Full Department Name
Name of Institution
Department Address
Dear Dr./Mr./Ms. Search Committee Chair’s last name and/or Search Committee Members:
Paragraph 1 [3-5 Sentences]: Identify the position you are applying for. Introduce yourself to the committee and your research interests. Connect your interests to the department and describe what makes you interested in becoming part of this departmental community.
Paragraph 2 [3-5 Sentences]: Briefly explain your research to date. Consider mentioning your research questions, methods, key findings, as well as where and when you published and/or presented this work.
Paragraph 3 [4-5 Sentences]: Elaborate on your current research project. Consider mentioning your most prestigious funding awards for this project. Explain your key findings in more detail.
Paragraph 4 [3-5 Sentences]: Introduce your future research plans and goals. Point out the intellectual merit and/or broader impacts of this future work.
Paragraph 5 [3-5 Sentences]: Briefly discuss your teaching experience and strategies. Provide examples of teaching strategies or an anecdote highlighting your teaching effectiveness. You may also want to introduce your philosophy on diversity in an academic setting.
Paragraph 6 [2-3 Sentences]: Make a connection between your work and the department to which you are applying. Include how you will participate in the intellectual life of the department both inside and outside the classroom. Provide concrete examples of how you will be a hard-working and collaborative colleague.
Paragraph 7 [1-2 Sentences]: A thank you for the search committee’s time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
Your Name
Credentials and Position
Institution/Affiliation Name
Date: Month Day, Year Search Committee Chair’s First and Last Name, Graduate Degree Dear Dr./Mr./Ms. Search Committee Chair’s last name and/or Search Committee Members: Paragraph 1 [3-5 Sentences]: Identify the position you are applying for. Introduce yourself to the committee and your research interests. Connect your interests to the department and describe what makes you interested in becoming part of this departmental community. Paragraph 2 [3-5 Sentences]: Briefly discuss your teaching experience and pedagogical commitments. Provide examples of teaching strategies or an anecdote highlighting your teaching effectiveness. You may also want to introduce your philosophy on diversity in an academic setting. Paragraph 3 [3-4 Sentences]: Provide a discussion of how you involved yourself with students or the broader university community outside of the traditional classroom setting. Discuss how those interactions influenced your teaching. Paragraph 4 [2-3 Sentences]: Briefly explain your current research interests to date and how it relates to your teaching. State your research questions, methods, and key findings or arguments. Point out the intellectual merit and/or broader impacts of this future work. Paragraph 5 [3-5 Sentences]: Highlight when and where your research was published and/or presented this work or any forthcoming publications. Mention any prestigious funding or awards. Introduce your future research plans and goals. Paragraph 6 [2-3 Sentences]: Make a connection between your work and the department to which you are applying. Include how you will participate in the intellectual life of the department both inside and outside the classroom. Provide concrete examples of how you will be a hard-working and collaborative colleague. Paragraph 7 [1-2 Sentences]: A thank you for the search committee’s time and consideration. Sincerely, Your Name |
Remember your first draft does not have to be your last. Try to get feedback from different readers, especially if it is one of your first applications. It is not uncommon to go through several stages of revisions. Check out the Writing Center’s handout on editing and proofreading and video on proofreading to help with this last stage of writing.
Using the word dissertation. Some search committee members may see the word “dissertation” as a red flag that an applicant is too focused on their role as a graduate student rather than as a prospective faculty member. It may be advantageous, then, to describe your dissertation as current research, a current research project, current work, or some other phrase that demonstrates you are aware that your dissertation is the beginning of a larger scholarly career.
Too much jargon. While you may be writing to a specific department, people on the search committee might be unfamiliar with the details of your subfield. In fact, many committees have at least one member from outside their department. Use terminology that can easily be understood by non-experts. If you want to use a specific term that is crucial to your research, then you should define it. Aim for clarity for your reader, which may mean simplification in lieu of complete precision.
Overselling yourself. While your job letter should sell you as a great candidate, saying so (e.g., “I’m the ideal candidate”) in your letter may come off to some search committee members as presumptuous. Remember that although you have an idea about the type of colleague a department is searching for, ultimately you do not know exactly what they want. Try to avoid phrases or sentences where you state you are the ideal or the only candidate right for the position.
Paying too much attention to the job description. Job descriptions are the result of a lot of debate and compromise. If you have skills or research interests outside the job description, consider including them in your letter. It may be that your extra research interests; your outside skills; and/or your extracurricular involvements make you an attractive candidate. For example, if you are a Latin Americanist who also happens to be well-versed in the Spanish Revolution, it could be worth mentioning the expanse of your research interests because a department might find you could fill in other gaps in the curriculum or add an additional or complementary perspective to the department.
Improper sendoff. The closing of your letter is just as important as the beginning. The end of the letter should reflect the professionalism of the document. There should be a thank-you and the word sincerely or a formal equivalent. Remember, it is the very last place in your letter where you present yourself as a capable future colleague.
Small oversights. Make sure to proofread your letter not just for grammar but also for content. For example, if you use material from another letter, make sure you do not include the names of another school, department, or unassociated faculty! Or, if the school is in Chicago, make sure you do not accidentally reference it as located in the Twin Cities.
Name dropping. You rarely know the internal politics of the department or institution to which you are applying. So be cautious about the names you insert in your cover letters. You do not want to unintentionally insert yourself into a departmental squabble or add fire to an interdepartmental conflict. Instead, focus on the actions you will undertake and the initiatives you are passionate about.
We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.
Ball, Cheryl E. 2013. “Understanding Cover Letters.” Inside Higher Ed , November 3, 2013. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/11/04/essay-cover-letter-academic-jobs .
Borchardt, John. 2014. “Writing a Winning Cover Letter.” Science Magazine , August 6, 2014. https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2014/08/writing-winning-cover-letter# .
Helmreich, William. 2013. “Your First Academic Job.” Inside Higher Ed , June 17, 2013. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/06/17/essay-how-land-first-academic-job .
Kelsky, Karen. 2013. “How To Write a Journal Article Submission Cover Letter.” The Professor Is In (blog), April 26, 2013. https://theprofessorisin.com/2013/04/26/how-to-write-a-journal-article-submission-cover-letter/ .
Tomaska, Lubomir, and Josef Nosek. 2008. “Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Cover Letter to Accompany a Job Application for an Academic Position.” PLoS Computational Biology 14(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006132 .
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Shaun cricks.
Including a good cover letter with your college admissions essay can be as valuable as the actual essay. While the essay should showcase your vocabulary, organization and logic skills, the cover letter is an opportunity to discuss what inspired you to pick your topic and to highlight the most relevant parts of your essay. If you are sending the same essay to many schools, the cover letter is an opportunity to tailor the essay to the institution to which you are applying.
2 print and review your essay.
Print and review your essay. Whether it has been an hour or a year since you wrote it, take some time to read through the essay methodically and carefully. Highlight important phrases, statistics, passages, and other items which you would like to draw attention to in the cover letter.
Narrow your highlighted selections down to a thesis or theme and three to five pieces of supporting evidence. Write a short summary of each of the points you would like to emphasize. Avoid the temptation to copy and paste. By rewording these items, you will avoid redundancies and breathe new life into them.
Format your cover letter. If the institution you are applying to has given you instructions, follow them exactly. Be sure that you are using the same font and font size as you used to write the essay. Include your name and address in the top left corner, as you would with any business letter. Below that, include the date.
Below the date, greet the recipients of your cover letter with the proper salutation. For example, you might be writing to a selection committee (in which case you would write, "Dear Selection Committee"), a board of directors ("Dear Board of Directors"), or even an individual. Doing a little research on the phone or by email may give you a competitive advantage. Every school wants to feel like you are only applying to their school, even though they know quite well this is not the case.
Write a short introductory paragraph. This is normally less than 100 words. Keep the tone formal but avoid sounding pompous. This is your chance to tell the institution how your essay shows you are the perfect candidate and what motivates you.
After your introductory paragraph, list, in bullet-point format, what you really want the reader(s) to notice in your essay. Remember that your audience will probably skim through your essay (at best) and your key points could be lost if you do not highlight them here.
After listing your bullet-points, include a short concluding paragraph of about 100 words or less summarizing what you have presented as well as your intent. Do not repeat yourself. Think of this as the bow that you put on a present after it is wrapped. Tie things up nicely.
As you would in any formal letter, include an appropriate sign-off (such as "Sincerely," "Respectfully") followed by a comma, a blank line for you to sign, and your name printed underneath the line. Under this, list anyone you are copying your letter to or any attachments you included.
