We love having examples. It’s so much easier to decorate a cake, build a model, or yes, even write a cover letter when you know what the end product could look like. So that’s what we’re going to give you—all the cover letter examples and tips you need to make yours shine (unfortunately we’re not experts in cake decorating or model building).
You'll see that writing a cover letter is all about highlighting your relevant skills, professional experience, and accomplishments, while emphasizing your interest for the role in an engaging manner.
Want to get right down to business? Skip ahead to:
We bet when you see a job listing that says “cover letter optional,” you breathe a sigh of relief, gleefully submit your resume, and move on. But you’re truly doing yourself a disservice by not including a cover letter (or by writing one that’s super generic or formulaic).
“When you’re writing a resume you’re oftentimes confined by space, by resume speak, by keywords—you’re up against a lot of technical requirements,” says Melody Godfred, a career coach and the founder of Write in Color who’s read thousands of cover letters over the course of her career. “In a cover letter you have an opportunity to craft a narrative that aligns you not only with the position you’re applying to but also the company you’re applying to.”
Whether you’re writing a cover letter for a data scientist or marketing manager position, an internship or a senior-level role, a startup or a Fortune 500 company, you’re going to want to tailor it to the role, company, and culture. A strong, customized cover letter will help you explain your value proposition and stand out from the stack of applicants.
If there’s a gap in your resume, you have the opportunity to explain why it’s there. If you’re changing careers, you have the chance to describe why you’re making the switch. If your resume is pretty dull, a cover letter helps you show some personality. And yes, cover letters still get read.
Deep in the job search, or just browsing? These open jobs on The Muse could be your ideal next step »
What do I write in a cover letter? The 3 basic elementsYou'll notice from our cover letter examples that the body of your text can vary a lot depending on factors like the position you're applying for, your career stage, and the type of cover letter requested by the hiring manager. For instance, a writing sample cover letter is different from a traditional professional cover letter (we'll get there soon.)
However, there is some information that you can't leave out. It's important to highlight your most relevant experience, skills, and qualifications for the role in any type of cover letter. Plus, make sure to write an engaging first paragraph to grab the reader's attention, and an effective final paragraph, ideally followed by a call to action, in order to leave a lasting positive impression.
You could say that cover letters are a little like puzzles. When you put each component in its proper place (and remove any parts that don’t fit), you create a complete picture. Even though that picture is always different, the types of pieces are basically the same. We've broken down these three key elements for you:
How you start a cover letter is everything. Your opening lines influence whether someone keeps reading—and you want them to, right? “Starting with something that immediately connects you to the company is essential—something that tells the company that this is not a generic cover letter,” Godfred says. “You have to say something that tells the employer, ‘I wrote this just for you.’”
It can be a childhood memory tying you back to the company’s mission. It can be a story about the time you fell in love with the company’s product. It can be an anecdote from another job or experience showing how hard of a worker you are. Whatever you decide to open with, make it memorable.
Use the next few paragraphs of your cover letter to “hit them with the strongest results you have that are aligned with the opportunity,” Godfred says. Ryan Kahn, Muse career coach and founder of The Hired Group, calls this your pitch. In other words, the part where you’re “selling yourself for the position and why you’re qualified for it.”
Additionally, Godfred says, “If you’re someone who’s transitioning careers, and you need to explain that transition, you do it there.”
This section should have a balance of soft and hard skills. Talk about your experience using Salesforce or doing SEO work, but also highlight your ability to lead teams and communicate effectively.
“Companies are embracing authenticity, they’re embracing humanity, they’re looking for people who are going to fit their culture,” says Godfred. “So what are your values? What do you stand for? These values should be as much a part of your cover letter as the super specialized hard skills.
Your closing line could include your next steps or a call to action, Kahn says, such as “I welcome the opportunity to speak with you more about how I can contribute to the team,” or, “I would love to schedule a time for us to discuss this role and my experience.” But more importantly, “You want to make sure that you’re gracious and thanking them,” he says. While seemingly cliché, it never hurts to end on a simple, “Thank you for your consideration.”
Does that sound a bit overwhelming? Don’t panic! We’ve got examples of four types of cover letters below: a traditional cover letter, an impact cover letter, a writing sample cover letter, and a career change cover letter. So let’s take a look at these examples, why they work, and how you can use them to craft your own.
A traditional cover letter is similar to what you’d come up with using position-based cover letter templates. It moves in reverse chronological order through your career history, highlighting parts of your past jobs that make you well suited for this position.
You might want to use this type of cover letter if:
Imagine you’re applying to a paralegal job opening at a law firm. The job description might include:
Responsibilities
Requirements
Here’s an example of a traditional cover letter you could write for this role—keeping things strictly professional but without sounding too boring or jargon-y:
Dear Ms. Jessica Sanchez,
In my five-year career as a paralegal, I have honed my legal research and writing skills, and the attorneys I’ve worked with have complimented me on my command of case law and litigation support. Spiegel Law Firm’s 20 years in practice proves that the firm has strong values and excellent attorneys, and I’d be eager to join such a talented team.
I currently serve as a paralegal for Chandler, Chandler, and Greene, where I work closely with the partners on a number of high-priority cases. During my time here, I implemented a new calendar system that ensures timely filing of court papers. This system has prevented missed deadlines and allowed for better organization of internal and client meetings.
