Nobody Reads Your Cover Letter, and Other Things a Head of HR Wishes You Knew

More than a year ago, I sat down with Darrell Fincher-Crusan, Former Head of Human Resources at Octapharma Plasma, for an episode of Sweet Tea and Economy. At the time, we were talking about the job market, resumes, cover letters, networking, remote work, and mentorship. A year later, the conversation feels even more relevant.

As a recruiter and career strategist, I sit with people in that messy middle between what they have done, what they want next, and how employers actually decide. So I think a lot about how people tell the truth about their experience in a way that lands. That is why this conversation stuck with me. Darrell was not talking about careers from the sidelines. He was talking from inside the room where the decisions get made.

Who Darrell is, and why his perspective carries weight

Darrell has spent more than 24 years leading through the real mechanics of people, performance, organizational change, and business transformation.

His background spans HR, operations, finance, marketing, compliance, leadership development, workforce strategy, and enterprise change.

Previously he led HR for Octapharma Plasma's $1.5 billion U.S. subsidiary, after senior roles with Sunlight Financial, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, AstraZeneca, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and MBNA. His work has spanned workforce transformation, regulatory remediation, succession planning, HR technology, and culture change.

When Darrell speaks about hiring, career growth, and the future of work, he draws on more than two decades of executive leadership experience helping organizations navigate growth and transformation.

The resume still has to do its job

One of his clearest points was also the simplest: your resume matters more than your cover letter. He has not looked at a cover letter in years. In a market built on speed and AI-assisted screening, what wins is a resume where your skills line up cleanly with the job.

His words for it: do not overengineer it. Skip the heavy design, the loud colors, the photos competing with the substance. Make it look like you, keep it professional, and let the content carry the weight.

I asked how long he spends on a resume before deciding to interview. Usually less than 30 seconds, and not because he is careless. People put real work into a resume, so you give it its due, and half a minute is enough to see whether the skills you need are on the page. Sit with that. You have about 30 seconds to make your value obvious.

A strong resume shows what you have done, what you know how to do, and why you fit the role, easy to read and aligned to the job. One thing I tell clients constantly: connect each accomplishment to the value you drove. I see bullets like "created a new TA process" all the time. That is only half the statement.

Your resume is not your autobiography. It is a marketing document.

That matters more now, not less, precisely because AI has made everyone sound polished. When polish is free, clarity is the differentiator. The goal is not to sound good. It is to be understood quickly.

Networking is not something you do only when you need it

Darrell said something I wish more people heard before a job search: the worst time to reach out is the moment you need something. When a posting goes up and you suddenly appear in someone's inbox, the ask is obvious. You are asking one message to do the work of a relationship that was never built.

He learned this himself. After a decade at one company, he found that people who had only ever held one job had never learned to network. They had never had to. The ones worth learning from had moved around, understood the market, and were willing to pay it forward.

Networking is not begging for help. It is relationship building, and it is visibility.

When I coach job seekers, the biggest shift is exactly this. Stop thinking of networking as asking for favors. It is helping the right people understand who you are and where you are headed. In practice:

• A thoughtful LinkedIn connection note, specific and human, not a copy-and-paste blast
• A genuine check-in with someone you have lost touch with
• Sharing something useful, with no ask attached
• Asking a smart question and actually listening to the answer

Darrell is a firm believer in the connection note. The ones he answers say here is what I am working on, here is what I hope to do, here is what I might offer you. The ones he ignores clearly went to 200 other people. Use the AI if you want, then make it sound like a person wrote it to one person.

Mentor or sponsor? They are not the same thing

Partway through, Darrell drew a distinction that reframed the conversation for me. Mentorship and sponsorship are not the same. A mentor advises you: how to get better, think through a decision, navigate a hard situation. A sponsor has the standing to move barriers, open doors, and create opportunities you could not reach on your own.

A mentor helps you get better. A sponsor changes what is possible.

He was honest that stepping into the sponsor role took time. For years he was the one seeking it, looking for someone senior to open a door. Now he is often the person who can, and he is finally settled into that.

His mentorship advice was the most practical thing he said. Do not show up with a blank page expecting wisdom to be poured in. If you do, you might as well ask a chatbot. Come with an agenda: the six or seven things you want to work on, where you are struggling, what to prioritize first. The mentee does the majority of the work.

The value runs both ways. He mentors people and learns as much as he teaches. A good mentoring relationship is an exchange, not a download, and it does not need a rigid calendar. Sometimes it is just a note when someone pops into your head: thinking of you, let us grab lunch when the timing is right. Be intentional, then keep it human.

Staying relevant is the whole job now

Asked what advice he would give someone trying to get ahead, Darrell kept returning to one word: relevant. The game now is skills. Even in his own seat, he said, ignoring AI, data, or the churn of laws and regulations would put him and his business at a disadvantage. Staying relevant means investing the time to keep up with where things are going.

Bury your head in the sand about AI, and that ship passes you in a very big way.

This does not mean chasing every trend. It means not pretending the shift is optional. Roles are changing, some so drastically that the person holding them is not ready for what comes next. Keep honing your craft, keep learning the skills that are becoming essential, and stay close enough to the change to move with it.

The quiet cost of never being in the room

Darrell admitted that in 2022, when companies started calling people back, his first reaction was, why. Remote worked. No commute, money saved, the job got done. What changed his mind was watching what remote quietly takes away over time.

He worries most about young professionals who want to be fully remote for entire careers, because of what they never see. You do not pass the CEO in the hallway and fall into a two-minute talk, or run into the head of HR and end up discussing your career by accident. No scheduled video call recreates those unplanned moments, and that is where a surprising amount of growth happens.

His prediction was direct. People who show up in person, even part-time, and people who are fully remote will follow different career trajectories. Not as punishment, just a consequence of who gets seen when things happen. He is not against flexibility; he is an advocate for hybrid where it makes sense, tied to performance and the role. Just be honest about the tradeoff, especially early on.

Leadership starts with meeting people where they are

Darrell's first piece of advice made me laugh because it is so true: think about the worst manager you ever had, and do the opposite. You already know what not to do. Then build toward the leaders who actually inspired you.

His real answer was about relationships. Stepping into a new role, he starts with individual conversations: what do you expect from me, here is what I expect from you, how do we work together. He calls that half the battle. Managers who never learn what makes each person tick tend not to build successful teams.

Tap into what someone needs, and you can unlock incredible potential.

The mistake he sees is managers who manage every person the same way. Keep your processes consistent, he said, but people are not processes. One person lights up at a challenge; another needs something completely different. A good leader learns the difference and manages to it. He was also clear-eyed about the IC path: not everyone should be a people leader, and plenty of an organization's most valuable people are deep experts who never manage a team. Figure out what work gives you energy, then choose the path that fits. Money should not be the reason.

The short version

• Your resume has about 30 seconds to make your value obvious. Cut the design, connect each accomplishment to the result it drove.
• Build relationships before you need them. Networking is visibility, not a transaction.
• Know the difference between a mentor, who advises, and a sponsor, who opens doors. Come to both with a plan, not a blank page.
• Stay relevant on purpose. Ignoring where your field is going, especially AI, is the fastest way to become optional.
• Be honest about what remote costs you early on. The unplanned moments in a room are where a lot of growth lives.
• Lead by meeting people where they are. Consistent processes, individualized people.

Frequently asked questions