If your word-processing program features this function, run a spelling and grammar check to be sure there are no simple errors that will detract from your message. Print and sign your cover letter.
Shaun Cricks is a freelance writer, editor, teacher and producer living in Central Florida, where he graduated from Rollins College. He was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize and has published many articles in print and online ranging in topics from nanotechonoly to immigration.
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With the academic job market season in full swing, prospective hires are sending off cover letters to apply for highly competitive faculty positions. When search committees are receiving dozens or even hundreds of applications for a single job opening, even a good cover letter is probably not good enough. To stand out, a cover letter must be outstanding: smart, engaging, concrete, detailed and polished to perfection. How to do it? Here are a few of my suggestions.
Start by rereading the job ad. Just as we remind students to review the assignment before they begin writing an essay, job applicants should start the letter-writing process by carefully re-reading the job ad. What type of position is this? What are the stated and implied qualifications and expectations, and how should the letter be developed to reflect a clear understanding of what the position entails? For a faculty job at a research institution, the letter will likely focus primarily on the applicant’s research interests and scholarly achievements and include only a brief discussion of teaching experience. But it would not be wise to structure a letter this way when applying for a position at a community college, where the search committee will probably be much more interested in your teaching experience than your scholarship. If you plan to tailor a “master” letter to different positions and job ads, it might make sense to have two such letters: one written for research jobs and another for teaching-intensive positions.
Learn a little more. If you are using a master letter for multiple applications, take some time to tailor that letter for each position you apply to. Learn something about the department and institution that you can reference in your letter and find a way to say something meaningful about what attracts you to, or makes you a good fit for, this particular position. While you’ll want to avoid parroting the boilerplate language used on a department or institution’s website, as this can make your letter sound disingenuous, do pay attention to the language used on those sites so you can avoid careless errors and tailor your letter more effectively. In applying for jobs in English departments, for example, I quickly learned that it was a bit careless to discuss contributing to the “English major” at every institution, as some departments only offered specific tracks, such as journalism and creative writing, while other departments did not even have an English major. Also, as you hustle to keep up with application deadlines, try to set aside the time such tailoring can take -- especially when institutional and departmental websites are clunky, confusing or out of date, necessitating that you dig around for the information you need to focus your letter effectively.
Understand the distinct roles of the CV and the cover letter. While serving on search committees, I’ve noticed that some applicants use their cover letters to merely restate the information available on their CVs. That is remarkably ineffective, and it’s important to understand the different roles the two documents serve. Unless otherwise stated within the job ad (something to pay attention to, as the advice I’m about to give may not apply in every case), the CV should offer a clear, concise, easily readable and digestible snapshot of your academic history and accomplishments: education; positions held; grants, awards and honors; publications and presentations; teaching experience; and service to department, institution and profession. The cover letter is the place to go into more depth, detail and description about your research and teaching, as well as your most notable experiences and accomplishments. If your cover letter reads like a list reiterating the information on your CV, it does not serve any purpose of its own. If the letter is too brief and does not elaborate on the overview that your CV should provide, you are wasting an important opportunity to paint a fuller picture of your qualifications, experience and achievements.
Don’t be too “I”-oriented. Some applicants are so focused on selling themselves that they forget how important collaboration and collegiality are to what we do. Remember to gear parts of your letter toward not only what you have already done but also what you can do in the future for the department and institution you hope to join. What plans or ideas might you have for working with potential students and colleagues to bring about shared success?
Avoid platitudes and clichés. Selling yourself is hard. As you struggle to come up with the words to do so, avoid clichés such as “I am passionate about teaching and am a lifelong learner,” or “I am a great fit for your department because I am a team player.” Instead, demonstrate your passion for teaching or the fact that you are a team player through what you say about your work and your experiences. Show it through examples, rather than relying on clichés or platitudes. A similar suggestion applies to demonstrating how you meet the qualifications of the job ad. Rather than reiterating what the ad states (“I am an ideal candidate for this position because I meet your preferred qualifications of X, Y and Z”), illustrate through examples how you meet these qualifications.
The suggestion to avoid platitudes and clichés seems especially applicable when writing about diversity. Increasingly, job ads describe an interest in candidates who are “committed to diversity” or have “experience with diversity.” In response, applicants may be tempted to merely echo the ad’s words, writing something such as “I have experience with and am committed to diversity, having taught many diverse populations.” Instead, try to explain more concretely what diversity means to you within the context of teaching and learning. Have you worked with students of diverse racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, socioeconomic or academic backgrounds? What languages, beliefs, cultural practices and educational experiences have students brought to your classrooms that may have shaped your own teaching and learning? How do or will you accommodate diverse types of learners in your classroom -- visual learners, collaborative learners, auditory learners, etc.? More broadly, have you contributed to diversity within your department, institution or field? For example, if you designed and piloted your department’s first Latina Literature course, you have contributed to diversifying the curriculum. When it comes to “diversity” -- itself a word that has become something of a cliché -- it is easy and tempting to give a clichéd response. So instead make an effort to substantively and thoughtfully address the topic.
Polish your letter to perfection. Do all you can to make your materials stand out in a sea of applications, not just in terms of the content of your letter but also the quality of your writing. Since search committees are, in many cases, reviewing hundreds of applications for any given position, your goal should be to do everything possible to make your application exceptional. Even letters that convincingly demonstrate why the applicant is a great fit for the position may not be successful if dozens of other applicants can demonstrate that they are great fits, too. The effort to be exceptional means you should focus on the prose as well as the content of your letter. Do not settle for awkward, clunky or confusing sentences. Take the time to edit and revise your letter until each sentence is at its best. Read the letter aloud and really listen to how it sounds. Ask someone else to read the letter aloud and listen to how it sounds when they read it. Remind yourself that a well-written letter is worth striving for, since it makes delivery of content that much more effective.
On a related note, don’t underestimate the importance of proofreading and the time it takes to do that thoroughly. Once job season starts, application deadlines pop up one after another, and it can be difficult to keep up. But, whenever possible, leave yourself at least several days before a deadline to proofread and finalize your cover letter. If you’re rushing to proofread a letter the night it’s due, you won’t be as sharp or focused as you should be. Also, allow yourself time to print the letter out and read it in hard copy, too -- it’s amazing how easily the eye misses mistakes on the screen that suddenly jump out at us when we’re holding the document in our hands. And when it’s time to submit your application, be certain that you’re sending the right materials to the right institution. When you have 14 different iterations of a master letter that you’ve tailored for 14 different jobs, it’s possible to accidentally select the wrong documents. And you don’t stand much of a chance if University of X ends up with a letter in which you discuss how much you’d love to join the faculty at University of Y.
Send what was asked for. Don’t submit materials that weren’t requested in the job ad, and don’t send a cover letter that exceeds the specified length. Committees are often required to read only the materials they have requested; any other documents you submit are likely to be ignored, making it a waste of time to send them. Sending unrequested materials or exceeding the specified length for a letter may also suggest that you couldn’t figure out how to package yourself concisely and effectively. The time for bringing extra materials (such as a research statement, writing sample or teaching portfolio) is during the campus interview, once you know the committee has an interest in your candidacy and wants to learn more about you.
Today’s academic job market is, as we all know, flooded with applicants. The letter you spent weeks or even months writing will be read by search committee members in a matter of minutes. Within this context, some extra effort and preparation can go a long way in making your cover letter stand out in the crowd.
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Do the research, start off strong, and emphasize your value.
What is a cover letter? What to include in a cover letter How to organize a cover letter Questions to guide your writing How to format a cover letter Sample cover letters
To be considered for almost any position, you will need to write a letter of application. Such a letter introduces you, explains your purpose for writing, highlights a few of your experiences or skills, and requests an opportunity to meet personally with the potential employer.
Precisely because this letter is your introduction to an employer and because first impressions count, you should take great care to write an impressive and effective letter. Remember that the letter not only tells of your accomplishments but also reveals how effectively you can communicate.
The appropriate content, format, and tone for application letters vary according to the position and the personality of the applicant. Thus, you will want to ask several people (if possible) who have had experience in obtaining jobs or in hiring in your field to critique a draft of your letter and to offer suggestions for revision.
Despite the differences in what constitutes a good application letter, the suggestions on these pages apply generally.
Below is one possible way to arrange the content of your cover letter.
State why you are writing.
Establish a point of contact (advertisement in a specific place for a specific position; a particular person’s suggestion that you write): give some brief idea of who you are (a Senior engineering student at UW; a recent Ph.D. in History).
