Sarah Vaughan is Founder and Director of Angelica Solutions, a specialist insurance data analytics consultancy helping insurers use data to improve decision-making, reduce risk and deliver better outcomes.
With decades of experience across insurance, analytics and technology, Sarah has extensive experience recruiting and developing technical talent. She is a passionate advocate for helping young people build careers in STEM, actively mentoring students and creating opportunities for graduates and aspiring technologists to gain practical, hands on experience.
AI can now help you write a polished CV, tailor a cover letter and even prepare you for an interview.
At the same time, many employers are using AI to screen applications, making it easier than ever to retain only the seemingly perfect applications for human review. Ironically, that’s exactly why making the effort now matters more than ever.
As someone who regularly recruits graduates and offers internship opportunities in the data and analytics sector, the applications that stay with me are the ones that show genuine curiosity, initiative and a clear understanding of the business they’re applying to join.
One of my personal mantras is “Build wells, don’t bring water.” I want to help people build lasting careers, so I’m always looking for candidates who show initiative. One recent applicant stood out by researching our business, contacting me directly and sending a personalised cover letter focused not on what they hoped to gain, but on the contribution they believed they could make.
The letter wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be as it showed initiative and curiosity. But most importantly, it showed they’d invested time in understanding our business. In a world where AI can produce polished applications in seconds, that kind of genuine effort immediately stands out.
That’s where a cover letter still has real value. As more candidates use AI to prepare applications, I’m seeing more applications that sound remarkably similar and arrive suspiciously within seconds of posting a job advert. Everyone is “passionate”, “driven” and a “problem solver”. Those phrases have become so commonplace that they tell me very little about the person behind the application.
What catches my attention is specificity. Why do you want to work for this company? What is it about this role that excites you? Have you taken the time to understand what the business does? Can you explain how your skills, experiences or mindset could help the team?
Those are the questions a good cover letter should answer. One of the biggest mistakes I see, particularly from graduates, is focusing on what they’ll gain from the role rather than what they’ll bring. Every employer wants people to develop, but recruitment starts with a business need. Show me how you’ll contribute, not just how you’ll benefit. Even if you’re applying for your first role, you can demonstrate resilience through part-time work, initiative through personal projects, teamwork through university or volunteering, or curiosity by learning new skills outside your course. Those experiences often tell me far more about your potential than a list of technical skills.
I’m not suggesting candidates shouldn’t use AI as it’s a great tool for improving structure, refining ideas and checking grammar. But it should support your application, not replace your thinking.
The strongest applications should still sound human and show personality, commercial awareness and genuine motivation. They make me believe that the person behind the application has invested time in understanding who we are and why they want to be part of our team.
At Angelica Solutions, we’ve seen the value of investing in graduates first-hand. One of our team joined us as a graduate in 2022 and has since been promoted after leading some of our most technically complex analytics projects. Their success wasn’t built on having all the answers from day one. It came from curiosity, a willingness to learn and the confidence to keep asking questions.
AI will undoubtedly continue to transform recruitment, but it won’t replace the qualities employers value most. If you want your application to stand out in 2026, don’t focus on writing the perfect cover letter. Focus on writing one that could only have been written by you.
