Cover Letter Guide

Gordon Career Center | Wesleyan University

Getting Started

A resume lists what you have done. A cover letter explains what it means: why you want this role, why this organization, and why your background fits the job. It is where you speak in your own voice and show the reader how you think.

For Wesleyan students, the letter often has to do one more thing. It has to translate. You may be applying to a role that does not map neatly onto your major. While it can be tempting to apologize for that, your liberal arts education is often the strength. Whatever you study, it has taught you to research, to write, and to make sense of unfamiliar material quickly, and those are the skills most employers are hiring for. The cover letter is where you make that connection clear, since the reader will not always make it for you.

What Is the Purpose of a Cover Letter?

A cover letter:

  • Provides an opportunity to express your interest in the industry, organization, and position
  • Enables you to highlight a few experiences relevant to the job and connect those experiences directly to the qualifications the employer is seeking
  • Demonstrates your written communication skills
  • Reflects the steps you have taken to research the organization, such as speaking with current employees or Wesleyan alumni, attending an information session, or visiting the office
  • Communicates a sense of your personality

Do Employers Read Cover Letters?

Yes. While some may not, it is always best to write your cover letter under the assumption that the employer will read it, and read it carefully. An error in the letter, or a generic, copied-and-pasted approach, can remove you from the applicant pool. Always have someone review your cover letter before you submit it: a GCC Peer Career Advisor, a roommate, a friend, or a family member. Schedule an appointment on Handshake for a review of your draft or help getting started.

How Do I Start?

Employer Research. Read the job description carefully and highlight the key skills and qualifications the employer requires. Research the organization to understand its culture and what sets it apart from its competitors. This helps you identify qualifications not mentioned in the posting and clarify why you want to work there. At this point, it also helps to have a solid understanding of why the employer’s industry fits your interests and skills.

Do not treat this step as a warm-up. When employers are hiring selectively, a specific, well-informed sense of why you want this role at this organization is often what separates you from applicants who could have sent the same letter anywhere. The research you do here is what makes the rest of the letter possible.

Networking is one of the most valuable things you can do at this stage, and increasingly it is one of the most valuable things you can do in your search overall. In a market where automated systems filter many applications before a person reads them, a referral or a direct connection carries real weight. A short conversation with a Wesleyan alum in the field can tell you what the organization actually values, give you specific detail to reference in your opening paragraph, and sometimes lead to an introduction. Use WesConnect and LinkedIn to find alumni to talk with, and see the Networking Resources page for guidance on how to reach out. If someone at the organization suggested you apply, that connection belongs in your first sentence.

Personal Review. Identify your major accomplishments. From that list, choose two or three that best match the skills and qualifications the employer is seeking. Draft two or three paragraphs on these accomplishments using the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. You are not repeating your resume entries. You are crafting something more narrative and conversational, though still professional. This is your opportunity to bring energy and warmth to the reader beyond the factual structure of the resume.

Writing. Organize and format your letter using the samples in this guide. With extensive job descriptions, it is not essential to address every required qualification. Select a few key responsibilities well matched to your abilities. Schedule an appointment if you want help getting started or a draft reviewed by a Peer Career Advisor.

The STAR Method

STAR gives your body paragraphs a clear internal structure. Rather than stating that you have a skill, you tell a brief story that proves it.

  • Situation: The context. Where were you, and what was the setting?
  • Task: The challenge or responsibility you faced.
  • Action: What you specifically did. For strong, specific verbs, see the action verb bank.
  • Result: The outcome, quantified where possible.

The point of STAR is to show rather than tell. Stating “I am a strong communicator” is far less convincing than showing it: “I presented my senior thesis to professors who were experts in the subject, as well as to students and parents who were not familiar with the content, which required me to balance simplicity with rich detail.” The second version proves the skill by putting it in action, and it draws on exactly the kind of experience a Wesleyan education provides.

If You Do Not Have Directly Relevant Experience Yet

This is common, especially for first- and second-year students, and it is not a barrier. Build the connection from what you do have. Coursework, research, campus jobs, civic engagement, and extracurricular activities and leadership all demonstrate transferable skills. A student who has organized a club’s budget has managed resources. A student who has led seminar discussion has communicated complex ideas to a group. Name the skill, then point to where you built it. The goal is not to claim you have done the exact job before, but to show the reader you have the underlying capabilities to do it well.

How Your Letter Gets Read

Before a person reads your application, it may pass through an applicant tracking system, the software many employers use to organize and rank submissions. These systems generally scan for relevant keywords, skills, and qualifications drawn from the job description. That has a practical implication for how you write.

Use the language of the posting. If the description asks for experience with “data analysis,” use that phrase rather than a synonym like “working with numbers.” Mirroring the employer’s own terms, naturally and where they genuinely apply to you, helps your letter register as a match with both the software and the person who reads it next. This is not a trick. It is simply describing your experience in the words the employer is already using.

Do not stuff your letter with keywords. A letter crowded with terms lifted from the posting reads as artificial to a human, and it works against you the moment a person picks it up. The goal is a letter that reads naturally to a person and happens to contain the language the role calls for, not the reverse.

Cover Letter Checklist

Cover letters do not need to be approved by the Gordon Career Center, but we encourage you to schedule an appointment with a Peer Career Advisor to have yours reviewed before submitting.