Highlight a few of the most salient points from your enclosed resume.
Arouse your reader’s curiosity by mentioning points that are likely to be important for the position you are seeking.
Show how your education and experience suit the requirements of the position, and, by elaborating on a few points from your resume, explain what you could contribute to the organization.
(Your letter should complement, not restate, your resume.)
Stress action. Politely request an interview at the employer’s convenience.
Indicate what supplementary material is being sent under separate cover and offer to provide additional information (a portfolio, a writing sample, a sample publication, a dossier, an audition tape), and explain how it can be obtained.
Thank the reader for his/her consideration and indicate that you are looking forward to hearing from him/her.
*From Ronald L. Kraunich, William J. Bauis. High Impact Resumes & Letters. Virginia Beach, VA: Impact Publications, 1982.
Looking at examples of strong cover letters is a great way to understand how this advice can become implemented. We’ve compiled and annotated a range of different kinds of cover letters from different kinds of student applicants. We encourage you to look through these letters and see some of what we’ve highlighted as working particularly well in these real world examples.
In addition to these sample cover letters, you can find a range of other, often discipline-specific cover letter examples through these UW-Madison resources:
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Lesson plan, grade level.
Undergraduate (Face-to-Face or Online)
Students will learn how to apply the techniques learned in a college-level composition class to business writing and other genres they will write in during their future careers.
Students will reinforce their understanding of various ideas in composition studies discussed throughout the semester, including Aristotle’s Triangle, Toulmin’s Model, and paragraph structure. 1
Students will demonstrate their understanding of expository writing and argumentative approaches.
I provide these exercises near the end of a semester-long composition class to show students the relevancy of what they have been learning to nonacademic contexts. I teach the cover letter lesson in both Composition 1 and 2. Students say they appreciate the lesson since it helps them see how they can apply writing techniques beyond our class. This session occurs after we discuss résumé-writing tips, job research, and job-description analysis.
A single class period (approx. 50 mins.)
Students read the sample cover letter, then complete exercise 1, in which they find the cover letter’s thesis, transitions, and elements they think were mentioned in the job description.
As a class, we discuss and compare students’ answers. Usually, there is a little uncertainty as to what the thesis sentence is, so this discussion is crucial. It’s also helpful for students to see which transitions they spotted and which ones they missed. The last discussion point about the job-description elements further helps them comprehend how to refer to materials provided by an employer.
I break the class up into three groups: one focusing on general paragraph structure, one focusing on Aristotle’s Triangle, and the last one focusing on Toulmin’s Model. Using exercise 2, the students analyze and dissect structural points and observe how business writing requires the same conventions that expository essays do.
Each group presents its responses and discusses how the overlapping concepts help to build this genre of writing.
Using job descriptions that they find or that I provide, I ask the students to create their own cover letter for a particular job. Usually, I have them find job descriptions related to their majors. These descriptions are offered through job-posting sites. This approach helps them to see what types of jobs may be out there for their future careers. Since the cover letter can be sent when they are applying for actual jobs, the students are grateful to have a piece of writing that they can reuse.
After this stage, they post their cover letters to a peer-review forum, or, if time allows, they share them during small-group exercises in class.
I have used these exercises for online composition classes, making only minor adjustments. For online classes, I scaffold a bit more, so students turn in their responses for exercise 1 to a discussion board and respond to their peers’ answers. Afterward, I place students into the three types of groups used in exercise 2. Each group posts a response to a discussion board, and then other groups respond.
You can certainly use these assignments in secondary education courses as well. Even if you do not focus on Aristotle’s Triangle or Toulmin’s Model, you can still use the paragraph-structure exercise to reinforce how paragraphs are organized in any genre of writing.
1 Aristotle’s Triangle, also known as the rhetorical triangle, includes the foundational ways in which speakers or writers can appeal to their audiences. The three components include pathos (appeals to an audience’s emotion), logos (appeals to an audience’s sense of logic and reasoning), and ethos (appeals that establish an author’s credibility for an audience). Stephen Toulmin created his model to show the fundamental elements of argumentation in writing. The basic elements include claim, data, and warrant or synthesis. He argues that these three components are needed for any argument to be successful, and this structure is the basis for most paragraphs for expository writing. The traditional formula for structuring a paragraph involves starting with a topic sentence argument, followed by examples, and ending with synthesis sentences.
Like an Essay: Cover Letter Exercise 1 (Individual Exercise)
Like an Essay: Cover Letter Exercise 2 (Group Work)
It is an interesting article. Can you provide or recommend books or other articles about Aristotle Triangle and Toulmin's Model in cover letter writing.
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Thank you for taking the time to review my lesson plan. I'm not familiar with any longer or specific investigations of how business writing relies on these concepts. These books contain a few general connections: "Arguing on the Toulmin Model: New Essays in Argument Analysis and Evaluation" (2006) by David Hitchcock and Bart Verheij (Editors) and "Technical and Business Communication in Two-Year Programs" (1985) by W. Keats Sparrow and Nell Ann Pickett (Editors). Also, this article features a direct connection between "ethos" and technical writing: C. P. Campbell, "Ethos: character and ethics in technical writing," in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 132-138, Sept. 1995, doi: 10.1109/47.406725.
I'll keep passing you more if I find anything in my previous research or conference notes.
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The purpose of a cover letter.
Anatomy of a Cover Letter
Sometimes called a “letter of intent” or “letter of interest”, a cover letter is an introduction to the rest of your job application materials (e.g., resume/CV, research statement, teaching philosophy, writing samples, etc.). The purpose of a cover letter is to quickly summarize why you are applying to an organization or for a particular position, and what skills and knowledge you bring that make you the most suitable candidate for that position. The cover letter is often the first impression that a prospective employer will have of you, especially if they do not know you, or have not heard about you from their network of contacts. First impressions count, and so getting your cover letter right is a critical step in your job application process. Like all your job application materials, it may take time and focus to write your cover letters well. You will likely have several drafts before you come up with a final version that clearly articulates your skills and your understanding of the employer and the job requirements.
While your resume briefly states your skills, knowledge, experience, and (most importantly) what you have achieved using your abilities, the cover letter gives you an opportunity to create a narrative that shows the path you have taken in your career or education, emphasizing the skills you’ve used along the way, and explaining why the position you are applying to is the next desirable step on this path. To find out more about the structure of the cover letter, you can see some examples here. Also, it is important to know that there are some differences between cover letters written for faculty positions and those written for non-faculty positions. You can review some of the key differences of cover letters for faculty positions here .
When you start the process of looking for job opportunities, you will probably read through lots of job advertisements. You will notice that most job ads ask for a cover letter of some sort. The exception to this might be when you apply for some jobs through an employer’s online job application system, where they may ask you to upload your letter as a document, cut and paste the contents of your letter into specific fields, or they may not ask for a letter at all. For most jobs, and whenever you are submitting a formal application, cover letters are usually expected – and can be very helpful – even if a letter is not requested in the job ad itself.
You might be tempted to send the same version of your cover letter to multiple employers, especially if you are applying for similar types of positions. Don’t. It can be fairly obvious to an employer when they receive a stock letter, and this will make a bad first impression. Tailor your letter to the employer and to the specific job. This may require you to do some background research on the employer’s website, or talk to someone you know (or don’t yet know) who already works there. Use this information to explain why you want to work at that particular place, doing that particular job. It takes time, but it is worth it. You’ll probably have more luck with three tailored cover letters than with 30 stock letters sent out to 30 different employers. Your cover letter will be read by someone as part of a formal job application, so make certain that it is free of spelling mistakes, grammar issues, and typos. Make sure your cover letter fits onto 1 page (for non-academic position applications), has consistent margins and formatting, and a readable font that is between 10-12pts.
When Not to Use Cover Letters: There are some occasions during the job search process where cover letters shouldn’t be used. During career fairs, you would typically only hand out your resume to employers (and a 1-page resume is ideal). Employers want to be able to quickly scan your resume for the key points, and you should be able to verbally communicate some of the ideas that a letter might contain (for example, why this company interests you). Recruiters won’t have the time to read a letter.
Step 1: The first step to writing a good cover letter is to first have a good resume. For information on putting these documents together, click here . Your cover letter expands upon some of the information you include within these documents, and describes the role you have played in achieving your academic or non-academic goals (i.e., showing how your experiences have made you the best candidate for the position).
Step 2: The next step is to find an open position that interests you, or at least the type of job to which you want to apply. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all cover letter, as each should be tailored to each job you apply to, but there will certainly be parts of the letter that will stay much the same, and be appropriate for multiple jobs. This might mean changing some of the key words in the letter, so that you are describing your experience in the employer’s language (using some of their keywords), not your own.
