Posted by CV Nation on
When pursuing management jobs, you’ll need to equip yourself with an effective cover letter. A good management cover letter can help you stand out from the crowd and make a positive impression on recruiters.
In this guide, we’ll show you our formula to preparing a high-quality, job-winning manager cover letter. We’ll also provide you with three management cover letter samples to show you what a great cover letter for manager jobs looks like.
When preparing your cover letter for management jobs, it’s a good idea to follow a specific structure. This will ensure your cover letter includes all the key information and effectively sells you to recruiters.
Here is our six-step cover letter writing process:
1. Introduction
2. Overview of knowledge and expertise
3. Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
4. Why you want to work for the company
5. Key skills
6. Polite ending and call to action
Let’s examine these steps in detail:
Begin your cover letter with a concise, polished introduction that explains who you are and why you’re applying for the job.
Provide a brief overview of your knowledge, experience and expertise. Use this paragraph to draw attention to what you bring to the table.
Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is what makes you unique. Demonstrating your UVP can set you apart from other candidates and convince recruiters you’re the right person for the job.
Your UVP could be related to your management achievements or your unique experiences.
Convey why you want to work for the company. This is where you can use your research to show how you are aligned with the company’s values and culture.
Showcase a few of your key skills to show what you can bring to the table.
Bring your cover letter to a close by thanking the reader for their time and including a concise call to action. Your call to action will probably ask the recruiter to get in touch with you to discuss your application in more detail.
One of the keys to writing a great cover letter is research. By conducting research into the company that you’re applying to work for, you’ll be able to tailor your cover letter and show how you’re aligned with the company's culture and values.
Research enables you to demonstrate a genuine interest in the company. By showing you’re knowledgeable about the company, you’ll show recruiters that you have actually targeted their company, rather than applying for jobs en masse.
If you’ve got no experience in management, you might find the idea of writing a cover letter for management jobs daunting.
But it really doesn’t need to be.
If you have no experience in management, focus on your skills and experiences that are relevant to management. For example, did you manage group projects at university? Have you undertaken leadership training?
By focusing on relevant skills and experiences such as these ones, you’ll stand a much better chance of impressing recruiters.
A week or two after applying for the job, it’s advisable to send a job application follow up letter. Follow up letters thank the hiring manager for their time, reinforce what makes you a unique candidate and reiterate your interest in the role.
Keep your follow up letter short and concise. Don’t go into too much detail and don’t come across as if you are hounding the hiring manager.
You may think of follow up letter as a bit pushy. However, they are a professional way of recapping on your suitability for the role and demonstrating your enthusiasm for the role.
This is a very important aspect of cover letter writing.
To ensure your cover letter is professional and easy-to-read, you should add line spacing to add space between paragraphs.
Letters that don’t use line spacing often appear as one huge block of text. Most recruiters won’t even read these letters, so make sure to utilise Microsoft Word’s line spacing feature.
To add spacing to your cover letter, highlight the text, click ‘Layout’, then add 8 pt. spacing in the ‘After’ section.
This will ensure your paragraphs are easily distinguished from each other. It will also optimise your recruiter’s reading experience, which can only be a positive thing!
Ideally, you should be aiming for margin sizes of between 1.7 cm (0.66”) and 2.2 cm (0.86”). Of course, you widen or narrow the margins further in line with the amount of content you do or don’t have to include. But try not to make them too wide or too narrow in order to ensure your letter is professional in appearance.
Use common fonts that readers have become accustomed to. These include Times New Roman, Garamond and Calibri.
Don’t try to be creative with your fonts. At best you will look unprofessional. At worst your cover letter will be too difficult to read.
Font sizes should be between 11 pt. and 12 pt., for most fonts, including Times New Roman, Calibri and Garamond. Make sure your text is neither too small or too large.
When saving your cover letter in Microsoft Word – or whichever word processor you are using – make sure to give it a simple, professional title. Something like ‘Cover Letter’ is fine.
Avoid unprofessional titles such as ‘coverletter023432’. When recruiters see such titles on documents, they may instantly see you as unprofessional.
If you’re submitting your CV along with your cover letter, state that you’ve enclosed the CV. To do this, include the abbreviation ‘Enc.: CV’ at the bottom of your cover letter, as demonstrated in the cover letter samples in this guide.
We hope you’ve found this guide to management cover letters helpful. To get yourself ready for job interviews, check out our guide to answering the most common management job interview questions.
