The letters can be specific to whatever you are applying for.  Make sure to include your experience and skills that are relevant to the position.  Having a cover letter is about the best way that you can make a good first impression to a prospective employer.  Before you start, look at different samples and review them.  Choose a sample that would best relate to that job position that you’re seeking.

Here are some sample cover letters that you can model:

This is a general sample cover letter:

First and Last Name
Address
City, State and Zip Code
Phone number (use cell phone as an alternate)
Email address

Date

Contact Name (Use Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., )
Title
Company
Address
City, State and Zip Code

Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs:

I am writing in reply to the online ad looking to fill the position of Executive Assistant for the Benefits Department of your company.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. I also have over ten years of clerical and administrative assistant experience.  My skills include organizing, typing, filing and being able to communicate with others.

During the past ten years of administrative assistant experience, I have been able to expand my skills to include creating packets for large meetings and coordinating arrangements for meetings with over 100 real estate brokers and related personnel. 

I believe that my background qualifies me for the position of  Executive Assistant in the Legislative Department.  I look forward to setting up a time to discuss how my experience can be a valuable asset to your company.   

Sincerely,

Jane Doe’s signature

Jane Doe

The above letter is a sample of a basic general cover letter that people use to contact prospective employers. 

There are some employers that require potential applicants to sign up on line.  This cuts down on a lot of foot traffic in their human resource offices.  Being able to send your resume and cover letter via e-mail is also an efficient and cost effective way for a prospective employer to get information from your regarding a position. 

Here is a sample cover letter that you would send via email.  These type of sample letters should be brief and to the point.

Subject Line:  Executive Assistant Position

With the salutation, see if you can get a person’s name to address it to.  If you can’t then use whatever the company requests.

Email Message:

Dear Mr. Ms._________________,

I am interested in your job position as an Executive Assistant. 

I was an Executive Assistant for Ford Real Estate Company where I was responsible for coordinating large meetings, creating the monthly newsletter and tending to the tenants in our building. 

I also wrote articles for our monthly newsletter.  The articles are available for you to peruse at:

Place URL here—if you have more than one, list them one under the other. 

I have also included some additional samples of my work.  If you need additional information,  please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Thank you for your consideration. 

(Your Name) Michelle Doe
Address
Email address
URL
Home phone
Cell phone

When you send the e-mail attachment, make sure to do it as the employer asks.  Even something as simple as this can be screwed up by not following directions.

Sample cover letters are great guides to use for your employment searches.

1. Length. Cover letter samples should be between one paragraph and one page.

2. Job Knowledge. The cover letter should show that you know what the job is expected to do, and needs to accomplish for success.

3. Reasons. The letter should prove that you have accomplishments and achievements in your past that prove you can be successful at the target job.

4. Call to action. The cover letter sample should end with the next step that the reader needs to take. This will probably be to call you for an interview.

5. Personality. Probably the most subtle of all the factors. Have you ever noticed how different writers can be identified by their “voice” even on a piece of paper? Your letter’s “voice” should reflect your intelligence and professionalism.

As I was reading the letters, I noticed that two of the applicants had sent in nearly identical letters. Obviously, both of these candidates had used a free cover letter from a book or the Internet.

Knowing that the content of the cover letter was taken from a random, free cover letter, source made me doubt the truth of the claims that the candidate’s made in their letters. Furthermore, since the position required a great deal of report-writing, someone who couldn’t even write a simple argument about their own qualifications probably wouldn’t be a strong fit.

Since it was a competitive position, I was looking for reasons to eliminate candidates from the pool instead of reasons to include candidates, so those two job-searchers who obviously used free cover letters did not get interviews.

1. Too Many Changes.

The whole point of a cover letter template is to make things easier. If you have a template in which all the information in the letter has to be changed to match your information, then you’ve defeated the whole point of the process. In this case, you’d be better off just writing a letter from scratch.

2. Stale Words

Some free templates have been kicking around for years, decades even. If something about how the cover letter template is worded seems a little old-fashioned or familiar, then you would be better off writing something fresher for yourself.

The impression that your letter makes depends on very subtle and seemingly insignificant factors. Page margins, font choices and line spacing might seem like small issues, but if these cover letter formats are all a little off that makes the whole page look off to the reader. One thing to consider is that the hiring manager is likely to receive dozens if not hundreds of these kinds of letters in a year and quickly notices something that isn’t inline with professional standards.

A safe bet is to use your word processor’s automatic coverletter format function, or to take advantage of a professional letter generator.

Cover letters should be one page, max. Period.

4. Saying Too Little

A cover letter should do more for you than a post-it that says “Here’s my resume!” The letter is an opportunity to show off your personality, your writing skills, and your grasp of why you should get the job. Getting all that into two or three paragraphs will do more for your job search than just about anything else you do.

3. Saying the Wrong Thing
Don’t say how much you want the job. Say how useful you will be to them when you have it.

2. Not Asking for the Interview

Self-explanatory.

1. “To Whom It May Concern”

A cover letter isn’t a piece of junk mail. It needs to go to a specific person. If you don’t know who it is before you write the letter, call the company and find out.

Network technicians, college instructors and nurses head the list of the specific jobs most heavily in demand this year. In addition to requiring specific training and experience, one element that all these jobs have in common is a necessity for strong problem-solving, communication and client-service skills.

For the job searcher who wants to land one of these jobs, having the right degree and background will get you considered, but your presentation will be what lands the position. Ideally, each element of your presentation will strategically work with every other element to highlight these characteristics. What this means in practice is that you need to discover what problems the job needs to solve, then create miniature narratives that quickly tell how you have solved those problems in your career.

Once you have those mini-narratives, then you should find a way to include them at every contact you have with the hiring manager. For instance, include them in your cover letter, be ready to talk about them in your job interview and in your follow up thank you letter. This strategic approach makes sure that your strongest selling points get heard and reinforced by the target company.

Application letter writing secrets.

A well-written application letter shouldn’t be confused with some quickly written note that just says “here’s my resume.” The effective letter is the result of research and thought. Specifically, the letter should show that you know what the company needs and how your experience proves that you can meet those needs.

Amazing application letter results.

An application letter like this proves several things to the hiring manager who reads it. First, it shows that you “get it.” You know what the company need, and that you know how to provide those skills. More subtly, it shows that you aren’t “all about you” in your job search process. Yeah, you’ve got your ambitions and desires, but are mature enough to put those into a perspective of how you can meet other people’s needs. Lastly, it shows that you are intelligent, strategic, articulate and pay attention to getting details right.

That’s an amazing result for a three or four paragraph letter!

Though email has caused some people to forget the covering letter’s persuasive power, employment professionals know that a well-crafted covering letter commands even more respect than ever.

Covering letters make you stand out. 

“If 99% of the candidates are doing something, then the 1% doing something different stand out even more,” says Steven Schneider, an employment coach and executive recruiter based in Los Angeles. “For a hiring executive who is bombarded with one-sentence emails that don’t say anything, getting a well-written letter that gives valuable information is a nice change.”

Short and to the point is the way to go. 

Schneider recommends that his candidates for positions write a one or two paragraph letter that addresses the hiring executive’s needs and quickly explains how the candidate can fill them. Besides showing enthusiasm for the job, and an attention to detail, a well-written letter creates a sense of rapport early in the interview process, he says.

A short cut to the interview. 

“Hiring executives who receive a personalized, targeted covering letter say that they begin the phone or personal interview with a better sense of the candidate’s qualities and background. That allows them to progress to deeper topics of interest, faster. The end result is the candidate is able to make a more positive impression.”