Step 3: Go through the job ad and carefully note all of the requirements and skills the employer is looking for. Based on your background research of the employer and the people you have spoken to who know about this employer, try to identify the two or three most important skills that the employer is looking for. You should then try to create a cover letter that illustrates that you have these skills and have used them effectively. Your cover letter will be stronger if it addresses these requirements and the job duties. Ensure that you talk about your experiences in the language used by the employer, echoing their words in descriptions you use to illustrate your skills. Write out a list of the keywords that you highlighted from the job ad, and then next to each of these words, write a brief statement that illustrates the fact that you have this skill/ability/knowledge using a specific example. You may not have an experience for all of the requirements, but the more you think about what you have achieved, the more likely it is that you will find something relevant to talk about. When you have all of this information, then you can begin to structure it within the format of a formal cover letter.
Here is a general template for a cover letter:
Your Name Street Address City, State, Zip Email and phone number
Today’s Date
Mr./Ms./Dr. Name Title Organization
Dear ______:
The opening paragraph should explain why you are writing, giving your specific employment interest. Mention how you found out about the position. If it was advertised, refer to the website or resource in which you saw it. If a contact told you about it, say so. It is also helpful to include an overall summary of the key skills, knowledge areas, or experiences that you are bring to this role right here in the first paragraph. If you start off with these very specific conclusions that confidently state that you have what the employer is looking for, then the reader will also have a lot of confidence that your letter and resume are worth reading. The next paragraphs will then expand on and illustrate what you are summarizing in this first paragraph.
The middle paragraph(s) should summarize the aspects of your background which will interest the employer. The more information you have about the organization and its needs, the better. Discuss your qualifications in terms of the contributions you can make. While you should not repeat your resume verbatim, don’t hesitate to refer to the most important information discussed in it. Ideally, both your cover letter and your CV/resume would be able to stand alone. It is not necessary to describe yourself in superlatives. Rather than saying, “I can make a uniquely valuable contribution to your organization,” give the employer enough relevant, targeted information to allow the reader to reach that conclusion independently. Be specific and credible. Tell stories that have a touch of drama, for example: “When I was working as the president of X student group, one of the challenges that we faced was XYZ.” Once you have created a touch of drama, describe how you used your skills to overcome it, for example: “So what I had to do was build relationships with administrators on campus by communicating the critical role our group played in doing ABC.” Once you have told the story, reflect on it in terms of how this is particularly relevant for the reader, for example: “I really enjoyed being placed in a position where I had to reach out to contact and bring them all together by creating a shared vision for everyone to buy into. I think this combination of strong marketing skills and relationship building will be valuable to the role of Advertising Associate.”
The closing paragraph should explain why the position and the particular organization is attractive to you, and should hopefully pave the way for the interview. Provide an authentic reason why you are excited about bringing your skills to the role, and what you will also gain from being in the role. Speaking with former or current employees at the organization as part of your networking will help in this regards. You can also offer to send any additional information, restate your contact details, and state that you look forward to hearing from them.
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Date Name Title Corporation Address City, ST, ZIP Mr./Mrs. ____________ In regards to your available position, I have attached my resume detailing my experience and education. I was [...]
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Following your advertisement for the position of health care administrator, I hereby submit my application for consideration. I have just completed my BSC (Health care administration and management degree and [...]
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Griffith Center for Children 17 N. Farragut Avenue Colorado Springs, CO Ref: Youth Treatment Counselor position (full-time, 3-11 p.m. Shift) Dear Human Resources Recruitment: Please accept the attached resume as [...]
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November 28, 2009 ATTN: Human Resources United States Sports Academy One Academy Drive Daphne, AL 36526-7055 To Whom it May Concern: I am very excited about the possibility of [...]
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I first became interested in finance during high school but my interest only grew further in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis. The financial crisis was a reflection of [...]
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Nurse practitioners possess many opportunities to advance nursing practice agendas to support high quality patient care and treatment. One area where nurse practitioners have gained prominence is the retail clinic, [...]
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It’s a familiar cycle: You sit down to write a cover letter, open a blank document, check your email, browse cover letter examples , do some chores, watch that cursor blink a few more times, and finally Google something like “how to write a cover letter”—which hopefully brought you here. But you still might be thinking, does anyone really read cover letters? Why do they even exist?
First: Yes, we can assure you that cover letters do, in fact, get read. To some hiring managers, they’re the most important part of your job application. And regardless, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to tell prospective employers who you are, showcase why they should hire you, and stand out above all the other candidates.
To ensure your letter is in amazing shape (and crafting it is as painless as possible), we’ve got easy-to-follow steps plus examples, a few bonus tips, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Get that cover letter out there! Browse open jobs on The Muse and find your dream job »
A cover letter is a brief (one page or less) note that you write to a hiring manager or recruiter to go along with your resume and other application materials.
Done well, a cover letter gives you the chance to speak directly to how your skills and experience line up with the specific job you’re pursuing. It also affords you an opportunity to hint to the reviewer that you’re likable, original, and likely to be a great addition to the team.
Instead of using cover letters to their strategic advantage, most job applicants blabber on and on about what they want, toss out bland, cliché-filled paragraphs that essentially just regurgitate their resume, or go off on some strange tangent in an effort to be unique. Given this reality, imagine the leg up you’ll have once you learn how to do cover letters right.
An ideal cover letter typically ranges from a half page to one full page. Aim to structure it into four paragraphs, totaling around 250 to 400 words, unless the job posting states otherwise. Some employers may have specific guidelines like word or character limits, writing prompt, or questions to address. In such cases, be sure to follow these instructions from the job posting.
Now that you’re sold on how important cover letters are, here are eight steps to writing one that screams, “I’m a great hire!”
Sure, it’s way faster and easier to take the cover letter you wrote for your last application, change the name of the company, and send it off. But most employers want to see that you’re truly excited about the specific position and organization—which means creating a custom letter for each position.
While it’s OK to recycle a few strong sentences and phrases from one cover letter to the next, don’t even think about sending out a 100% generic letter. “Dear Hiring Manager, I am excited to apply to the open position at your company” is an immediate signal to recruiters and hiring managers that you’re mass-applying to every job listing that pops up on LinkedIn.
At the same time, there’s nothing that says you can’t get a little help: Try out one of our free cover letter templates to make the process a bit easier.
At the top of your cover letter, you should list out your basic info. You can even copy the same heading from your resume if you’d like. Some contact info you might include (and the order to include it in):
Note that only name and email are mandatory, and you don’t need to put a full address on a cover letter or resume anymore. A city and state (or metro area) are more than enough. So your header might look like this:
Inigo Montoya he/him Florin Metropolitan Area [email protected] 555-999-2222
If the job posting tells you to submit your cover letter in the body of an email, you can add your contact info at the end, after your name (and if you’d like to forgo the email address here, you can—they have it already). So your sign off could look like this:
Violet Baudelaire she/her [email protected] 123-123-1234
https://www.linkedin.com/in/violet-baudelaire/
The most traditional way to address a cover letter is to use the person’s first and last name, including “Mr.” or “Ms.” (for example, “Dear Ms. Jane Smith” or just “Dear Ms. Smith”). But to avoid accidentally using the wrong title—or worse, inadvertently misgendering someone—first and last name also work just fine.
If “Dear” feels a bit too stiff, try “Hello.” But never use generic salutations like “ To Whom it May Concern ” or “Dear Sir or Madam.”
For more help, read these rules for addressing your cover letter and a few tips for how to find the hiring manager .
Your opening sets the stage for the whole cover letter. So you want it to be memorable, friendly, conversational, and hyper-relevant to the job you’re pursuing.
No need to lead with your name—the hiring manager can see it already. But it’s good to mention the job you’re applying for (they may be combing through candidates for half a dozen different jobs).
You could go with something simple like, “I am excited to apply for [job] with [Company].” But consider introducing yourself with a snappy first paragraph that highlights your excitement about the company you’re applying to, your passion for the work you do, and/or your past accomplishments.
This is a prime spot to include the “why” for your application. Make it very clear why you want this job at this company. Are you a longtime user of their products? Do you have experience solving a problem they’re working on? Do you love their brand voice or approach to product development? Do your research on the company (and check out their Muse profile if they have one) to find out.
Read this next: 30 Genius Cover Letter Openers Recruiters Will LOVE
A common cover letter mistake is only talking about how great the position would be for you. Frankly, hiring managers are aware of that—what they really want to know is what you’re going to bring to the position and company.
