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How to Write a Job Application Cover Letter
Writing a cover letter is essential when applying for jobs. This is the perfect way to express how your specific skills are relevant to the open position. Wow your future employer with this simple cover letter example format.
Write a First Draft
Writing a first draft makes your letter concise and professional, states The Balance Careers. Organize your thoughts by making a list of what you’re trying to convey. Make sure you prioritize certain aspects like your previous job experience and why you would be a good fit for the position. Clearly state what position you’re interested in and why. Think about why you’re applying and what caught your eye about this specific position. Your cover letter will be easier to write after your thoughts are collected and organized.
Customize Your Salutation
When writing a salutation, make sure you know who you are writing to. Is this person the owner of the company or a Human Resources administrator? If you’re not sure, research the company to find out. Addressing your cover letter to a specific person shows initiative and attention to detail. After your salutation, start your letter with a short introduction of yourself. This gives future employers insight into who you are and the purpose of your cover letter.
Write Intentionally
Your cover letter should be no more than one page, so keep your points brief. Clearly state what position you are interested in and why. Explain why you are a good fit for the company because of your past job experience. If you have no similar job experience, let the employer know why you are changing career paths. Expand on your skills and give specific examples of how that skill set helped you at your last position. Name projects you’ve worked on and show results.
Close Your Letter
End your cover letter with a brief sentence and sign off. Thank the employer for their time and express your interest towards the job again. Let them know you’ll follow up with them if you do not hear back within a week and leave your contact information. Sign off with a professional farewell and leave room for a signature if sending a hard copy.
Edit and Proofread
As you finish writing your cover letter, make sure you take time to edit and proofread your document. Make sure it’s structured in a professional format with the company’s information, the salutation and introduction, the body of the letter, a brief closing sentence and farewell. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes to ensure a formal result. Make sure all names are spelled correctly, as well.
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A cover letter is at least as important as a resume in helping you land an interview for the job you want. Even when a job listing does not specify that a cover letter is required, you should always submit one with a resume and application. A cover letter helps sell your credentials by connecting the experiences from your resume to the needs of the employer and the job.
Address By Name
A simple, but effective tip to get your letter off to a good start is to address it directly to a hiring manager or committee. Too often, job applications address letters "To whom it may concern," or "Dear hiring manager." These generic lead-ins do little to create a personal connection with the reader and do not stand out. Most of the time, you can call a company and ask who the hiring manager is for a given job. You can also look at the job listing or company website to see who is in charge of a department. A greeting such as "Dear Mr. Smith" is a much more direct and personal approach and shows genuine interest in the company and job.
Get Attention
The opening paragraph of your cover letter is where you give the hiring manager a reason to keep reading. This does not mean you should make an outlandish or provocative claim, or worse yet, glorify yourself as the best thing ever. Instead, offer a couple of quick, concise sentences indicating why you fit the job and how you learned about the opportunity. "My background and experience with an elite customer service company matches up well with your needs for your senior customer representative position. I heard about the opportunity through Jane Doe, one of your employees, and we both believe it's a good match." Including a networked referral is also a good technique.
Address the Job
Job applicants mistakenly believe, at times, that the hiring manager wants to read their life story and amazing attributes in a cover letter. In fact, some cover letter templates encourage this approach of outlining all of your qualifications. However, the hiring manager is concerned with one thing -- hiring someone who will do the job he needs done. After your attention-getting opening, acknowledge three to four main qualifications noted for the job. Then, in response to each one, offer a specific example or reason why you can strongly deliver on that need.
Close with Emphasis
Getting the hiring manager to read your entire cover letter is a feat in itself. Closing with emphasis can help seal the deal on your interview call. Thanking the reader for his time and explaining that you look forward to meeting are common items to include. Another important tip is to not only provide a contact phone number, but also to indicate that you will call to follow up at a later date like next week. This may prompt the reader to give your letter more immediate consideration so he is either prepared to call you or is ready for your call.
- Virginia Tech Career Services: Cover Letters: Types and Samples
- Purdue Online Writing Lab: What is a Cover Letter?
Neil Kokemuller has been an active business, finance and education writer and content media website developer since 2007. He has been a college marketing professor since 2004. Kokemuller has additional professional experience in marketing, retail and small business. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University.
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18 Professional Cover Letter Examples To Use in 2021
One of the best ways to create something successful faster is by looking at what already works and seeing what others have done. That’s why in this article, we’ll be going through 18 professional cover letter examples that you can use and take inspiration from for your own application.
Rezi’s templates are designed to beat the applicant tracking system and our tools will help ensure you’re meeting the expectations of your hiring manager.
We’ll kick things off with cover letters in the marketing sector!
The cover letter examples in this section include the following positions:
Digital marketing cover letter
Content writer cover letter
Director of marketing cover letter
Social media manager cover letter
Some job titles are in a higher position than others. Therefore, the contents, focus, and description can be more in-depth. We’ll take a look at each one and comment on some of the key points!
It’s important to demonstrate your past responsibilities and achievements in your application. Although the second paragraph in this example is more detailed compared to a typical cover letter, the candidate does a good job in highlighting their skills and experience.
This example resembles the standard format of a cover letter. Don’t forget to show why you’re interested in applying for the job vacancy in the first place and why they should consider hiring you.
For a higher position like a director of marketing, it’s important to highlight all of your relevant skills, responsibilities, and achievements from your work history. In this example, they’ve done exactly that by focusing on the key tasks from their professional experiences that prove they are qualified and capable for the position.
It’s always good to clearly express your interest in wanting to work for the company and to use your background to demonstrate your passion. When you’re writing a cover letter for any job under the marketing sector, the hiring manager should be aware of any significant result you’ve managed to accomplish. If you have no work experience , you would need to shift your focus.
