Cover Letter Guide and Template
June 10, 2010 by Jon Ciampi · 1 Comment
Preptel FREE Cover Letter Guide & Templates
The longer your job search continues, the more likely you are to exclude cover letters with your job application package. In this day and age, however, a cover letter is the best tool you have outside of direct networking to distinguish yourself from the rest of the applicants for a job. With an effective cover letter, you can avoid making changes and alterations to your resume. While each cover letter does need to be customized to a specific application or company, knowing what a cover letter should contain may help shorten the process.
Realize that from the moment you respond to a job ad, two different psychologies are at play.
| Employer | Applicant | |
| The employer is in a “disqualifying” frame of mind! For the employer, the cover letter/resume application process is focused on deriving a list of people, as quickly as possible, that can get the job done. During this phase, the employer is looking for differences and irrelevancies that disqualify what they’re reading. Their objective is to shorten the list. Every stray word and unfocused or irrelevant thought almost immediately removes a resume from the stack. | The applicant is in an uncertain, needy, selling frame of mind. Applicants in this state tend to talk or write too much! They want to overcome objections or weaknesses, but with every unfocused or emotional word, they stray from the point and give the employer another reason to remove them from the list. Stay focused on the needs of the employer. Your cover letter should simply relate features and benefits in your background that meet the stated (and only the stated) needs. |
A cover letter has a purpose – to gain the reader’s interest enough that they actually want to read your resume! Cover letters should be short and to the point. The biggest mistake people make in writing cover letters is when they are attempting to avoid rewriting a resume. No matter what your cover letter says, it will not put you closer to an interview if it doesn’t tell the same story as your resume. So, what then, should your cover letter say?
A cover letter should be brief and to the point. It is not an opportunity to tell your life’s story, and it is not the time to explain your reasons for looking for a job. In fact, the less you say, outside of stating the qualifications you possess that match the employer’s job description, the more effective your cover letter will be.
Cover Letter Guidelines
- No more than 5 paragraphs, a single page is best, but no more than a page and a half!
- Paragraph 1: Why are you writing, what position are you applying for, what you are attaching or including with the letter and why.
- Paragraph 2: What the employer needs and why you understand these needs
- Paragraph 3: What your “answer” is to each of the qualifications (pick 3-5 qualifications from lengthy lists)
- Paragraph 4: Briefly qualify your “answers” with a result and/or a place where you performed the desired activities. Results are better; use places if you have limited experience or if the places are particular exemplary examples of recent success.
- Paragraph 5: Thank you for consideration and time, contact information. (If the employer requests salary history or other portfolio or work samples, you may list them after your signature.)
- Try to avoid a boring list of qualifications and “I” focused statements. Use statements like, “Your job description recounts your need for…. My experiences at (or as a) ______________ were very successful in answering or providing a similar need – the results attached to my efforts provided _____________.” Remember – your objective is to create similarity to the needs list, not to state differences and then explanations about why they should be overlooked.
- Remember, the person reading your letter is busy! Be brief, but interesting, and above all, be precise and to the point. Employers want people who are focused on getting the job done with a minimum of cost and drama. Your cover letter is your first chance to let an employer know you’re clearly focused on business and the company’s needs!
Example 1:
A General Cover Letter
| With regard to the above-captioned Monster ad, I would like to be considered for this position. I have a wealth of experience as a writer. Your topics are of great familiarity and interest to me.
Working as a freelancer for the past several years has kept me extremely busy. I am considerably capable of working under pressure and well within deadlines! One of my recent contract clients remarked, “Sharon, you’re fast, your writing is right on the money – you rock!” I worked with this client to produce a series of 24 articles on employment and job search strategy for a new website. We now have a long term, ongoing professional relationship. I specialize in being extremely knowledgeable in a wide variety of topics, and I’m capable of writing on them in an array of styles with expertise, precision and confidence. Generally, I need little direction, minimal to no supervision, and have enough energy and enthusiasm to fuel a planet. I work well in teams and alone.