So once you’ve got the opening under wraps, you should pull out a few key ideas that will make up the backbone of your cover letter. They should show that you understand what the organization is looking for and spell out how your background lines up with the position.
Study the job description for hints . What problems is the company looking to solve with this hire? What skills or experiences are mentioned high up, or more than once? These will likely be the most important qualifications.
If you tend to have a hard time singing your own praises and can’t nail down your strengths , here’s a quick trick: What would your favorite boss, your best friend, or your mentor say about you? How would they sing your praises? Use the answers to inform how you write about yourself. You can even weave in feedback you’ve received to strengthen your case (occasionally, don’t overuse this!). For example:
“When I oversaw our last office move, my color-coded spreadsheets covering every minute detail of the logistics were legendary; my manager said I was so organized, she’d trust me to plan an expedition to Mars.”
Look at your list of qualifications from the previous step, and think of examples from your past that prove you have them. Go beyond your resume. Don’t just regurgitate what the hiring manager can read elsewhere.
Simply put, you want to paint a fuller picture of what experiences and accomplishments make you a great hire and show off what you can sashay through their doors with and deliver once you land the job.
For example, what tells a hiring manager more about your ability to win back former clients? This: “I was in charge of identifying and re-engaging former clients.” Or this: “By analyzing past client surveys, NPS scores, and KPIs, as well as simply picking up the phone, I was able to bring both a data-driven approach and a human touch to the task of re-engaging former clients.”
If you're having trouble figuring out how to do this, try asking yourself these questions and finding answers that line up with the qualifications you’ve chosen to focus on:
Come up with your examples, then throw in a few numbers. Hiring managers love to see stats—they show you’ve had a measurable impact on an organization you’ve worked for. Did you bring in more clients than any of your peers? Put together an impressive number of events? Make a process at work 30% more efficient? Work it into your cover letter!
This might help: How to Quantify Your Resume Bullets (When You Don't Work With Numbers)
It’s tempting to treat the final lines of your cover letter as a throwaway: “I look forward to hearing from you.” But your closing paragraph is your last chance to emphasize your enthusiasm for the company or how you’d be a great fit for the position. You can also use the end of your letter to add important details—like, say, the fact that you’re willing to relocate for the job.
Try something like this:
“I believe my energy, desire to innovate, and experience as a sales leader will serve OrangePurple Co. very well. I would love to meet to discuss the value I could add as your next West Coast Sales Director. I appreciate your consideration and hope to meet with you soon.”
Then be sure to sign off professionally , with an appropriate closing and your first and last name. (Need help? Here are three cover letter closing lines that make hiring managers grimace, plus some better options .)
We shouldn’t have to tell you to run your cover letter through spell-check, but remember that having your computer scan for typos isn’t the same as editing . Set your letter aside for a day or even just a few hours, and then read through it again with fresh eyes—you’ll probably notice some changes you want to make.
You might even want to ask a friend or family member to give it a look. In addition to asking them if they spot any errors, you should ask them two questions:
If the answer to either is “no,” or even slight hesitation, go back for another pass.
Here are four example cover letters that follow the advice given above. Keep in mind that different situations may require adjustments in your approach. For instance, experienced job seekers can emphasize accomplishments from previous roles, while those with less experience might highlight volunteer work, personal projects, or skills gained through education.
Alia Farhat San Francisco Bay Area [email protected] 444-000-1111
Hello Danny Tanaka,
If I’m being honest, I still haven’t fully gotten over the death of my first Tamagotchi pet when I was six years old. (His name was Tommy, and I’ve gotten far more creative since then, I promise.) When I was older, I discovered NeoPets and I was hooked for years—not just on the site, but on the community that surrounded it. So when I heard about FantasyPets last year, I immediately started following news about your development process, and that’s how I saw your post looking for a marketing strategist. Not only do I have eight years of experience in digital marketing, but as a lifelong gamer with a passion for pet-focused titles who’s spent years in online communities with like-minded people, I also know exactly what kind of messaging resonates with your target audience.
You’re looking for someone to help you craft a social media marketing campaign to go along with your game launch, and I’ve been a part of three launch-day marketing campaigns for mobile and web-based games. In my current role as social media manager at Phun Inc., I proposed a campaign across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok based on competitor research and analysis of our social campaigns for similar games to go along with the launch of the mobile game FarmWorld. Using my strategy of featuring both kids and adults in ads, we ended up driving over one million impressions and 80k downloads in the first three months.
I’ve always believed that the best way to find the right messaging for a game is to understand the audience and immerse myself in it as much as possible. I spend some of my research time on gaming forums and watching Twitch streams and Let’s Plays to see what really matters to the audience and how they talk about it. Of course, I always back my strategies up with data—I’m even responsible for training new members of the marketing team at Phun Inc. in Google AdWords and data visualization.
I believe that my passion for games exactly like yours, my digital marketing and market research experience, and my flair for turning data into actionable insights will help put FantasyPets on the map. I see so much promise in this game, and as a future player, I want to see its user base grow as much as you do. I appreciate your consideration for the marketing strategist role and hope to speak with you soon.
Alia Farhat
Mariah Johnson
New York, NY [email protected] 555-000-1234
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am excited to submit my application for the software development internship at Big Tech. As a student at New York University majoring in computer science with a keen interest in social studies, I believe I would be a good fit for the role. Big Tech's mission to promote equality and a more sustainable world is deeply inspiring, and I would be thrilled to contribute to this mission.
In a recent hackathon, I demonstrated my ability to lead a team in designing and developing an app that directs members of a small community to nearby electronics recycling centers. My team successfully developed a working prototype and presented it to a panel of industry experts who awarded us second place.
I’ve also been an active volunteer at my local library for over four years. During this time, I organized book donation drives, led book fairs, and conducted reading sessions with children. This experience strengthened my presentation and communication skills and confirmed my motivation stems from supporting a good cause. I would be more than happy to bring my passion and dedication to an organization whose mission resonates with me..
Through these experiences, along with my coursework in software engineering, I am confident I am able to navigate the challenges of the Big Tech internship program. I look forward to the opportunity to speak with you about my qualifications. Thank you for your consideration.
Sarah Bergman
Philadelphia, PA [email protected] 1234-555-6789
Dear Chloe West,
I’m excited to apply for the entry-level copywriting position at Idea Agency. As a recent graduate from State University with a major in mass communications, I’m eager to delve deeper into copywriting for brands, marketing strategies, and their roles in the business world.
Over the past two years, I’ve completed courses in creative writing, copywriting, and essentials of digital marketing. I’ve also been actively involved in extracurricular activities, creating content and promoting student events across multiple online platforms. These experiences expanded my creativity, enhanced my teamwork skills, and strengthened my communication abilities.
As an admirer of your visionary marketing campaigns and Idea Agency’s commitment to sustainability, I’m enthusiastic about the prospect of joining your team. I'm confident that I can contribute to your future projects with inventive thinking and creative energy.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss my qualifications further. Thank you for considering my application.
Best regards,
Leslie Smith
Chicago, IL [email protected] 111-222-3344
Dear Paul Jones,
Over the past year, I’ve volunteered to represent my company at a local fair and there I discovered how much fun working face to face with clients would be. Everytime I sold a product for The Solar Company, I often wished it was my full-time job. Now, I'm excited to submit my application for the sales coordinator position with Bloom Sales.
After completing a degree in business administration, I decided to put my outgoing personality and strong communication skills to work as a sales specialist at The Solar Company. I’ve sharpened my presentation and critical thinking skills in client meetings and sourced more than $20,000 in new partnerships. This experience has given me an invaluable foundation, and now I’m confident it's the time to move business administration to sales coordination.
I’m comfortable seeking out new business opportunities, making cold calls, and selling potential clients on the advantages of Bloom Sales products. I attend an average of 10 in-person meetings a week, and interacting with a lot of different personalities is what excites me the most. As a detail-oriented, tech-savvy professional, I have advanced knowledge of Excel and data analysis.
I would love to learn more about your sales strategy for the second semester and discuss how my experience in business administration and client-facing sales exposure would help Bloom Sales achieve its goals. Thank you for your consideration.
As you write your cover letter, here are a few more tips to consider to help you stand out from the stack of applicants:
The bottom line with cover letters is this: They matter, much more than the naysayers will have you believe. If you nail yours, you could easily go from the “maybe” pile straight to “Oh, hell yes.”