The purpose of cover letters is to show why you’re the best person to hire for the job. That being said, business cover letters aren’t too different from the marketing cover letter examples. Stick to your strengths. For everyone, this can be different as it depends on where you are currently at in your career.
This section will include:
Business development cover letter
Sales cover letter
Banking cover letter
Human resources cover letter
With cover letters in general, it’s a good idea to inform your employers if you know someone inside the company! Similar to the marketing sector, jobs in the business sector will require depth towards your skills and work experience. You can see how this candidate has done just that in the main body of their application.
In a sales role especially, it’s important to emphasize your communication skills and your experience. If you don’t have many achievements to showcase, you’ll have to make your application more personal and show that you’re passionate about this profession.
So far, there’s been more emphasis towards your skills and employment history. However, in the third paragraph, the candidate outlines their qualifications and an accomplishment from their extracurricular activities. You can also talk about any internship programs you’ve been part of as well as your educational background to show you’re more than qualified!
With this cover letter example, the opening paragraph doesn’t mention where they heard about the job vacancy. Instead, it goes straight into introducing their background and their purpose for the application.
IT cover letter
Pharmacy tech cover letter
Senior UX Manager cover letter
Web designer cover letter
Graphic designer cover letter
All cover letter examples have been tailored to the job description. In this particular example, you can see that the candidate expresses their interests by talking about where their enthusiasm comes from. When everyone is bound to have similar qualifications, a good way to stand out is by showcasing your personal traits and interests!
If you don’t know the recruiter’s name, use their job position instead! Never address them by saying “to whom it may concern” because it can indicate a lack of effort and interest. Aside from that, the main focus behind this cover letter is the candidate’s work history and they’ve used that information to show the hiring team their level of expertise!
For a senior position, like the director of marketing cover letter template from earlier, you’ll want to highlight your biggest strengths. It would also be effective to talk about why you want to apply and why you believe you’re the best candidate for the job.
This is another good example of the standard cover letter format. The opening paragraph states why they are making an application and they provide a brief background on themselves. As we get into the main body, they’ve described their internship experience . Before the signoff, they added a personal note to show their enthusiasm and personality, which can be somewhat subjective as long as it makes sense.
You can add as much detail as you want but don’t go over one page on your cover letter. What’s good about this example is that it’s broken down into smaller paragraphs which makes the text more readable.
The last batch left on this list are engineering cover letters. We’ve included the following:
Civil engineer cover letter
Electrical engineer cover letter
Hardware engineer cover letter
Industrial engineer cover letter
Mechanical engineer cover letter
Not all opening paragraphs need to be 4 lines long, it can even be as simple as this! The most important point to make here is why you’re making an application. Throughout this cover letter, that’s what they’ve made clear through their achievements and corporate experience.
Every cover letter should be situated towards your strengths. You can tell from this applicant that it’s his years of experience in the field of electrical engineering.
Similar to the previous example, the main highlight behind this cover letter is the candidate’s work history. By highlighting their key responsibilities in their previous jobs, it’s a solid indication to the hiring manager that they’re qualified for the position.
You can also break down the paragraphs from the main body of your cover letter to make it more readable for the reader. For instance, the candidate in this example has broken down their responsibilities into two smaller paragraphs rather than making it one bulky paragraph.
The last thing I want to point out from this list is the subtle call to action at the end of this example. It’s straightforward and lets the candidate’s prospective employers know what they would like to expect going forward.
Hopefully, this guide has given you some deeper insights and fresh ideas to implement in your cover letter.
In summary, you should be highlighting why you’re the best candidate to hire.
Using a cover letter template is one of the best ways to start writing your application without having a blank. Even better, Rezi’s AI cover letter writer will permanently eliminate writer’s block by generating a full tailored application for you!
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The correct salutation on a cover letter should always include the word “Dear” followed by the contact person to whom the letter is addressed. This should be followed by either a comma or a colon, then a blank line and the first line of the...
Writing a cover letter is essential when applying for jobs. This is the perfect way to express how your specific skills are relevant to the open position. Wow your future employer with this simple cover letter example format.
Cover Letter Tips & Tricks. A cover letter is at least as important as a resume in helping you land an interview for the job you want. Even when a job listing does not specify that a cover letter is required, you should always submit one wi...
1- Know who you are sending the letter to, good formula to start with. 2- Show that you researched the company and the role and that you are
Your cover letter should be a conversational (in most fields) explanation of 1) why you're interested in the role and/or company and 2) what
When I was at a point when I had to write cover letters, I usually went for two paragraphs. Who I am / what is the most relevant role I've
As a seasoned [CURRENT JOB TITLE] with over [X] years of diverse [SCOPE] experience, I am applying for the [ADVERTISED JOB TITLE] position. [ATTACHED/BELOW/ETC]
A good cover letter or follow up does all the things in this post but also focuses on what am I—the hiring manager—looking for? Tailor the
IME, a T style cover letter works well. A couple of lines to identify the role you're interested in, 2 columns of bullets where one side
Include multiple forms of contact information. Be specific. Don't use fluff words or phrases, especially in your objective and key accomplishments. Show, don't
Tell me about that amazing class project. Tell me about the chess tournament you won. Tell me about the club you founded. Tell me about some
Always always always write a cover letter. Have 2-3 templates for different types of roles saved with the bits you'd always need to change in
Keep it short and sweet. Make it more about what you can do for them than what they can do for you. Less "I want this job because" and more "here's what I've
Not all opening paragraphs need to be 4 lines long, it can even be as simple as this! The most important point to make here is why you're making