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Resume & Cover Letters

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Lesson: Cover Letter

10 minute read
Producing a cover letter might seem like a trivial task when applying to jobs, but you should take your time over it, and make sure that you’ve carefully thought out what you want to say.
A cover letter is your sales pitch to a potential employer about why you are the best fit for the position you’re applying for. While your resume reflects your educational background and work experience, the cover letter focuses on how those experiences are relevant to the position you're applying for, and how hiring you will benefit the company.
This is your opportunity to use your storytelling skills! Describe specific, impressive examples of your work, and explain how they are relevant to the role. A well-written, considerate, persuasive cover letter can be the thing that makes a recruiter or hiring manager want to take a closer look at your portfolio, and perhaps move forward with your application.

Getting started

Before sitting down to craft the perfect cover letter, take some paper and a pen (or open up a new Google Doc) and use bullet points to outline the key things you need to cover. This stage is about organizing your thoughts, choosing what points to address, and planning out the structure of your letter before writing the first draft.
The beginning of your letter might address:
how you found out about the job
what interests you most about the role
why you feel you are the best fit for it
any attention-grabbing experience, like leadership positions, awards, and transferable skills
Consider these awesome examples of an opening paragraph:
“I believe that my experience securing international media coverage for high-profile tech clients make me the perfect match for the Communications Manager position.”
“Having grown up with the zoo (literally) in my backyard, I understand firsthand how you’ve earned your reputation as one of the most family-friendly venues in the State of Ohio. For 20 years, I’ve been impressed as your customer; now I want to impress visitors in the same way your team has so graciously done for me.”

Making it memorable

The middle of your cover letter is where you need to get into storytelling mode. It should emphasize your capabilities, relevant work experience, and sell the employer on why you should be the only one interviewed and hired. Include a couple of paragraphs about the following:
Why you’re a good fit for this job
Your most relevant experiences, and what you learned from them that are relevant for this position (aim to speak directly about at least 3 requirements on the job posting)
Evidence to illustrate your impact on companies or associations you’ve worked for in the past, and mention specific results if you can
How you’d apply your skills to the position you’re applying for

Finish on a high

Don’t underestimate the power of how you conclude your letter. Aim to:
Include a thank-you for considering your application
Have a subtle call-to-action, for example inviting them to contact you if they need further information
Briefly summarize and reiterate how you can bring value to the role

Some dos and don’ts

Do:

Review the job description again before submitting the cover letter
Pay special attention to specific questions or guidelines they'd like addressed
Ensure that you’ve addressed every core requirement of the role in some way
Keep the letter concise—maximum 1 page
Tailor the letter to each specific role you apply for
Focus more on the value you can bring to the role, than on why you want the job
Relate at least one of your design projects to the company’s needs and desired qualifications
Emphasize how your style of design problem-solving is a good fit for the role
Keep the branding and layout consistent with your portfolio and resume (including logo, typefaces, colors, etc.)
Include a link to your portfolio
Use a style and tone of voice that’s professional but still “you”
Triple-check your spelling and grammar. Get a friend to check!

Don’t:

Don’t email out generic letters to dozens of companies at once—you’ll be perceived as lazy and annoying, and it’s unlikely to generate results
Don’t use generic cover letter templates. Look at templates for ideas and inspiration, but then make the content entirely your own
Don’t include excessively vague or broad language. For example, “excellent communication skills” doesn’t really say anything special about you, so include something specific and memorable instead
Don’t start with a generic address like “Dear Sir/Madam”. Try to find out the name of the person who will be receiving your application. Failing that, consider “To whom it may concern”, “To the hiring manager”, or even, “Dear (Company Name)"
Don’t misrepresent your contribution to projects, or exaggerate your work experience
Don’t focus too much on yourself or your needs. Show excitement, but stay focused on the needs of the role and how you bring to the table

And finally: the cover email

Unless the company explicitly asks for your cover letter as an attachment, it’s usually better practice to send your cover letter in an email—recruiters and hiring managers are less likely to get around to reading an attachment. This may limit the extent to which you can include your personal branding, but it needn’t affect the quality of your storytelling.
If you paste in content from another document, make sure that your letter’s formatting hasn’t broken before hitting “Send”. Also, double-check if the job posting included any specific requirements about what to include in the subject line, or even how to format the file names of attachments.
Your cover letter is just as important as your portfolio and resume when applying for jobs. It’s your opportunity to persuade the company of how well you can communicate, how you can benefit their work, and how you will bring value to the team. Go get ‘em!
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