YNCN’s Student Cover Letter Guide
A cover letter lets you showcase your stories and personality to the recruiter. This introductory guide will help you craft one!
Why Should You Care About Your Cover Letter?
The cover letter, an often underrated component of the job application process, is a document that usually accompanies your resume in an application. It is usually a part of the job application, but it can also be sent as an email. It’s one part of the application process that really lets you showcase your personality and unique perspective. Therefore, it’s a critical first impression to employers.
General Notes, Tips, and Tricks
- Remember that your cover letter is not a letter asking for a job, it is a letter highlighting why you are qualified for a job. You want to show that you’re a good fit for the role responsibilities AND the company’s values.
- A cover letter is personal to you, and your writing should reflect this by giving examples of your relevant skill set and how you have applied it so far. You can use it to expand on stories or challenges that relate to 1–2 important experiences on your resume.
- Try to be as concise and to the point as possible. Generally, cover letters are one page or less.
- Don’t fall into the trap of sending the same cover letter to each company, because then you cannot tailor it to each company’s mission and values. A position at different companies will have slightly different requirements, even if the job title is the same.
- As CU Blueprint mentions in their Cover Letter Workshop, avoid mentioning technical aspects of the role (frontend, backend), company perks & culture as reasons for wanting to work there. It looks a lot more personalized and genuine when you write about company values and projects you want to work on.
Not all roles that you apply to will ask for a cover letter. Some companies have to sift through many applications and therefore do not request cover letters. For other companies, it may be an optional document. And, for others, such as companies on U of T’s professional experience year (PEY) job portal, it is required.
General Sections
Contact Information (yours)
At the upper left hand corner of your cover letter, or in the form of a header, include your contact information (i.e. name, address, phone number, email).
Date
It’s generally a good idea to include the date underneath your contact information with one line of space in between.
Contact Information (theirs)
Include the recruiter or recipient’s contact information right below the date. It’s generally a safe bet to include their name, title, department, company name and address.
Salutation
Start your letter off with a greeting of your choice! If you can’t address your letter to a specific person, “Dear Hiring Manager” or “To whom it may concern” should work.
Introduction
Have an introductory paragraph that introduces yourself, the job that you are applying for, and how you learned about the opening. This is a very crucial part of the cover letter. Because you have most of the recruiter’s attention at this point, make sure you do a good job with a short but memorable introduction. This is also a good time to mention why you’re interested in this company and role specifically, as well as, state your strongest skills (which you will go into further detail about in the next paragraphs). Really try to make it specific to the company you’re applying to (it should not be something that is transferable to a lot of companies, such as a “driven and fast-paced environment”).
Body Paragraph(s)
Your body paragraphs should detail your skills and past experience, and prove to your potential employer that you are a good fit for the company.
It may be a good idea to look at the job requirements, and draw connections between your skills and the requirements in the description. Another good idea is to describe an experience where you exemplified the company’s values. Make sure that you don’t detail every item on your resume.
Pull the important information out from your resume (1–2 experiences that show 1–2 major skills required for the role or show your alignment with the company’s values), expand on it, and detail why that experience is relevant to the job description and the company.
As CU Blueprint mentions in their Cover Letter Workshop, this is also a good space to write about your goals for the role and the challenges that excite you at the company.
Concluding Paragraph
The concluding paragraph is the paragraph in which you indicate follow ups or actions (ex. in an email cover letter, “I have attached my resume for more details, and I can follow up with my portfolio for examples of past projects”), state how they can reach you via email or phone, and thank the employer for their time.
Closing
Sign off with a closing of your choice! Depending on the company that you’re applying to, you can make the call on how formal your closing needs to be. Everything from “Sincerely” to “Cheers” is fair game.
Sample Cover Letter Template
If you’re submitting your resume and cover letter as a package (one attachment with both), it may also be nice to use a similar design and theme for both.
If you are looking for more advice and cover letter examples, check out the More Resources section below. Feel free to contact YNCN on social media or email for any other questions!
More Resources
- Cover Letters That Don’t Suck
- CU Blueprint’s amazing cover letter presentation
- Cover Letter Template & Example
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