????然而，并不是所有人都準備放棄求職信。“求職信是唯一能體現一點人味的東西，”查爾頓說。“簡歷介紹技能，求職信則用來表達你為公司效勞的強烈愿望。”

????Premier Solutions Restaurant Recruiting 的副總裁布萊恩?布魯斯認為，求職信還可以回答招聘者對簡歷的疑惑。“有時需要一點解釋。如果你簡歷上所有的經歷都在加州，你就可以在求職信里寫道：‘我在6周之內就會搬到賓州’。”

????查爾頓認為求職信的邊緣化說明了“敬業精神的流失”，如果沒人看求職信，招聘必然有問題。“好的求職信和好的簡歷密不可分，好比智慧和美貌，兩者缺一不可。”

????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.