Cover Letters

DR. WILLIAM C. KURLINKUS

TECHNICAL WRITING
 Cover Letter Format

—  Paragraph 1: Who you are, what the job is you are

applying for. Prefacing sentence about the skills/
stories you will tell.
—  Paragraph 2: Strong story about you doing
something in the past that will serve the company.
—  Paragraph 3: Another strong story about you doing
something in the past that will serve the company.
—  Paragraph 4: Thank you for your time, I’m available
for contact at x, y, x.
 Paragraph 1

I am writing in response to the Mechanical Engineering

position available in Lima, OH listed on the company
website. I am a junior mechanical engineering student
minoring in electrical and computer engineering so I can
offer a more diverse range of knowledge to the team. I am
interested in working for General Dynamics because of
your strong presence in the defense industry especially
among the Navy. During my time in the Navy my ship
visited the Nassco ship yard in San Diego several times
where I worked side by side with Nassco employees. I have
witnessed by General Dynamic’s ability to effectively and
efficiently repair and build ships and believe I could be an
asset to the team with my knowledge I gained during my
time as a Hull Maintenance Technician.
 Cover Letter Tips

1.  You Language: The main goal of the cover letter is to illustrate
how your prior work experiences will benefit the company. What
you can do for them.
÷  Wrong: “I’ve wanted to work for your company since I was little—this would be my
dream job, and it would mean so much to me if you would grant me an interview!”
÷  Right: “I was very excited to find this open position because I’ve been following
your company since its startup phase. My thorough understanding of your
company’s background and mission means that I can jump in and make
contributions to your marketing team right away.” (this still needs more detail)
2.  Interest: Show interest in what this company does compared to
other companies. Why do you want to work for me instead of
someone else? Search their company ethos. (do this in passing)
3.  Addressee: Find the name of the person you’re actually writing to.
4.  Storytelling: Focus on 2 or 3 quality stories of you doing
something successfully (show that you not only did something but
that you did it well) that will directly transfer to the company. In
doing so quantify and use the keywords from your t-chart.
5.  Formatting: Follow basic “block letter formatting.”
 Cover Letter Mistakes

1.  Too much or too little: You want to build a picture of

yourself as a success, but do so scannably. You also
don’t want just two sentence paragraphs.
2.  Stating anything negative: There’s just no reason to list
what you don’t have. Do not say: “Though I don’t have
as many years of experience as you ask for, I do have
these skills….”
3.  Regurgitating your resume: There’s a reason why your
cover letter and resume are separate documents. The
cover letter should tell a story. A paragraph isn’t a list
of a bunch of fast things. Sit with an experience.
4.  Not customizing your letter to the company and job ad.
 Show Don’t Tell: Cover Letter Tips
—  P.E.A.: Build an image of
you doing something in
each of your 2 body
paragraphs.
¡  Point: I have developed
this skill you want.
¡  Evidence: Here’s an
example of me doing this
skill.
¡  Analysis: Here’s how my
experience with this skill
directly translates to your
specific company.
During my undergraduate years, I
have acquired considerable
managerial and supervisory
experience. While an administrative
intern at a nursing home, I made
significant contributions to the
efficiency of the organization by
analyzing the functions of seven
departments and developing
administrative systems to coordinate
the efforts of 48 staff members. As
program assistant in a Cornell
residence hall, I supervise six resident
advisors who, in turn, are responsible
for 200 students. In my role as
volunteer coordinator for the Catholic
Church, I created and continue to
oversee a corps of 50 adult and
adolescent parishioners who plan
social and educational activities for a
parish of 1,000 members.
What’s good and bad about this?
 Point-Evidence-Analysis

—  As a Hull Maintenance Technician one of my duties was

plumbing. The ship I was on was built in the early 80’s
and I was onboard during the early 2000’s. There were
always piping issues that needed to be troubleshot and
fixed. Sometimes the issue was quickly found and fixed,
sometimes the issue wasn’t easily found and other times
the fix required some extra effort. For instance I once
had to work with people from the main propulsion
division to tag a gas turbine engine out of service so that I
could braze a pin hole leak on a y-valve for the cooling
water recirculation line. Experiences like that will help
me to have a keen eye and be an effective team member
while troubleshooting and analyzing mechanical systems
for General Dynamics.