JOB APPLICATION COVER LETTER

A Job application cover letter Cover letter is a formal way to introduce ourselves, remember that during a job application you are competing against people that is looking for the same available position, so leaving a first good impression is definitely good for you, and a properly written job application cover letter will help you get an interview.

It is very important to extract the main parts of the job advertisements, they usually indicate explicitly the company's requirements, so focus your resume and your cover letter on them. What does this mean? You must write a new one, or at least modify your main templates every time you apply for a new job.

There are some advises you should follow to make really good cover letters:

  • Avoid grammatical mistakes.
  • Avoid jargons.
  • Use one page at the most.
  • Use the correct paper to print it, for example 80 grams bond paper.
  • The cover letter must be totally clean.
  • Use a simple font style, it must be easy to read.


Cover letters are usually divided into 3 or 4 parts but on this example we will use 4, Contact information, introduction, body and closing,

  • Contact Information: It contains information about the sender and receiver, you can put your telephone number and email on the top, but if you put your address, city and zip code is fine.
  • Introduction: The introduction must attract the receiver's attention (usually the person in charge of hiring), so you must write about things like:
    1. How you learned about the job opportunity.
    2. What you know about the organization.
    3. How your skills match with the organization's requirements.
    4. How you can help the organization.
    5. The reason why you write, get an interview.
  • Body: This part explains with more details how you can help the organization and how your skills are perfect to solve their needs, it also complements your resume and remember to match your skills with the company's needs.
  • Closing: The closing part is important to remind what you want (an interview), to provide your contact information, sign and indicate if you are providing enclosure information. Remember to thank for the time of the receiver.
Example 1:

Contact Information

354 Green Park
City Name, Zip Code.

Mr. John Mathews.
Analytics Corp. Manager of Human Resources.
654 North Street
City Name, Zip Code.

Body

Dear Mr. Mathews.

Last week on the CISCO congress, I met with Mr. Robert Green, he works at your company in the software development area; he let me know that you require a Software Designing assistant, and I will like to talk to you about that available position. I have been working on Software Designing area for about two years, I know how to do this job, and I am sure that my skills would be really useful for your company.

During my career I worked on several areas, software designing, software programming and software marketing, so I know how the software creation works. Designing software is the area I have more experience in, and I participated in the whole designing process of two very popular softwares, Codec35 and Minix.

On the requirements I found on your website, you mention that you always work in groups and it is very important for you to achieve your goals according to the schedule. I have no problems on doing things on a specific schedule, in fact, I love to be one step ahead on the things I do, I always worked in groups and I have no problems to express my ideas and listen my colleagues.

Closing

I am sure that my skills and experience would be really useful to solve all your requirements, I will contact you next week to know how is going my application process, but if you want to contact me before, feel free to call this cell phone number: 615-451234. Thanks so much for your time.

Sincerely.
(Hand written signature)
Michael Riggs.

Enclosure.


Example 2:

3298 Rose Street
City Name, Zip Code
(580)165-46547
peterh@mailmail.com

Ms. Lily Lewitt.
Principal, Atron School
7410 President Avenue
City Name, Zip Code

Dear Ms. Lewitt:
I found an advertisement on JobSeeker.com three days ago, it indicated that there is an available position for a Math teacher. I am really interested on the job, with my experience, knowledge and degrees I believe that I can make a big contribution for your school and the young minds that are part of it.

I have been working on education for about 4 years, after my graduation as Mathematician at the Western University, I studied two degrees, one on Teaching Psychology and the other on Numbers Pedagogy, after my obtaining both of them, I began my teaching career with great results. I believe that my experience and my degrees have given me a unique experience on Math's teaching, and I want to apply them in your institution.

I always try to help each one of my students, on my previous work I formed a Math Club, where students that have doubts were able to come to answer their questions and practice, and some of my students won the Regional Math's Competition. I enjoy working with my colleagues and I think that mutual respect is the key to make things work.

I believe that my skills will be very useful for your school, and I really hope to be part of your workgroup. I will follow up my application to see how it goes, I will contact you next week, but in case you need more information or you have questions, feel free to call me. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely.
(Handwritten signature)
Romina Higgins.
Enclosure.