Writinga CoverLetter
GOAL 1: Learn something new about you that is not on your your resume
GOAL 2: Expand on and backup soft and hard skills that may be shown in your resume
GOAL 3: Captivate the reader with some form of narrative; avoid restating bullet points from resume
Goal 1: Learn Something new about you that is not on your resume
What are some details from your relevant experiences that you could expand upon? Or is there anything not on your resume that highlights how you would be a good fit for this position? Maybe it's your personal interests or hobbies! Make a List below.
Goal 2: Expand on and backup soft and hard skills that may be shown in your resume
You may have listed skills in the skills section of your resume. When writing narrative paragraphs below, make sure to incorporate what tool/software/skill you used.
For skills such as team-work, communication, detail oriented, ability to multitask, etc., it is important to show the reader how you have exercised these skills in your narrative paragraphs. Show them the 'how' behind the skill and why that benefited the team, project, or task you are talking about.
Below list some skills that you have that you are excited to expand upon in a cover letter:
Goal 3: Captivate the reader with some form of narrative; avoid restating bullets from the resume.
Grab 2 items from your "Goal A" list above and expand upon them here in 4-6 sentences. Try to incorporate the skills you listed above as well. Your first sentence should root the example in the role title, who it was with, and timeframe. For example: "In my role as graphic designer intern at ___________ (company) during the summer of 2021...". From here describe a project or task focusing on "I" statements. Tell the reader what you did rather than what your team did.
Item 1:
Item 2:
Cover Letter Formatting! Header
The header on your cover letter should match the header on your resume.
When addressing the cover letter, reference the example below. If you know the name of the hiring manager, address it to them and the hiring committee as follows: "Dear ________ and the Hiring Committee,"
Introduction
Your introduction paragraph should state the job you're applying for, why you are excited about the position, as well as why you're excited about the company. This all should take about 2-3 sentences.
The last sentence of your intro is what we call an 'add-value statement'. This is essentially the thesis statement of your cover letter where you tell the reader what they are going to read about. For example, if you have a body paragraph talking about a previous position/internship and a body paragraph talking about you education your add-value statement may sound something like this:
"The combination of my past work experience as a ___________ (title) and my time as a student studying _____________, would make me a great addition to your team at ___________ (company)."
Body Paragraphs
The body paragraphs will be what was workshopped above. Body paragraphs speak to the job description by giving examples of jobs, projects, tasks, etc. that show how you have done similar tasks or used skills that would help you to do the job you are applying to
Depending on how much room you have on the page, you can have 2 to 3 body paragraphs with relevant content to the job you're applying to. Try to have your first body paragraph be the most relevant to the job
Conclusion and Signature
The conclusion should briefly restate your qualifications and interest in the job you are applying for. This should be in 1-2 sentences. Then comes your sign o that may include:
"Thank you for your time spent on reviewing my application, I look forward to hearing from you."
If you have the ability to sign the bottom of your document between the "Sincerely" and your name, it is always a nice touch. You can use the draw tool in word and zoom in all the way for cleaner drawing. This is a great tool for touch screens but also works if you have a mouse. You can also sign a piece of paper and scan in the document and insert it on the word document
