Write a Cover Letter

On average, plan to spend 3-4 hours developing an initial cover letter and 1-2 hours tailoring it to future roles you apply to. You will go through many iterations of this document. Continue editing and revising until you are confident your letter will stand out in a pile of 200 others for a specific position. Feel free to use this cover letter template as you work through this stage. Click here for more examples of tech-specific cover letters.

Instructions

Step 1: Analyze your job description for key workstreams

Review your job description and identify the primary workstreams of the role. For instance, based on the job description example below, these would be: data systems management, dashboard creation/ data visualization, report writing and presentation, and working with various stakeholders.

Job Description 

  • Maintains computer systems databases and access controls. Prepares analysis and reports of operational data to assist company and business unit management achieve performance targets.Serve as central point of contact for all employee data requests
  • Lead development of dashboard reports, data validation files and models to assist and support dashboard testing.
  • Creates presentations and reports summarizing current and forecasted operational and financial results for director and executive level.
  • Create data governance structure so that sensitive information is managed, disseminated, and analyzed efficiently but with high security
  • Enable team and partners to provide data-driven insights and solutions to meet goals of strategy using internal data and external benchmarking/market analysis

Qualifications

  • Minimum of 2 years relevant experience or equivalent training and/or experience. 
  • Strong knowledge of business; process, roles/responsibility, industry 
  • Data analysis and Organization modeling 
  • Strong communications (oral and written), interpersonal and consultative skills 
  • Analytical thinking and problem solving 

Step 2: Tailor your experience to the core requirements of the position 

Make sure each paragraph in your cover letter details the experience, education, training, or knowledge you have pertaining to executing on that workstream. Use the “Situation – Action – Result” structure and back up your examples with quantitative results.  

If you don’t have direct examples that showcase your ability to execute on the work, highlight the skills and projects you worked on during your certificate that are relevant. Think about what transferrable skills you accomplished from previous jobs that would be relevant (e.g. you ran an outreach campaign for a local after-school program that could be translated into communication/ sales roles). If you are completely out of ideas for how to populate this information, are there passion projects you could work on in the next few weeks that would allow you to add more to this section?  

Step 3: Revise and finalize 

Finalize the formatting of your cover letter and make sure the branding and formatting aligns with your resume. Scan the document for typos and grammar errors, put it down, and pick it up the next day for review. You will have a different perspective on the document each time you review it and should edit to make it stronger. The more time and energy you invest in this process up front, the easier it will be when you apply to roles in the future. 

TIP: Save all of your cover letter paragraphs in a master document to save for the future. It is very likely that you will want to apply to multiple jobs that combine your various skill sets.