然而，并不是所有人都准备放弃求职信。“求职信是唯一能体现一点人味的东西，”查尔顿说。“简历介绍技能，求职信则用来表达你为公司效劳的强烈愿望。”

    Premier Solutions Restaurant Recruiting 的副总裁布莱恩•布鲁斯认为，求职信还可以回答招聘者对简历的疑惑。“有时需要一点解释。如果你简历上所有的经历都在加州，你就可以在求职信里写道：‘我在6周之内就会搬到宾州’。”

    查尔顿认为求职信的边缘化说明了“敬业精神的流失”，如果没人看求职信，招聘必然有问题。“好的求职信和好的简历密不可分，好比智慧和美貌，两者缺一不可。”

    But not everyone is ready to call it quits on the cover letter. "The cover letter is the only thing you have that separates the person from being a candidate and being a human being," says Charlton. "Resumes are about skills, cover letters are an opportunity for a person to indicate their desire to work for a company."

    In other cases, the cover letter can help answer questions about the candidate that may have been raised by the resume, says Brian Bruce, vice president, Premier Solutions Restaurant Recruiting. "Sometimes there's some explanation needed. If they're sending me a resume and all their experience is in California, in the cover letter portion they can say, 'I'm moving to Pennsylvania in six weeks.'"

    Charlton sees the marginalization of the cover letter as an "erosion of professionalism" and if nobody is looking at these cover letters, that's a problem with recruiting. "A good cover letter followed by a good resume, that's like brains and beauty.