I attribute my growing success to exemplary writing mechanics, my ability to write in a variety of styles, and a knack for creating reader interest with clear knowledge, writing clarity, and intelligence for my topics. My resume will shed light on my capabilities and successful experiences in these areas. My business experiences include working within very large corporate, small business and sole proprietor environments. The original purpose of a family visit to Illinois in December, 2008, has ended. I will be available in the Bay Area on April 1st. Thank you for your anticipated consideration for this position. I can be reached through this email address, or the contact information below. I hope I may look forward to hearing back from you with interest. In the interim, I send you all the best wishes in pursuing your company goals. Yours truly, |
Example 2:
An email Cover
| To whom it may concern:
I am writing in response to your Craigslist ad for an Academic Tutor. Please find my resume attached for your review. My teaching and tutoring/mentoring experiences include both classroom settings for adults and youth, and as an online “live streaming” science instructor and after school science “teacher” with thescienceroom.com, and GirlsMentors, Inc. With specific relationship to this position, I am also a professional writer with superb language skills; my educational background at Berkeley includes a Bachelors degree in psychology, with an emphasis on psycholinguistics. I have written several texts on general science topics through The Science Room, LLC., and have extensive experience working with and developing content and curriculum for online/internet publications and websites. This includes experiences as a consultant and contributor to “worldteens.org,” writing to various comprehension levels for teens in an online community ESL environment. Finally, as a specialist in attentional and learning disorders and difficulties, and a multi-linguist (I speak English as a first language, am reasonably fluent in Spanish, read French, and have exposure and some capability in a couple of other languages), I have been bridging the gap in multicultural and multi-language/communications issues for many years. In the technology industry I spent many hours designing specific user applications and requirements that assist and facilitate differences in learning and attention capability and style. I will be returning to CA in the next two weeks, and am looking for employment that will assist with resettling there, allowing me the freedom to pursue other career interests as well as continue my activities in teaching. This position and the hours described in your post would be perfect to fill these aims and goals on a long term (or short term!) basis. I know I would be a very beneficial asset to your works there, and to the students you serve. Please review my resume. I hope I may look forward to your interested reply very soon! Sincerely, |
Example 3:
A Formal Letter:
| I saw your ad today and felt compelled to respond. The way you describe the Instructional Designer, Sales Training and Development position, it seems so in line with what I do. And since this is apparently a position within Volt Workforce Solutions, it could not be more suitable to my particular passion – designing, creating, delivering and selling workforce development, jobs, and economic enhancement programs to both businesses and employees. If you’d like to see a resume practically built to respond to this position, keep reading.
You describe the position as being focused on sales; both training existing and new incoming sales staff, and selling the training and its anticipated results to store teams. For the past 5 years I’ve been teaching small businesses across the country to sell their goods and services to their customers – everything from counseling, to technology services, to heavy roadwork and construction. I design and deliver unique sales and marketing training that helps a business get its job done. And, even though Volt has offices all over the world, I know each office must run as a profitable entity, and that turns each office into an important small business. Your job description also spends a great deal of time invoking the important quality of passion. Do I have passion for creating people-driven solutions in the workforce? You bet! So much so that I’ve devoted my own considerable talents, not to mention my efforts, toward providing the bridge between jobs and economic opportunity development since 2004. Do I have passion for teaching people how to access and serve the customers who need qualified people to fill a myriad kind of employment positions? Let’s just say I’m in the process of designing and creating a one-of-a-kind sales and preparation tool for a new employment-directed website that will help people identify, prepare for, and land in a job that is truly meant for them. I have many more skills, stories, and experiences I could share with you about how and why this job is a very important part of our hoped for world-wide jobs and economic recovery. I can provide many more reasons why my experience with instructional design, sales and operational training, and especially my background as a project manager, corporate liaison and writer, all make me an excellent candidate for the position. All I need is the opportunity to meet with you and present myself to you as one of the, if not the, best possible people for this job. I hope this letter and my resume will make possible the opportunity to do exactly that. I hope that opportunity will come soon. I’ve been in Illinois for the past 2 years, pioneering a jobs and community development program that will soon make it to the public in the form of a unique jobs and career development program. Having worked for and gained the reputation, the knowledge, and the savvy to bring the program and the ideas that make it possible to a viable and interested market, I’m returning to the Bay Area on April 1st, to pursue my core interests – matching people to jobs and jobs to people. Broadening these endeavors by affecting a sales force across markets is a dream – a dream I’m ready to realize, and anxious to fulfill. I would be honored to explore this opportunity with Volt, I think we share the same goal. Again, I hope to hear from you further. My contact information is contained on the accompanying resume and below. No matter the results of this letter or my efforts here, I wish you the best in your upcoming pursuits as an organization, and as a team of people who are committed to reaching and helping people looking for work, and businesses looking for impassioned and empowered people. Yours very truly, |
Example 4:
The “T-Letter”
| January 2, 2008
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am applying for your Part-Time Software Trainer position recently advertised on your website.
All of my training outcomes have been well-received and created a high level of customer satisfaction leading to increased repeat and referral business for my employers. My rates are typically $35 an hour for training classes located within 50 miles of San Francisco, and $40 plus expenses for any work assignment that extends beyond the 50 miles. I believe my combination of skills, talent, experience and competitive rates make me a strong candidate for this position. I hope that upon review of my attached resume, you will agree and I may look forward to hearing further from you on possible next steps toward this position. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, Merrill Stevens |
About Jon Ciampi
Excellent tutorial and advise. Well done!