Dynamic PDF: Composing a Cover Letter

A cover letter is a short (typically one page) document that expands upon your resume and provides hiring professionals and/or graduate school admissions offices with additional specifics surrounding your education, work history, and other relevant experiences. While a resume is a brief overview of your general qualifications, a cover letter gives you the opportunity to explain why your qualifications make you the ideal candidate for a particular internship, job, graduate program, etc. In other words, it is your initial sales pitch, and like a resume, you will customize this to the specific application and position.

Overall Goals:

• Introduce yourself as a candidate with the skills for this specific job position  
• Provide context—how you learned about the opening
• Explain why this particular job interests you
• Show how the job is appropriate for you by using language or terminology similar to the advertisement
• Highlight and explain specific qualifications in your resume
• Emphasize relevant skills and experiences

Tips for Successful Cover Letters:

• Read the job description carefully and follow instructions
• Avoid copying phrases verbatim from the advertisement
• Match your tone of the letter to the language of the advertisement
• Do not include unrelated personal information (keep it professional) or salary, benefit, or schedule requests
• Do not create a replica of your resume; a cover letter should be more in-depth and specific.

Writing about Yourself: It is important to use strong action words when describing your jobs and accomplishments.

Stronger Cover Letter Words:

• Accomplished
• Capable
• Confident
• Efficient
• Exceptional
• Experienced
• Expert
• Practiced
• Proficient
• Seasoned
• Skilled
• Successful
• Talented
• Thorough
• Authorized
• Mediated

Overused, Vague Cover Letter Words/Phrases:

• Detail-oriented
• Go-to person
• Good
• Hardworking
• Motivated
• Problem solver
• Team player
• As you can see on my resume
• I am the best candidate because
• I feel
• I think I’d be a great fit

Design: When designing your cover letter, use a simple font sized at 11 or 12 point. If submitting with a resume, consider making the formatting (header, font type, and font size) the same to promote readability and organization. Margins should be set at 1” to maintain profe