

Anyway, I will continue to share the progress after my interview on Monday.

And please, no one rush to the Forbes website to apply to the same position I applied to. Lol, I know this entire post opens up that possibility, but whatever. And if you do, I love a good competition.

Wish me luck!

See you next week,

💜 Daniella

P.S. I know there wasn’t a post last week. I’m in the process of moving the newsletter to beehiiv. The posts will be more consistent once that’s complete.

In the coming weeks, look forward to resources on what clients are actually paying for these days with AI muddling up everything, how I’m going about replacing a writing client this month, how I’m monetizing a blog I’m resurrecting, and where you can find remote writing jobs, pitch calls, and more!