No, really, this may be the worst cover letter ever

“My middle name is Promptness. True story. Ask my mom.” Writer overreaches, and falls on her face.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

A couple years ago at Ragan.com, I deconstructed what I speculated was the worst cover letter ever. The overeager undergrad misspelled the company’s name, mischaracterized its industry and uttered successive groaners like this one, about her internship:

When I am given a task, I get it done better than expected. The men at the radio station referred to me as ‘Chicago’ and ‘sassy’—and never failed to give me stories that required contacting the hard-to-get sources. I always got them to talk, and I always got them to ‘spill it.’ Sassy, they said, is for the ability that I have when it comes to asking the ‘tough questions.’

I know: “pretty horrible,” right?

But even though I concealed the young fool’s name, I was vilified by many kind-hearted Ragan readers for attempting to teach a letter-writing lesson, as one reader put it, “at the expense of someone’s hope.”

Well I’ve learned my lesson.

So now that I’ve got my mitts on a cover letter that may be even worse than the one that put the “piss” in epistle, I won’t bother using it to teach any lessons.

I’ll just run the damn thing:

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.