How to Write Cover Letter Paragraphs

Are you ready to start writing your cover letter? Continue reading to find the easiest way to write your cover letter paragraph by paragraph. You don’t need to be a native English speaker to do it well.

Opening Paragraph: 

Getting creative with your introduction can help you leave a good first impression on the hiring manager and spark their interest to read the entire cover letter. Starting your cover letter with the very basic “I am applying to a zyx position at your company” is not going to make you stand out of the crowd. They already know which position you are applying for so why not tell them what they don’t know.

So here are a few not so basic ways to start your cover letter:

• Passion: Express how that particular industry has been your passion. Every employer wants a candidate who is passionate about what they want to do. 

• Excitement for the company: Express what particular aspect of their company excites you. Go beyond how big the company is and look at their culture or growth opportunity.

• What you bring to the role: Express what you want to get out of the role and what you will bring to the table. 

Body Paragraphs

In the body of the cover letter you want to touch on your hero skills, academic achievement, personal achievement, and motivation as a student. Since your resume will already cover everything they need to know professionally, use the cover letter body to tell them how you will be an asset to them. You can talk about your personality, a childhood passion, something that makes you stand out, your experience as an international student, and/ or anything you want your employer to know.

You can summarize your cover letter body in three to four paragraphs using the STAR method – Situation, Task, Action and Result. 

Example:

In my two positions at xyz and zyx, I regularly analyze customer behavior and interaction using Adobe Analytics, PowerBI, and Google Analytics. Additionally, I conceptualize and build 30+ analytics dashboards, communicate program performance, and actionable insights to senior leadership and brand partners. These roles led me to become my current team’s go-to person for any data analytics related topics.  

If you come with prior experience (educational or professional) this is the best place for you to translate your experiences to the employer. Oftentimes we get caught up with the norm that our non-Canadian experience is irrelevant. Quantify your experience and explain to the employer how that experience will fit in here. What is the exact skill, software, language, client familiarity that will be of use to the employer. 

Closing Paragraph

You need to keep the closing paragraph simple and precise. All you want to do is thank them for their time and also about a call of action. Tell them you are looking forward to hearing back from them or try a more bold approach and let them know you are looking forward for the interview. You can also try the approach of thanking them for considering you for the role and quickly summarize your transferable skills that would be useful for them. This is a good way to summarize your letter in one line.