Format

  • One page, one side, single-spaced
  • A clear, readable font, no smaller than 11 point, in black. Use the same font style as your resume. Do not include graphics, lines, or other colors.
  • Margins no smaller than half an inch on all sides
  • Do not indent paragraphs. Use block style formatting.
  • Open with “Dear [First and Last Name],” (for example, “Dear Charlie Cardinal,”) when you are not sure of the person’s title or pronouns, since using their full name with no title is a widely accepted, gender-neutral option. “Dear Mr./Ms. [Last Name],” is also fine when you know the title to use.

    If you do not know the recruiter or hiring manager’s name at all, use a title such as “Dear Hiring Manager,” “Dear Recruiting Team,” or “Dear Intern Coordinator.” Avoid the impersonal “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir/Madam.”
  • Include your contact information, using the header from your resume
  • Include the name and address of the organization
  • Include your printed name at the end, and you may include an image of your signature

Content

  • Free of spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, and free of typos. Proofread carefully.
  • Demonstrates strong knowledge of the organization and is tailored to the specific job description. Do not use a generic cover letter, because employers notice.
  • Clearly states the position you are applying for, using the title from the job description
  • Watches tone and style. Express your personality, but avoid being humorous or overly familiar.
  • Emphasizes what you will contribute to the organization, not what you will gain from working there.
  • Shows rather than tells. “I am a strong communicator” is less effective than a concrete example: “I have experience tailoring my message to different audiences. I presented my senior thesis to professors who were experts in the subject, as well as to students and parents who were not familiar with the content. This required me to balance simplicity with rich detail.”

The Structural Guide below demonstrates the format and approach, followed by sample letters. Any sample should serve only as an example. Always use your own words and voice when composing your letter.

Structural Guide

Rather than build the letter from scratch, you can start from our Cover Letter Template, a formatted Word document with guidance notes for each paragraph. The structure below explains what goes in each part.

You can use the same header as your resume, with the same font style and size, centered or justified left.

Your Name
Your Mailing Address, Phone Number, Email Address

Date of Submission

Name of Contact, Title Address the letter to a specific person. Use “Hiring Manager” or “Internship Coordinator” if the contact is unknown.
Address, City, State ZIP

Dear [First and Last Name]: Use the person’s full name with no title when you are unsure of how to address them or of their pronouns, for example “Dear Charlie Cardinal:”. You can also use “Dear Mr./Ms./Dr. [Last Name]:” when you know the title to use. You can end the salutation with a colon or a comma.

First paragraph. Do not start with your name, since it appears at the top and bottom of the letter, and do not lead with your class year and major, which the reader learns from your resume. One effective opening is to state the position you are applying for. Explain why you are interested in the organization specifically, and mention something that sets it apart from its competitors. Name anyone you have spoken with at the organization and what interested you in that conversation. You can lead with that name if the person suggested you apply. Close the paragraph with one sentence on the key skills and qualifications you will bring.

Second paragraph. Discuss the specific skills that align with the job description and make you a strong candidate. Provide two or three detailed examples of how you have developed and demonstrated those skills in your academic, professional, volunteer, or other experience. Show rather than tell, with concrete details, and relate each skill back to the job by explaining why it would be valuable to the employer. This is a good place to show your understanding of the industry and its culture.

Third paragraph. Reference additional or broader skills with the same intent as the second paragraph. Alternatively, mention demonstrable personal qualities that relate to the industry or the nature of the work, such as strong work ethic, persistence, or team spirit. Brief examples are best.

Final paragraph. This can be rolled into the third paragraph or kept as a brief fourth. Summarize the skills you will contribute and your interest in the position, note how you can be reached, and thank the reader for their time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Your signature
Typed Name

Using AI Tools Well

Many applicants now use AI tools somewhere in their process, and using them is not a problem. Using them badly is. The distinction that matters is between AI as a thinking partner and AI as a ghostwriter.

AI tools are genuinely useful for getting unstuck. They can help you outline a structure, work through a draft when you are staring at a blank page, or point out where your argument is unclear. That is a reasonable place to start.

What they cannot do is supply the knowledge that makes a cover letter work: why you actually want this job, what you actually did in a particular role, and what you specifically bring to this organization. A letter generated start to finish by an AI tool tends to be fluent and generic at the same time, strong on polish and empty on substance, and it is generic in exactly the ways that cost you. Recruiters read a high volume of these now, and many report they can tell. What makes your letter stand out is the specific detail only you can provide: the conversation you had with an alum, the particular project the organization is working on, the experience from your own life that connects you to this work.

So if you use AI to draft, treat the draft as raw material. Rewrite it in your own words, replace every generic phrase with a specific one, and add the details no tool could know. By the time you are done, it should read like you.

One last point that surprises people. In a market flooded with polished AI writing, flawless and formal prose can read as machine-made. A letter that sounds like a real person, with your own cadence and a genuine reason for writing, now stands out more than a letter that is technically perfect and impersonal. Aim to sound like yourself, not like a template. The AI Career Toolkit has more guidance on using these tools responsibly in your search.

Sample Letters

Reading complete examples is one of the best ways to understand what a finished cover letter looks like. Two resources pair with this guide:

  • Sample Cover Letters collects several full letters across different majors and industries, including economics, data and analysis, the arts, and entertainment. Read them for approach and structure.
  • Annotated Sample Cover Letter breaks down a single letter line by line, showing what each part is doing and why it works.

Any sample should serve only as a model. Always use your own words and voice when composing your letter.

Schedule an Appointment

Cover letters are one of the most common things our advisors review. If you want feedback on a draft or help getting started, schedule an appointment with a Peer Career Advisor.