Previously, as a paralegal for the Neuerburg Law Firm, I received praise for my overall support of the legal team and my positive attitude. While working there, I came up with and implemented a plan for digitizing their old files while still ensuring security and privacy. This led to more efficiency when preparing for client meetings and legal proceedings.
My further qualifications include a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, a paralegal certificate, and training in LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Microsoft Office Suite.
I would love the opportunity to discuss how I can contribute to your legal team. Thank you in advance for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Chase Broadstein
chasebroadstein@email.com
(222) 222-2222
This cover letter example is short, sweet, and to the point. It shows the candidate has a knack for getting things done in a thorough and timely manner and a track record for helping out wherever needed. The opening lines also express a genuine interest in this specific firm. Plus, there are some important keywords in there like “calendar system,” “bachelor’s degree,” “paralegal certificate,” and “LexisNexis.”
The impact cover letter puts your accomplishments front and center rather than organizing your paragraphs by past roles. You might use a cover letter like this if:
Imagine you’ve come across an opening for an email marketing manager. Part of the job description states:
Responsibilities
Requirements
Here’s an example of an impact cover letter where the writer’s hard skills and successes stand out:
Dear Russ Roman,
I have a problem. See, my inbox currently (and embarrassingly) hosts 1,500 unread emails—including newsletters from at least 50 different brands.
But this problem only fuels my passion for creating emails that are worth opening. Because from my perspective, as someone who can barely get through their own stack of mail, that’s a true win.
I’ve been following Vitabe for years, and can proudly say that I open every single email you send to me. I’m a sucker for a good subject line—“Take a Vitamin-ute—We’ll A-B-C You Soon” being my favorite—and the way your email content feels both fun and expert-backed really speaks to me. This is why I’m thrilled to submit my application for a role as email marketing manager at your company.
I have over four years of experience working in the email marketing space. In my current role at Westside Bank, I was able to implement new email campaigns centered around reengaging churned clients. By analyzing data around the types of clients who churn and the engagement of our current email subscribers, as well as A/B testing headlines and newsletter layouts, we were able to increase email subscribers by 15% and convert 30% of those subscribers to purchase our product, a significant increase from the previous year.
I also launched a “Your Credit Matters” newsletter focused on educating our clients on how they spend and manage their credit—which became our highest performing campaign in terms of open-rates and click-through to date.
Previously, as a member of the marketing team at Dream Diary Mattresses, I collaborated with the sales and product team to understand how I could best support them in hitting their quarterly goals. One specific project involving creating personalized emails for customers drew more people to come back to our site after 30 days than direct paid ad campaigns, leading to a 112% increase in revenue from the last quarter.
I take the content I write and the calendars I manage seriously, editing and refining beyond detail-oriented and into meticulous territory, and I feel my experience and drive would greatly help Vitabe further develop their email program for success.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Lad Miller
lmiller@inboxeseverywhere.com
(987) 654-3210
This sample cover letter concisely highlights the applicant’s most significant, relevant achievements. By adding context to how their projects were created, monitored, and completed, they’re able to show just how results-driven they are and how they’ve successfully leveraged some of the skills the company is looking for.
One thing worth noting: This person didn’t include keywords such as Constant Contact, Google Analytics, HTML, CSS, Photoshop, or Microsoft Excel—all of which are listed in the job description. But those skills are most likely in their resume already, and leaving them out gives them the space to discuss specific projects and tell a story not visible on other parts of their job application.
For roles where written communication is key, such as PR, copywriting, or journalism jobs, your cover letter will likely be the first writing sample your future employer sees. So it’s just as important to show your skill set in action through eloquent writing.
You might want to use this type of cover letter if:
Here’s part of a job description for a staff writer position:
Responsibilities
Requirements
Have fun with this one, but triple-check for spelling and grammar mistakes, and make sure you’re showing off your best writing. Here's the cover letter sample:
Since I could walk, I’ve been dancing. And since I could read, I’ve been glued to Arabesque Weekly. At one point, you featured one of my local heroes—a ballerina who struggled with an injury early in her career and went on to become a principal dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet—and I plastered the article above my childhood bed. It’s still there today.
That article—and so many others you’ve published—taught me that dancing was about more than just pirouettes and arabesques and that the right kind of writer can shed light on aspects of the art that make it surprising, impactful, and universal. I can be that writer.
As an editorial assistant at TheImprovGroup.com for the past two and a half years, my main responsibility was to get all of our content ready to go live on the site. This included fact-checking, proofreading, adding in HTML where necessary, and finding photos, videos, and GIFs that would complement the content and optimize audience engagement.
As I tinkered with each post, I became intimately familiar with our internal CMS. Reviewing every single article we published and following reactions and engagement helped me gain a deep understanding of what makes a piece really land with our audience.
But by far my favorite aspect of this role has been writing. Each week, I pitch and write at least one article, from 250-word news items to 900-word advice pieces to even longer profiles, features, and personal essays. I love the challenge of developing pitches that align with the trends we see in the data, reflect with the company’s brand and mission, and allow me to flex my creative muscles.
Collaborating with my team to form the best content library we can has been a dream come true. I would be so excited to use my experience to help Arabesque Weekly achieve its goals. And I hope to one day write a story that another little dance lover tapes to their wall forever.
It would be an honor to be a part of your editorial team, and I look forward to the possibility of discussing the opportunity with you.
Hoping to be your next staff writer,