Regina Borsellino , Jenny Foss , and Amanda Cardoso contributed writing, reporting, and/or advice to this article.
The cover letter is a formal way to communicate with journal editors and editorial staff during the manuscript submission process. Most often, a cover letter is needed when authors initially submit their manuscript to a journal and when responding to reviewers during an invitation to revise and resubmit the manuscript. For more information on the peer review process and possible manuscript decisions, see Section 12.7 of the Publication Manual .
Because cover letters are separate documents from the manuscript file, all correspondence during the publication process must include the complete manuscript title, the authors’ names, and the manuscript number (assigned by the journal when the manuscript is first received). Although any author may correspond with the journal editor or editorial staff, most correspondence is handled by the corresponding author , who serves as the main point of contact and responds to questions about the published article. All authors should decide prior to submission who will serve as the corresponding author.
Cover letters are covered in the seventh edition APA Style Publication Manual in Section 12.11
Authors usually must include a cover letter when they first submit their manuscript to a journal for publication . The cover letter is typically uploaded as a separate file into the online submission portal for the journal (for more information on using an online submission portal, see Section 12.10 of the Publication Manual ).
The cover letter should be addressed to the journal editor; any interim correspondence is addressed to the editor or associate editor with whom you have been in communication.
In your submission cover letter, include the following information:
Check the journal’s website for the current editor’s name and for any other journal-specific information to include in your cover letter.
Also include a cover letter with manuscripts being resubmitted to a journal after receiving an invitation to revise and resubmit. Ensure the cover letter contains the complete manuscript title, the authors’ names, and the manuscript number (assigned by the journal when the manuscript was first received). In the cover letter for the resubmission, thank the editors and reviewers for their feedback and outline the changes you made (or did not make) to the manuscript to address the feedback.
The cover letter for a revised and resubmitted manuscript summarizes the changes to the manuscript. Along with the cover letter and revised manuscript, authors should also provide a response to reviewers , which is a detailed document explaining how they responded to each comment.
These sample cover letters demonstrate how authors can communicate with the journal editor at the initial manuscript submission and following an invitation to revise and resubmit a manuscript for publication.
Table of Contents
A cover letter is often the first thing an editor reads when reviewing your submission. As your first pitch to the editor, the cover letter helps them gauge the suitability of your manuscript for publication in their journal. Imagine your work shaping the future of your field, gathering citations, and sparking discussions. A powerful cover letter is thus the first step to making that vision into a reality.
In this article, we will guide you through the process of writing an effective cover letter and explain how you can get it right every time with examples. First, let us get started with the basics!
When writing a cover letter, it is crucial to address the editor by their correct and complete name¹ . If there are multiple co-editors, you can address your letter to the right person, based on their specialization or designated responsibilities. If unsure, it is okay to go with a more general salutation, such as “Dear Editors”¹ .
Provide a clear and concise title for your submission and specify whether it is an article, communication, review, perspective, or a manuscript belonging to some other category. If the journal guideline recommends, consider including a list of all authors in the manuscript.
After covering the preliminary information, briefly explain your paper’s central theme or focus to give the editor an idea of its contents. Ensure this stays a brief outline, without going into too much detail.
How you communicate the impact of your work can make or break your cover letter. To make a strong impression on the editor, articulate the significance of your research clearly, emphasizing its relevance to the field. Additionally, show how your work aligns with the journal’s scope and mission.
Some journals require a set of declarations from you to ensure that your manuscript adheres to its ethical code and the larger ethical standards of scientific publishing. Here are the required declarations in a cover letter:
If there is no part of the submission process that collects researcher suggestions for reviewers, and there are special requests from the researcher for reviewers (e.g., recommending the inclusion or suggesting the exclusion of a specific reviewer, etc.), you may also make a note about this in the cover letter.
Combining these five points, here is a good example of a cover letter for researchers’ reference:
(This image is intended to demonstrate the norms of formatting and tone of expression in a cover letter, it is to be used only by the researcher as a reference in writing² .)
A strong cover letter can go a long way in ensuring success for researchers looking to publish their manuscripts! Your cover letter is the opening act, setting the stage for how editors perceive your manuscript. So, look at it not as just another formality but as a crucial opportunity to make a strong impression.
Understanding what to include, what is optional, and what is best left unsaid can be tricky. That is where our team of experts at Elsevier Language Services can step in. We will provide personalized recommendations and expert guidance to help you craft a cover letter that perfectly complements your manuscript. Reach out to us today to make a great first impression and embark on a successful academic journey!
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No matter where you are in your career, or what job you’re applying for, submitting a cover letter with your resume is a must .
Done right, a cover letter will effectively complement your resume and explain to the hiring manager in more detail why you’re the right person for the job.
Writing a cover letter, however, is easier said than done.
You have to effectively demonstrate that you’ll be able to perform the responsibilities listed in the job description and that you’d be a better fit for the company compared to other candidates.
And unless you’re a professional writer, this can be a very hard task.
Fortunately, we created these cover letter examples to inspire you and help you get started with your own cover letter!
Let’s dive in!
#1. career change cover letter example .
Here’s what this cover letter does right:
Check out our guide video guide to learn how to write a Cover Letter that gets you HIRED!
Have you just graduated from college? Make sure to check out our guide on writing an entry-level cover letter from start to finish!
Check out this article for a complete writing guide and an inspiring business manager resume sample.
Here’s what this cover letter does right:
Struggling with your architect resume ? Check out our full guide!
Need a resume alongside your cover letter? Check out our guide on how to write a business analyst resume .
For more advice on landing a job as a consultant, check out our guide to writing a consultant resume .
Want to take your digital marketing resume to the next level? Check out our guide!
Read this guide to write a graphic designer resume that’s just as good as your cover letter!
Our article on how to write an administrative assistant resume can help you take your job application to the next level.
This HR resume guide can help you get your resume just right.
Check out this sales agent resume guide to create an attention-grabbing sales resume .
Take your receptionist resume to the next level with this receptionist resume guide .
Looking for tips to help you write a great IT resume ? Check out our guide!
This real estate resume guide will help you take your resume from good to great.
Our guide on how to write a teacher resume has all the tips you need to land the job.
This guide on how to write a project manager resume can help you perfect your appication.
Check out this paralegal resume guide to perfect yours.
Couldn’t find a cover letter example for your field? Do not worry.
Below you can find a number of other cover letter examples for different fields and industries:
A cover letter is a one-page document that you submit as part of your job application, alongside your resume .
Its purpose is to introduce you and briefly summarize your professional background. On average, your cover letter should be from 250 to 400 words long .
A good cover letter can give the hiring manager more insight into what makes you a good candidate and help them make up their mind about whether they should invite you for an interview. A bad cover letter, though, will get ignored (at best) and lose you the job (at worst).
So, to make sure this doesn’t happen, it’s essential to know how to write a convincing cover letter.
The first thing to remember is that a cover letter is a supplement to your resume, not a replacement. Meaning, you shouldn’t just repeat whatever is mentioned in your resume and call it a day.
Optimally, you should use your cover letter to shed more light on your skills and qualifications, as well as explain anything you didn’t have space for in your resume (e.g. a career gap or why you’re changing careers).
If you’re writing a cover letter for the first time, though, putting all this together might seem pretty tough.
Fortunately, you can follow our tried-and-tested format to make the experience much easier:
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about cover letter tips . Below, we'll give you all the knowledge you need to take your cover letter from "OK" to "great."
A good cover letter is all about leaving the right first impression.
And what’s a better way to leave a good impression than through a professional, well-formatted, and visual template?
You can simply pick one of our tried-and-tested cover letter templates and you’ll be all set!
The best way to start your cover letter is through a header.
Here’s what you want to include there:
Optionally, you can also include the following:
Once you’ve listed all your relevant contact information, it’s time to address the hiring manager reading your cover letter.
A good practice here is to find the hiring manager’s name and address them directly instead of using the traditional “dear sir or madam.” This shows that you’re really invested in the company and that you took your time to do some research about the job.
So, how can you find out the hiring manager’s name?
One way to do this is by looking up the head of the company’s relevant department on LinkedIn. Let’s say you’re applying for the position of Communication Specialist at Novoresume. The hiring manager is probably the Head of Communications or the Chief Communications Office.
Or let’s say you’re applying for the position of server at a restaurant. In that case, you’d be looking to find out who the restaurant manager is.
If this doesn’t work, you can also check out the “Team” page on the company website; there’s a good chance you’ll at least find the right person there.
If you still can’t find out the hiring manager’s name, here are several other greetings you can use:
Recruiters get hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of applications. Chances are, they’re not going to be reading every single cover letter end-to-end.
