As résumés have changed, digital portfolios (personal websites, LinkedIn, job profiles) have evolved, and informational interviews have become increasingly popular. Cover letters have fallen out of style – or at least become truly “optional” in many job roles. However, when a cover letter is needed, your anxiety naturally skyrockets. The customization and differentiation from a résumé can be extremely time-consuming. It’s all too easy to forget that cover letters are NOT résumés. Their main purpose is to map your experience, values, and skills to a specific company’s values and job.

Let’s say you apply for a project manager role at two companies within similar industries and with similar responsibilities. Your résumés will probably look 90% the same, whereas the cover letter could be drastically different. Sadly, some hiring managers don’t spend enough time reviewing your cover letters – so, I wanted to share CMD’s tips to help you quickly create powerful cover letters.

Knowing every cover letter is different, CMD uses a simple three-step framework to help our storytellers create quick and impactful cover letters.

STEP 1: Source Your Documents

If you want to save yourself hours of drafting and editing time, then gather these four items before you start writing:
☑ Job overview/requirements
☑ Background research on the company (e.g. how they make money, company values, etc)
☑ An up-to-date version of your résumé
☑ Three key strengths you want to highlight within your cover letter

STEP 2: Produce Your 1st Draft

Your cover letter’s format does not need to be overly creative with the format of your cover letter. Answering a few specific questions in a concise (less than one page) manner is both crucial and expected. At CMD, we teach a simple five-paragraph structure that answers two questions:

1. How did you learn about this position & company?
You can mention a person currently in the company, attending an info session or career fair, reading an article (or another form of media) to show you understand the position. Setting up informational interviews (before applying) with current or past team members is the most effective and efficient way to understand a job role.

2. What can you bring to the position?
When answering this question, CMD recommends choosing three core strengths. These selling points may include technical skills (e.g. data analysis or computer programming), people-focused skills (e.g. communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making), or contextualized experience (e.g. working in similar roles, your educational background, and lived experience). Once you’ve selected your strengths, craft short stories that demonstrate how you used these skills in a relevant context.

Don’t fret! There is a sample cover letter below as an example that incorporates CMD’s advice into a repeatable framework.

STEP 3: Quality Check

Once that first draft is done, send it over to a trusted colleague to review. We can go ahead and acknowledge this document won’t be perfect; however, the second pair of eyes will help catch grammar errors and advise on your story choices. While your peer reviews the cover letter draft, you can add some final additions:
☑ a personalized greeting
☑ a header that matches your résumé
☑ a date
☑ a signature

As résumés have changed, digital portfolios (personal websites, LinkedIn, job profiles) have evolved, and informational interviews have become increasingly popular. Cover letters have fallen out of style – or at least become truly “optional” in many job roles. However, when a cover letter is needed, your anxiety naturally skyrockets. The customization and differentiation from a résumé can be extremely time-consuming. It’s all too easy to forget that cover letters are NOT résumés. Their main purpose is to map your experience, values, and skills to a specific company’s values and job.

Let’s say you apply for a project manager role at two companies within similar industries and with similar responsibilities. Your résumés will probably look 90% the same, whereas the cover letter could be drastically different. Sadly, some hiring managers don’t spend enough time reviewing your cover letters – so, I wanted to share CMD’s tips to help you quickly create powerful cover letters.

Knowing every cover letter is different, CMD uses a simple three-step framework to help our storytellers create quick and impactful cover letters.

STEP 1: Source Your Documents

If you want to save yourself hours of drafting and editing time, then gather these four items before you start writing:
☑ Job overview/requirements
☑ Background research on the company (e.g. how they make money, company values, etc)
☑ An up-to-date version of your résumé
☑ Three key strengths you want to highlight within your cover letter

STEP 2: Produce Your 1st Draft

Your cover letter’s format does not need to be overly creative with the format of your cover letter. Answering a few specific questions in a concise (less than one page) manner is both crucial and expected. At CMD, we teach a simple five-paragraph structure that answers two questions:

1. How did you learn about this position & company?
You can mention a person currently in the company, attending an info session or career fair, reading an article (or another form of media) to show you understand the position. Setting up informational interviews (before applying) with current or past team members is the most effective and efficient way to understand a job role.

2. What can you bring to the position?
When answering this question, CMD recommends choosing three core strengths. These selling points may include technical skills (e.g. data analysis or computer programming), people-focused skills (e.g. communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making), or contextualized experience (e.g. working in similar roles, your educational background, and lived experience). Once you’ve selected your strengths, craft short stories that demonstrate how you used these skills in a relevant context.

Don’t fret! There is a sample cover letter below as an example that incorporates CMD’s advice into a repeatable framework.

STEP 3: Quality Check

Once that first draft is done, send it over to a trusted colleague to review. We can go ahead and acknowledge this document won’t be perfect; however, the second pair of eyes will help catch grammar errors and advise on your story choices. While your peer reviews the cover letter draft, you can add some final additions:
☑ a personalized greeting
☑ a header that matches your résumé
☑ a date
☑ a signature