How to Write a Cover Letter and Resume

Although (perhaps because) the cover letter is such an important document, you may encounter several conflicting opinions as you how it should look (What is a Cover Letter?).  The following guidelines are my own suggestions.  Finally, however, you must decide how to write the letter that’s best for you.  Pass it along to as many different faculty as you trust, solicit their advice, be prepared for conflicting advice, be prepared to write and rewrite the letter many times, and understand that you’ll probably send out a letter that’s not entirely your own work.  There are three things to keep in mind as you write your letter:

1. Make every word count.
2. Keep hitting your audience with what makes you different without being overbearing or telling lies.
3. Establish a voice.

Remember that the cover letter is the single most important document of your job search.  It’s the document that will get you an interview and an audience for your writing sample, and it’s the document to which the committee will return after you have interviewed.  A hastily written letter is unlikely to get attention, and since it’s time-consuming to apply for jobs, don’t bother unless you’re prepared to spend some time on your cover letter.  Start working on this letter during the summer before you begin your job search.  It can easily take several months to write, and you will need to pass it along to people many times before it’s complete.

Below, we will show you how to write a resume cover letter.

Paragraph one:  introduction.  Mention the job you’re applying for and where you saw it advertised.   Since your curriculum vitae will give information about your degree (where and when), dissertation director, fellowships, prizes and so on, you don’t need to mention them in your letter.  Doing so takes up valuable space in the letter and, more importantly, marks you as a graduate student.  Try to sound like a professional, someone who has already put graduate school behind you.  The selection committee will look at your vitae and see all these details in a more readable format.  The same goes for areas of specialization.

Paragraph two: dissertation.  Don’t bother with the director’s name; it’s in the vitae.  So is the list of publications that came out of the dissertation.  Don’t use the letter to recapitulate anything that’s in the vitae, except the title of the dissertation.  This paragraph is critical.  Try to convey the main idea of your project, the originality of your work, the writers you cover, and the approach you take.   One nice detail of a chapter will give readers something to hold onto.  You may also address future research in this or a later paragraph.

Paragraph three: teaching experience and philosophy.  Mention your philosophy, perhaps a brief example of how you put it to work, and special courses you would like to teach.

Paragraph four: final paragraph.  Tell what you have enclosed, whether a dossier is on its way, how the school should get one if it needs one, whether you will be available at MLA (which you should).  Don’t spend too much time thanking them.

Related:

• Cover Letter Basics
• Cover Letter Do's and Don'ts
• Tips for Writing an Effective Cover Letter
• Letters of Recommendation
• Cover Letter Guide
• Job Application Letter
• Sample Thank-you Letter
• Sample Withdrawal Letter
• How to Write a Job Cover Letter

The letter should be no longer than a page and a half, single spaced.  Be sure to use department letterhead, either from UGA or the department where you are currently employed.

Cover Letter Basics

Mr. John A. Jones, Principal
Any County High School
Any School Street
Anytown, VA 22222

Dear Mr. Jones:

Currently, I am a graduate student earning a Master's of Science degree in Education at Shenandoah University.  My program of study will be completed by December, 1999.  At which time, I will be eligible to teach both middle and secondary Social Studies. 

Part of the requirements for graduation and certification is the supervised classroom experience, or student teaching.  I would like to apply to Any County High School as a student teacher for the 1999-2000 school year.

 As part of my graduate program, I have logged roughly 100 hours in various internship programs in the Any County Public Schools this past year.  Some of my experiences have included:

• Substitute teaching
• Tutoring students
• Classroom observation at all school levels
• Interviewing school staff about many topics and issues relating to public education and teaching

Furthermore, I have substitute teaching experience at Any County High School, and have interviewed and observed Mr. Social Studies in his classroom during school hours.  Mr. Social Studies has been very generous to me by providing ample advice for beginning teachers, especially regarding the student teaching experience.  It would be my pleasure to have the opportunity to work with Mr. Social Studies in the student teaching experience.  In fact, Mr. Social Studies has given me approval for providing his name as a referral for student teaching advisor.