So, it’s essential to catch their attention from the very first paragraph.
The problem with most cover letter opening paragraphs, though, is that they’re usually extremely generic, often looking something like this:
Hey, my name is Jonathan and I’d like to work as a Sales Manager at XYZ Inc. I’ve worked as a sales manager at MadeUpCompany Inc. for 5+ years, so I believe that I’d be a good fit for the position.
As you can probably tell, this opening paragraph doesn’t tell the hiring manager anything other than that you’ve worked the job before - and that’s not really helpful in setting you apart from other candidates.
What you want to do, instead, is start off with 2-3 of your top achievements to really grab the reader’s attention. Preferably, the achievements should be as relevant as possible to the position.
For example:
My name’s Michael and I’d like to help XYZ Inc. hit and exceed its sales goals as a Sales Manager. I’ve worked with Company X, a fin-tech company, for 3+ years. As a Sales Representative, I generated an average of $30,000+ in sales per month (beating the KPIs by around 40%). I believe that my previous industry experience, as well as my excellence in sales, makes me the right candidate for the role of X at Company Y.
The second example shows how the candidate is a top performer. The first just shows that they’ve worked a sales job before.
Which one are YOU more likely to invite for an interview?
One great thing about cover letters is that they allow you to expand more on the top achievements from your resume and really show the hiring manager that you’re the right person for the job.
A good way to do that is to first read the job ad and really understand what skills/experiences are required, and then to ensure that your cover letter touches upon the said skills or experiences.
In my previous role as a Facebook Marketing Expert at XYZ Inc. I handled customer acquisition through ads, managing a monthly Facebook ad budget of $20,000+. As the sole digital marketer at the company, I managed the ad creation and management process end-to-end. This means I created the ad copy and images, as well as picked the targeting, ran optimization trials, and so on.
Other than Facebook advertising, I’ve also delved into other online PPC channels, including:
The HR manager doesn’t only look at whether you’ll be good at the job or not. They’re looking for someone that’s also a good fit for the company culture.
After all, employees that don’t fit in are bound to quit, sooner or later. This ends up costing the company a ton of money, up to 50% of the employee’s annual salary .
To convince the hiring manager that you’re a great company fit, do some research on the company and find out what it is you like about them, or about working there. You want to know things like:
Then, turn your top reasons for liking to work there into text and add them to your cover letter!
To make the end of your cover letter as memorable as possible, you want to:
Once you’re done with the final paragraph, all you have to do is write down a formal “goodbye” and you’re good to go.
Feel free to use one of the most popular conclusions in a cover letter:
Last but not least, make sure to always proofread each and every document that you’ll be including in your job application - cover letter included.
The last thing you want is to be claiming you’re a great candidate for the job with a cover letter full of typos!
For an even more comprehensive guide on how to write an impactful cover letter , check out our article !
Do you still have some questions about cover letters? Check out the answers below:
1. How do I write a simple cover letter?
To write a cover letter that’s simple but also professional, make sure to include a header with your personal information, a formal greeting to the hiring manager, an attention-grabbing opening paragraph, a second paragraph explaining why you’re a good candidate for the job, and a formal closing (preferably with a call to action).
2. What are the 3 parts of a cover letter?
The three parts of a cover letter are:
3. What makes a great cover letter?
A great cover letter should be personalized for each job you’re applying for, instead of being overly generic. It’s also preferable to address the hiring manager by their name and not use the overly-used “Dear Sir/Madam.”
To make a great first impression, you should mention 1-2 of your top achievements in your opening paragraph - the more job-specific they are, the better. Also, don’t stop at showing the hiring manager why you’re a great candidate for the job. Make sure to also talk about how you’re a good culture fit for the company.
Last but not least, wrap up your closing paragraph with a call to action to give the hiring manager a little extra something to remember you by.
4. When is a cover letter necessary?
Unless the job ad specifically states otherwise, you should always include a cover letter with your job application .
Even if the hiring manager doesn’t read it, you will look more professional simply by including one.
And that’s a wrap! We hope our cover letter examples and writing tips will inspire you to write a cover letter that will land you your next job.
If you’re looking for more invaluable career advice and articles, make sure to check out our career blog , or any of these related articles:
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These resources will help you understand and write successful cover letters. To use these pages, you may select links in the navigation bar on the left, you may select links from the list below, or you may advance through the pages using the links at the bottom of each page. Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters. The cover letter pages are organized into the following sections:
So what is a cover letter? Basically, whenever you write a cover letter to add after education on a resume, you create a custom essay that explains why you want the job and why the employer should hire you. More about how to list education on resume read in our blog. Cover letter format and other technical things are important. But not as important as its contents. This is what can make or break your interview. It’s what differentiates you from the crowd of potentially hundreds of other applicants with similar or even better qualifications.
It is important to make a distinction between a cover letter for a job and a cover letter for an internship. So what is a cover letter for a job? Basically, it’s your pitch of yourself as a professional. You don’t want to go overboard with that, but, in a nutshell, it’s about how cool you are. If you are applying for a full job - you should show your employer that you are an asset. You can find a good cover letter example online to get inspired.
Here you can find a perfect Senior Executive Cover Letter Example:
Cover letter for internship positions is more about your passions and aspirations than it is about your professional qualities. A college student is more likely to have to deal with it. You won’t get a definitive list of what to include in a cover letter as, by this point, very few people have anything to offer besides their enthusiasm.
Just imagine you are talking to a friend about your future, follow the cover letter format, and everything will be just fine. Overall, an internship cover letter template isn’t that much different. But you have to understand how to shift the focus and apply your writing skills, mostly if you are gunning for a specific internship.
So how long should a cover letter be? As a general rule, smaller than you imagine. Recruiters are very busy people. They have very little time. So your cover letter should be a concentrated source of useful information.
Editing helps with that a lot. Go over your cover letter several times before you submit it. Cut off any unnecessary sentences. The end result should be a dry and snappy story of your life and dreams.
The first part of the cover letter format is the header. It may seem insignificant, but you shouldn’t underestimate its importance. There’s no rocket science in creating a header. Just make sure it’s grammatically correct.
Right after the header goes the greeting of the hiring manager. Again, nothing too special here - use formal language and commonly used phrases. “Dear sir or madam” will help you if you’re stumped. “Dear hiring manager” is also an option, although an admittedly less graceful one.
Now you finally get to the fun part. An engaging opening paragraph should capture the attention of your reader. You can use this opportunity to list some of your achievements. In the second paragraph, you can explain why you chose this position. You can talk about your plans a bit and go into your motivation.
Finally, you can top things off by mentioning how your skills and qualities match what the company needs. After all, they are not simply looking for an all-around decent chap. They want a person who would fill a specific niche. Talk about why it just so happens to be you.
A formal ending is a must. Don’t forget that it’s called a letter for a reason. It should end accordingly. Don’t be afraid to use some cliches. It’s just a formality, albeit an important one.
The exact format is not really important, but you can refer to the IEEE format if you need something to fall back on.
Here you can find a perfect Career Change Cover Letter Example:
This, on the other hand, is important. Even a simple cover letter should have a catchy intro. If these couple of sentences don’t grab the attention of your recruiter - the rest of your meticulously crafted letter might as well not exist. Just start writing something, and it will come to you eventually.
Your motivation isn’t worth much unless you can back it up with some factual skills. When you are writing a professional cover letter - don’t be shy to mention your talents. Anything that makes you look like a qualified candidate. It should be brief but informative. Hobbies also count if they fit your potential position in any way. It goes without saying that the skills you mention should be tailored to the specific position you are applying for.
Flattery works on more people than you can imagine. Don’t overdo it, though. You can point out why you’ve chosen this particular company over its direct competitors. Maybe praise their previous work that convinced you they are a team of professionals.
So how do you end a cover letter? You can get creative but try to keep it formal in the final paragraph. And, of course, you can never go wrong with the good old “Looking forward to hearing from you” sign-off. Nobody expects you to reinvent the wheel here, so just use something basic and wrap it up.
The first and easiest way to personalize your cover letter is to do your research thoroughly. Look up what company you are applying for during your job search. What are their days like? What projects have they been working on recently? It doesn’t have to be a super-detailed report. But dropping a hint of inner know-how in your cover letter can win you some major points and make your application process way smoother.
Don’t leave your best for last. Hit them with something breathtaking right away. A simple cover letter is supposed to be pretty short anyways. And research shows that a person can lose interest in virtually anything in the span of a couple of seconds. Don’t let your recruiter get bored for these few seconds. Test your cover letter on your friends or family, and see what they have to say about your opening.
