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Sample Cover Letters and Tips on writing them.
A cover letter is a chance to introduce yourself to prospective employers. The cover letter gives you a chance to express yourself and your personality more than you can in your resume, so it is important to convey a professional manner. Your letter should highlight your accomplishments and experience and persuade the employer to consider hiring you. It must be professional, grammatically correct and concise. As with the resume, a sloppy cover letter will make your employers think your work will be sloppy also.
The Basics
  1. Your cover letter should be one page. It should never be longer than one page. You only have a few short paragraphs to impress prospective employers. If your letter is too long, employers won't bother to read it.
  2. The letter should be carefully proofread, with no spelling or grammatical errors.
  3. The letter should highlight your accomplishments and responsibilities, but also should convey your personality. Your letter shouldn't be informal, but it can be personable and colorful.
  4. Don't brag about yourself, but include compliments from superiors or peers. Instead of writing, ‘I was the best sales associate in the store,' write something like, ‘My manager has complimented me for having consistently high sales.'
Nuts and Bolts
  1. Cover letters should take the form of professional business letters (see examples). Your name and contact information should appear at the top. The date should appear a few spaces beneath that, along with the name and address of the business to which you're applying.
  2. The opening should always be "Dear Mr. X:" or "Dear Ms. X." If you're not sure to whom to address the cover letter, call the business and find out. Taking extra steps like that will help to set you apart from applicants who address their letter to "To whom it may concern." Always use the courtesy titles Mr. and Ms. — never Mrs. or Miss.
  3. The first paragraph identifies where you found the employment information, indicates what position you are interested in and introduces the themes you will be discussing in the body of the letter.
    • The first sentence should let the reader know where you found out about the open position. Usually that will be an employment ad or a current employee at the business to which you're applying. For example:
      1. I'm writing in response to your help wanted ad in the March 16 issue of The Daily Planet.
      2. Johnny Smith, who works in the Beach Café's kitchen, suggested I contact you regarding the open hostess position.
    • If you're applying to a job unsolicited (you have not seen an advertisement or spoken with current employees), discuss your qualifications:
      1. My two years of experience as a waiter and host at the Pennsylvania Inn make me an excellent candidate for a position at the Beach Café.
    • The second sentence should introduce your skills and experience, foreshadowing what you will talk about in the body of the letter.
    • My experience as a sales clerk at the Gap in Towson, Md., and my participation in Key Club have prepared me for the assistant manager position at the Boardwalk 5 & 10.
  4. The second and third paragraphs elaborate on your themes. In the example, the themes are working at the Gap, which should be the subject of the second paragraph, and participating in Key Club, which should be the subject of the third paragraph. Write about your experiences at a job, as a volunteer, in a club, in a hobby. Paragraphs should be no longer than five sentences, and shorter if possible. Some questions you should ask include:
    • What were your specific day-to-day responsibilities?
    • Did you take on extra responsibility (as an assistant manager, a club vice president, a volunteer coordinator, etc.)?
    • Was your job stressful? How did you handle stressful situations?
    • Did you perform well? Did your superiors ever pay you any compliments you could include in the letter?

    Even if volunteering at a retirement center doesn't have anything to do with waiting tables at the beach, employers look for qualities like responsibility, flexibility, good work ethic, good people skills and the ability to adapt quickly and to get along well with others. Try to give specific examples of how you demonstrated these qualities in your everyday life.
  5. In the last paragraph, tie your themes together in a sentence or two:
    • My job and extracurricular experiences gave me a strong work ethic, good people skills and the ability to quickly orient myself in new surroundings. As such, I would make an excellent addition to the staff at Pirate MiniGolf.

      Conclude by writing that you'll be in touch to discuss the position. Give a time frame — two weeks is standard. Calling the business, rather than waiting for the business to call you, indicates that you're genuinely interested in the job you're applying for.
    • Thank you for considering me. I'll be in touch in the next few weeks to discuss my qualifications for the position.
And then, be sure to follow up. If you say you'll call within two weeks, make sure you do it.
Sample Cover Letter for a service job (hotel manager).
Sample Cover Letter for a retail job (art gallery).
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