 I hope you find my education and experience worthwhile as a possible candidate for student teaching in your school.  If there is any further information required by you in review of this request, please contact me at your earliest convenience at (703)-555-5555.  Thank you for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,

 John A. Student

Sample Electrical Resumes

Electricians are more sought after than ever but the task of finding a job in the electrical field is harder than ever thanks to more people than ever before qualifying for the position.

The best thing for any electrical professional to do is to draw up a really impressive Electrical Resume. It’s important to highlight where possible all of your qualifications and for you to display clearly your professional experience. Of course, if you are going to supply your Resume to a prospective employer you need to provide this alongside an Electrical cover letter.

You can start off your Electrical cover letter by clarifying the position you would like to apply for, and where you saw the job advertised. You should also go on to say why you would like to work for this particular company and this will require a little research on your possible new employers. This will help to endear you to the company and will show your determination to be considered for the role.

The next paragraph needs to be cleverly put together in order to highlight your experience and qualifications without going into too much detail. The best thing to do is mention a number of years experience, mention one or two well regarded companies you have worked for and also mention your best two qualifications. You can give more information in your Electrical Resume. Finalise your Cover letter by saying again how much you would like the opportunity to work for this company and I would suggest naming a time whereby you will call to enquire about the progress of your application.

Your resume needs to be very experience and qualification heavy. Try to avoid the temptation of giving too much information about anything that is not extremely relevant to your application. Someone who is employing an electrical member of staff is probably not too concerned with what they excelled in when they studied History at school!

Start off with an objective which clearly outlines your ambitions for your next career role. Make sure that this makes sense in conjunction with the job role of your prospective position.

Your Electrical Resume then needs a very detailed section about your professional experience. Here you should focus most of your attention on any roles in the last five years. Highlight any career progression by spelling out your heightened responsibilities.

The next section should focus on your education. This can include your original training for your electrical, but before this it should include your up to date certificates and training courses you have attended whilst already being qualified. This shows that you take the industry seriously and that you are passionate about keeping up to date with modern legislation.

Your final section can give information about your achievements outside of work. This can include any teams you are a part of, or any groups within your community which you are involved with. This helps to give someone a bit more insight into your personality and it also highlights your ability to work with other people also shows that you have a sociable nature.

Sample Electronics Resumes

Working in the electronics trade means that you will have specialised in the subject and will more than likely have a degree or similar qualification in electronics. It is essential that this is highlighted within your Electronics resume, as well as any professional experience you have. If you started out as a trainee without formal training, it is important that you provide some indication of on the job training and any forms of certification that you have.

The first thing you need to produce when applying for a position is an Electronic cover letter. Your cover letter should mention which exact position you would like to apply for, where you heard about the vacancy, and why you would like to join this particular company. For this you ought to do some research into the company which you are applying to. This will help to show that you are able to carry out basic research and that you have some respect for the company. When it comes to producing your Electronic cover letter – flattery will get you everywhere!

Your next paragraph needs to convey why you think you are the right person for the job. This is not necessarily an easy thing to do, because as an electronics expert, you will have an awful lot of specialist knowledge that will be hard to condense into a relatively short paragraph. The trick is to just mention in passing your experience, knowledge and qualifications, and indicate that there is more information about such in your Electronics Resume. Round off your cover letter by saying how thrilled you would be to be considered for the position and indicate that you would be willing to attend interview whenever it would suit your prospective employer.

Your resume is really the main course of your application, and the bulk of the information about your expertise should be contained here.

Start your Electronics Resume with an objective statement which indicates where your career is going, and try hard to reflect the job description of the job you are applying for, in your objective.

Following this section, your Electronics Resume should have a very detailed section on your qualifications and areas of expertise. Here you should focus on any qualifications or certificates obtained since your degree course, you should also expand upon your degree course, and you should also mention any areas of electronics in which you specialise. If you are a software specialist then you should focus on this and talk more about your certificates relating to this.

The next section of your Electronics Resume should show all of your professional experiences within the industry. This should run in reverse chronological order and you should attribute more information for your most recent positions. Be sure to explain all of your duties in each position so that you can show how many different duties you are able to undertake for your new employers.