One of the most important things modern recruiters look out for is motivation. A cover letter in and of itself is basically proof you care enough to write a small essay to increase your chances of getting accepted. Double down on it. Think about what you want to achieve by taking on this job and where you want to be in a couple of years. Put your passion in words. If you lack motivation - it will show.
In a professional cover letter, your hard skills are what make you an excellent candidate for the particular position you are applying for. And it’s a good idea to mention them here. Try not to just duplicate what you’ve already mentioned in your CV but rather expand on it. A brief sentence for every skill and a summary of your relevant experiences should be more than enough. You can also mention complementing skills. For example, graphic design and computer science would both come in handy for a web developer.
We said it before, and we will say it again. Recruiters are extremely busy. They have no time to read generic cover letter templates about how you would love to work for their company. Remember - a cover letter is basically a cold sales pitch. It’s short, engaging, and to the point. Any extra fat should be cut mercilessly during editing. It will help you get more interviews with minimum effort. Most cover letter samples are less than 500 words long.
Speaking of editing. It’s important. Yes, really. It doesn’t matter how good you are - all people make mistakes. And any mistake will look like a red flag on a blindingly white field. Especially if you are using a free cover letter template, so don’t even think of sending your cover letter to your human resources manager straight off. Leave enough time to go over it several times. Read it carefully, give it to someone else and see what they have to say about it. This will allow you to spot and fix any imperfections before it’s too late. It’s not immediately evident, but all good cover letter examples 2022 have gone through a rigorous editing process. This attention to detail will put you a step closer to becoming an ideal candidate.
Are you familiar with the works of Anthony Burgess? We recommend reading our article with A Clockwork Orange summary , his most popular novel.
Here you will find sample cover letter templates you can reference during writing your own. Good cover letter examples are plenty, and you can always find more online if you need them. You can use any of these as a free cover letter template.
Here is a Middle Management Cover Letter Example:
Below is a good example of the Cover Letter for Middle Management. It's structured and organized according to the rules and directions we went over in our article.
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is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.
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Example cover letter for an essay Here is an example of what a quality essay cover letter might look like: Lili Eaglestone 123 Luna Lane Los Angeles, CA December 18, 2022 Dear Admissions Committee, My name is Lili Eaglestone, and I am applying to become a student at the University of Southern California for fall 2023. Writing my application essay was a delight, as I am very passionate about ...
12. End with a positive note. If you wish to explicitly demonstrate your positive values, do not hesitate to write a short piece of pleasantry toward the end of your cover letter. Again, it is needless to say that you have to maintain a formal yet non-pretentious tone in writing this part of your letter.
Here's an generic cover letter example for an Essay Cover Letter tailored for an academic submission: Dear [Professor's Name], I am submitting my essay entitled " [Title of the Essay]" for consideration in your [Course Name] class. This essay explores [Brief Summary of the Essay Content], drawing on [Methodology or Sources Used].
Academic Cover Letter Sample. November 2, 1998. Dear Dr. Sellers: I am writing to apply for the position as assistant professor of English with an emphasis in rhetoric and composition that you advertised in the October MLA Job Information List. I am a graduate student at Prestigious University working on a dissertation under the direction of ...
Here are nine steps to help you compose a cover letter when submitting your research paper to a professional journal: 1. Set up the formatting. Set up your word processor to format your cover letter correctly. Formatting standards for research paper cover letters usually include: Using single spacing between each line.
At their most basic level, academic cover letters accomplish three things: one, they express your interest in the job; two, they provide a brief synopsis of your research and teaching; and three, they summarize your past experiences and achievements to illustrate your competence for the job. For early-career scholars, cover letters are ...
Including a good cover letter with your college admissions essay can be as valuable as the actual essay. While the essay should showcase your vocabulary, organization and logic skills, the cover letter is an opportunity to discuss what inspired you to pick your topic and to highlight the most relevant parts of your ...
Subject- Essay Cover Letter. [Mention the name of the recipient] [Mention the address of the recipient] [Mention the contact information] Dear [Mention the name of the recipient. I'm writing to you in order to submit my application for the position of assistant professor of [Mention the language] with a focus on composition and rhetoric that ...
Make sure that the title, name and address of a person or the company in salutations are accurate. A cover begins with a greeting, addressed to the hiring committee or a specific individual if the name is mentioned in the job advertisement. Then the body of the letter should start by stating the job title and job number you are applying to.
Crafting a Successful Cover Letter. To stand out, a cover letter must be outstanding: smart, engaging, concrete, detailed and polished to perfection. Melissa Dennihy gives pointers on how to do that. With the academic job market season in full swing, prospective hires are sending off cover letters to apply for highly competitive faculty positions.
Recipient's name] / [Scholarship Committee], Start with an opening paragraph that briefly introduces who you are, and your relevant experience, how you learned about the scholarship, and why you are interested in applying. If writing multiple cover letters, take care to customize this paragraph to target a specific scholarship.
How to Write a Cover Letter That Sounds Like You (and Gets Noticed) by. Elainy Mata. May 10, 2022. EM. Elainy Mata is a Multimedia Producer at Harvard Business Review. ElainyMata.
Cover Letter Example 4. A graduated student with an English literature and Spanish language double major applying to work as a law firm legal assistant. In addition to these sample cover letters, you can find a range of other, often discipline-specific cover letter examples through these UW-Madison resources:
Sequence of Activities. Reading and Analysis (10-15 mins.) Students read the sample cover letter, then complete exercise 1, in which they find the cover letter's thesis, transitions, and elements they think were mentioned in the job description. Class Discussion (5 mins.) As a class, we discuss and compare students' answers.
Sometimes called a "letter of intent" or "letter of interest", a cover letter is an introduction to the rest of your job application materials (e.g., resume/CV, research statement, teaching philosophy, writing samples, etc.). The purpose of a cover letter is to quickly summarize why you are applying to an organization or for a ...
The cover letter/reflective essay will introduce your portfolio readers to who you are as a writer, as well as introduce the two (2) essays you have included in your portfolio. This is a very important document for a number of reasons. Firstly, this document will be the ... anecdotes, examples, or even words, phrases, or sentences do you like ...
Youth Treatment Counselor Position, Cover Letter Example. Griffith Center for Children 17 N. Farragut Avenue Colorado Springs, CO Ref: Youth Treatment Counselor position (full-time, 3-11 p.m. Shift) Dear Human Resources Recruitment: Please accept the attached resume as [...] Pages: 1. Words: 244. Cover Letter. View full sample.
Step 3: Address your cover letter to the hiring manager—preferably by name. The most traditional way to address a cover letter is to use the person's first and last name, including "Mr." or "Ms." (for example, "Dear Ms. Jane Smith" or just "Dear Ms. Smith").
Authors usually must include a cover letter when they first submit their manuscript to a journal for publication.The cover letter is typically uploaded as a separate file into the online submission portal for the journal (for more information on using an online submission portal, see Section 12.10 of the Publication Manual).. The cover letter should be addressed to the journal editor; any ...
In this article, we will guide you through the process of writing an effective cover letter and explain how you can get it right every time with examples. First, let us get started with the basics! Getting the Basics Right When writing a cover letter, it is crucial to address the editor by their correct and complete name¹. If there are ...
Consultant Cover Letter Example #10. Digital Marketing Cover Letter Example #11. Graphic Designer Cover Letter Example #12. Administrative Assistant Cover Letter Example #13. Front Desk Cover Letter Example #14. Human Resources Cover Letter Example #15. Sales Agent Cover Letter Example #16.
Introduction. These resources will help you understand and write successful cover letters. To use these pages, you may select links in the navigation bar on the left, you may select links from the list below, or you may advance through the pages using the links at the bottom of each page. Click here to download the PDF file containing sample ...
To grasp a cover letter's meaning, you need to start with clear cover letter examples. Check out these samples; get a user-friendly template and tips, too.
Remember - a cover letter is basically a cold sales pitch. It's short, engaging, and to the point. Any extra fat should be cut mercilessly during editing. It will help you get more interviews with minimum effort. Most cover letter samples are less than 500 words long. Double-Check Your Cover Letter. Speaking of editing. It's important. Yes ...
Addressing a cover letter to a recipient with a professional title. If the recipient of your cover letter has a professional title, always include it. Someone with a PhD will be a doctor rather than a Mr/Ms. This also makes things easier if you need help deciding which personal pronoun to use. Addressing a cover letter without a named recipient