Writing Your Cover Letter

In a previous lesson, we walked through the process of breaking down a job description and using it to create a targeted resume. This week, we’ll be doing a similar process to create a tailored cover letter. Before we get started, revisit the resume lesson [link] and review how we analyzed the job description and our relevant experience. After following the steps depicted in the resume lesson, we're now ready to write a cover letter.

The basic format of a cover letter is this:

1. Introduction: A short paragraph introducing yourself, telling why you want to work for the company, and summarizing why you're a good fit for the position.
2. Body: 1-2 paragraphs showing how your experience and skills relate to the position you're applying for.
3. Conclusion: A short paragraph re-capping the main skills and abilities you identified in the cover letter (don’t introduce any new content).

This should go without saying, but do not copy this cover letter. Your cover letter should be unique to you, and unique to each job you apply to. If you copy even some of this example, it will be very obvious to Epicodus staff and potential employers, especially if some of your classmates do as well.

Remember that each cover letter you write should be written with the job in mind. That means that each cover letter should be a little different from the last. Using the same cover letter for each application won’t get you effective results because it does not make a strong case for your ability to be successful in a specific position. Instead of thinking of your cover letters as a general introduction to who you are professionally, think of them as a persuasive letter focused on convincing the hiring manager that you have the skills and qualities they are looking for.

Body

We'll start with the body, and work outwards. We'll use the exact key words and phrases from our list below, crossing them out as we go. Here's the body:

My education at Epicodus and internship at Digital Designs gave me many of the technical skills I need to make a great technical advisor for Acquia. I decided to attend Epicodus because of my passion for the web and interest in open-source development. Starting on day one of class, I became familiar with the command line and Git, and quickly learned about domain models and SQL databases.

At my internship with Digital Designs, I continued to expand my knowledge of website development, learning PHP on the job and studying at night. I worked on a dashboard for project managers at Digital Designs to see an overview of their projects' statuses and blockers. I collaborated closely with the project managers themselves to make sure the dashboard met their needs and solved their business problems. This project improved outcomes for the team as a whole by increasing the efficiency of project managers and improving communication with their teams, and I am confident that I could effectively employ this experience in my capacity as a technical advisor at Acquia.

Before Epicodus, I worked as a customer support representative at Healthcare.gov, helping people with healthcare coverage issues. I strove for excellence and customer satisfaction in all of my calls, making sure I resolved their issues thoroughly and proactively bringing up problems the customer may not have anticipated. I worked with a diverse customer base across the country, often troubleshooting challenging technical issues. My deliverables showed that my detail-oriented approach paid off, as I was consistently in the top 10% of representatives for customer satisfaction.

Prior to Healthcare.gov, I was a barista at Lil' Joe's Coffeehouse, where I prided myself on contributing to the fun energy of the company, while staying focused on getting the job done and taking on additional responsibilities to fill in the gaps. For example, after becoming frustrated that we would regularly run out of dairy, I talked with my coworkers and created an improved inventory tracking system that eliminated these shortages. With tangible changes to customer service outcomes, deliverables, and streamlined processes, I’m ready to deliver real results for the team at Acquia.

Notice how we gave specific examples of when and where we used the skills we claimed, and backed up our stories with outcomes like "in the top 10% of representatives" and "eliminated these regular shortages". Whenever we include a skill, we also relate it back to the requirements of the position with concrete details. Such as, the job posting used the wording: "Takes on additional responsibilities fills in gaps" so in our cover letter we used the same wording too: "..taking on additional responsibilities to fill in the gaps. For example..."

In addition to this, we made sure to end every skills paragraph with a sentence on how we would employ these skills at the new position, further demonstrating and solidifying the notion that we are a value-add candidate by using confident, strong language.

We also included a specific technical project in the first body paragraph. Being specific about what types of projects we have experience with adds context to our skills. We could just say that we have experience with PHP, but providing an example of a project we worked on using PHP tells a potential employer much more about our abilities. You can even take this a step further by hyperlinking directly to your project livesite or repo to help drive engagement. In future cover letters, think about what projects you have worked on that utilize the languages and tools you see in the job description, and consider writing about them to make a stronger case for yourself as a candidate.

Let's make sure we are catering this cover letter so far to the job posting with Aquia [link back to resume lesson]. Here is our list of key words and phrases from the job posting with the ones we addressed crossed out:

From Requirements

• Linux
• Command Line
• Git
• LAMP
• IIS/SQL
• Network Protocol Layers
• Security layers
• Domain Models
• Site development
• PHP development
• Passion for the web
• Open-source development
• Drupal
• Community
• Interpersonal and communication skills

From the Skills and Attributes section:

• Technical customer support
• Client engagement
• Creating order out of chaos
• Turning over all Rocks
• Resolving issues thoroughly
• Proactive
• Detail-oriented
• Building, configuring, and troubleshooting
• Challenging technical issues
• Diverse enterprise customer base
• Excellence
• Customer satisfaction
• Integrity of the work
• Benefit the customer
• Takes initiative
• Improve outcomes, processes, or measurements takes on additional responsibilities fills in gaps deliverables
• Accountable for results
• Provide support and collaboration.
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or relevant experience on the job

It's okay that we didn't get every single phrase, and that sometimes we tweaked the phrases a little for accuracy or flow, such as "taking on additional responsibilities" instead of "takes on additional responsibilities", and "diverse customer base" instead of "diverse enterprise customer base".

Introduction

First, we want to include an opener that addresses the person we are writing to and that matches the tone of the job posting. Address cover letters to the hiring manager by name whenever possible. For example:

• Dear Jordan Doe,
• Hi John Doe,
• Hello Dr. Jane Doe,

Other openers when we don’t know the name of the hiring manager could include:

• Dear hiring manager,
• To the Recruitment Team,
• To whom it may concern, (Note: this can be a little formal)
• Dear Acquia hiring team,
• To Acquia:

Now, we'll write an intro that gives a preview of the rest of the letter, says why we're interested in the job, speaks to the company’s mission and values, and sneaks in any other key phrases if we can:

To Acquia:

I'm writing to apply for your technical advisor position. I'm passionate about helping others solve problems, creating order out of chaos, and working with code. My background in both customer support and web development would make me a great fit for this role. Acquia's focus on community and collaboration speaks to me, and I'd love to be part of its work supporting the world's most ambitious brands.

Conclusion

Let's write a conclusion that ties it all together, and sign off with a closer, our name, and contact information. Notice that we briefly restate the main points from the body of the cover letter. This is another opportunity to be specific about what makes you a great fit.

Thank you for taking the time to review my application. I hope that my background in customer support, skills in PHP and SQL,, and passion for solving complex technical issues make me a great fit for the technical advisor position at Acquia. I'd love to join your work supporting open-source, collaborative innovation.

Sincerely, Sally Student sally@example.com (123) 456-7890

Some closers you can use include:

• Sincerely,
• Best,
• Thank you,
• Regards,