Once again it is worth reiterating the importance of showing all of your qualifications and certificates in your Electronics resume. It is a competitive field and you need to make the most of any advantage you have over the rest of the field.

Sample Education Resumes

An Education resume is quite a specialised thing. You need to give a bit more detail than for other jobs and your experience needs to take centre stage. As with all applications your Education Resume needs to be accompanied by a cover letter.

Your Education cover letter should be a friendly and professional introduction for your Resume. You can start your cover letter by confirming which position you wish to apply for, and you should also explain where you heard about the availability. You should also do some research on the school or institution you are hoping to join and use this information to explain why you would like to join them. You can talk about their great record if they have one, and if their educational record is not so good then you can indicate that you would love the opportunity to be able to help the institution to push their way back to a better position.

Next up in your Education cover letter you need to explain why you think you should be the person to be awarded the vacant position. This is a chance to talk about your schooling experience or your teacher training you will have undertaken . Try not to go into too much depth about this, because you should have an abundance of information about your professional experience and education in your Education Resume. You should finish off you cover letter with a reiteration that you would like to be considered the job and you should indicate any times when an interview would be difficult for you to attend due to other work commitments.

Your Education Resume should really be centred around your work experiences, or your education if you are straight out of your teacher training.

Start off your Education Resume with a summary of your professional experience, or if you are new to the industry, you should start off with an objective. This objective should spell out your ambitions for a career in teaching and should fall in line with the institution which you are applying to. Your summary should bullet point your best achievements to date and show your progression through your career.

The next section of your Education resume should be focused on your education. Try not to give too much space for your early education, and if you don’t have any professional working experience you must make sure you really break down your teacher training into its modular form and express where you did well and what your strongest areas of study were.

Your professional Experience section should highlight each and every one of your teaching jobs. Try to give more information for the most recent positions, such as which subjects taught, and age groups taught. If you don’t have professional working experience, you should discuss your work placements undertaken when you were studying.

You can use your last section to demonstrate any hobbies you have outside of work which you think will help your application. This can include any team memberships, and any local community activities would no doubt be considered a boon to your application.

Sample Executive Resumes

If you’re looking to secure a top role position in a company your Executive cover letter really needs to be top notch. Most of your hard work will be done in your Executive Resume, but your cover letter also gives you the chance to quickly grab the attention of the employers and make them want to learn more about you.

Your Executive cover letter has to be more than a standard cover letter. This isn’t a low level job where someone in the HR department will scan your letter – it will be pored over by many top people in the company and they are all looking for something special to make them think you are different.

After starting the letter with a notice of your intent to apply for the position you should hit them with a very succinct list of your achievements in the world of business.

Don’t be drawn into the mistake of making too much of the cover letter, just make your points quickly and concisely. Draw reference to your Executive Resume where possible and just hit them with the facts. Make the point that you are ambitious, successful, qualified for the position and motivated and it should be enough to make them take a look at your resume.

Again, your Executive Resume has to be of a higher calibre than your average resume. People are going to be spending a serious amount of time going through this with a fine toothed comb. It is critically important that it is presented immaculately with no typos. You should write, re write, and then have somebody else read through and edit for you.

You can take the normal approach to Resume writing, but go the extra mile. List your work experience as normal, but go on to also list a number of achievements and successes that your career has been responsible for. You should be highlighting situations where you have saved your company money, saved clients money, reduced costs, or reduced staff levels whilst maintaining productivity and profits. At this level people need to see hard cold facts to be convinced of your suitability and capability. Not only that, but employers who are willing to pay such high salaries do so for a reason – they expect these executives to save them considerable amounts of money! Make sure you can prove that you have saved money, or even better, you have generated extra income, for your previous employers.

As an Executive, you also need to sell your own skill sets. Don’t be afraid to make a list of reasons why they should employ you. This can include communication skills, leadership skills, integrity and charisma, along with a great work ethic.

The real key to a great Executive Resume is being able to get your strong personality across on paper. Make sure you can read your work back to yourself and say to yourself, ‘Yes, this is me, and I would want to employ myself!’ You must display a great working history, in detail, and a great character so the company you are applying to knows that it can trust you with their work in the future.

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