> MOST of the time I think the cover letter either gets a brief glance or doesn’t get read at all.
That might very well be the case for a big company that receives a ton of applications but the numbers game works both ways: as the person looking to hire somebody, I find it well worth the time to weed out people based on poor spelling, grammar, etc. It only takes a few seconds to spot the bad ones, and it ensures I don't have to waste my time with somebody who has poor communication skills to begin with.
A couple of maths professors I worked with had very poor spelling, grammar, etc. Good luck with your approach, if you are trying to hire a specialist in an area that is not middle management, HR or marketing. Let alone if you need people do something in the physical world such as building, cleaning or moving things.
That might very well be the case for a big company that receives a ton of applications but the numbers game works both ways: as the person looking to hire somebody, I find it well worth the time to weed out people based on poor spelling, grammar, etc. It only takes a few seconds to spot the bad ones, and it ensures I don't have to waste my time with somebody who has poor communication skills to begin with.