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COVER LETTERS &
LETTERS OF REC
©HonorSociety.org, 2015. All Rights
Reserved.

Cover Letters
Reserved.

Your cover letter is more powerful than
you might think…
During your job search, you should never underestimate the power of a
cover letter. Your cover letter can be the deciding factor in getting you
the interview over someone who has essentially the same resume.
Hiring managers do take the time to open your cover letter. However,
if they see that someone does not take the cover letter seriously or
that they’ve copy pasted it from another job that they had applied to,
it’s an automatic no, regardless of past experience.
Keys to a great cover letter
● Keep it concise
● Tell a story
● Don’t use the same cover
letter for every application
● Don’t write out your resume
in paragraph form
● Share why you’re excited
about the opportunity
● Don’t sell yourself short
Reserved.

Keep it concise
Keeping a cover letter short and
concise is sometimes harder than
it sounds.
Keep your cover letter to one page.
This makes sure that even if the
reader is skimming it, they’ll get
the main idea right away.
It’s important that you have
someone read over and edit your
cover letter because they’ll be
able to help you decide where to
cut something out or where you
can make sentences clearer
and shorter.
Reserved.

Tell a story
Your cover letter is your chance to
let your personality shine through
and to tell a story that relates to
the position that you are
applying for.
You could share about a time
when in class or an internship or
past job you had to overcome
something or how you got
assigned a project that let you
realize what you are
passionate about.
Reserved.

Don’t use the same cover letter
This one can be pretty tempting,
especially when you are applying
to so many jobs. You might think
that substituting a word here and
there will customize it enough
to work. Most hiring managers can
see right through this.
Think of your cover letter as you
having a one-on-one
conversation with someone. Even
if it’s the same topic, it’s going to
be different depending on who
you are speaking to.
Reserved.

It’s not your resume in paragraph
form
Your cover letter is not a chance
for you to write out your resume
in paragraph form. That’s what
your resume is for.
If a hiring manager is reading your
cover letter and it looks just like
your resume, they’re going to
move on to the next candidate
who is ready to put in the effort to
go above and beyond in their job
application.
Reserved.

Share your excitement
While your resume tells a hiring
manager why you are qualified for
a position, the cover letter is your
chance to share why you are
excited about the opportunity.
Hiring managers want to hire
candidates who are excited about
not only the job, but about being
with the company long term.
They want to see that you are
excited about building a
career there.
Reserved.

Don’t sell yourself short
Too many times applicants use the
cover letter to apologize for their
lack of expertise in something or
to talk about their weaknesses.
Whether this approach is to sound
humble or honest, it’s not the
time or place.
This is the place to sell yourself and
explain why this job is the one for
you regardless of your past
experience.
Reserved.

Recommendation
Letters
Reserved.

How to ask for a recommendation
letter for a job or grad school
application:
If you’ve started the application process for graduate school, then you
already know the importance of lining up your three recommendations
letters.
Even if you aren’t applying to graduate school and instead are applying
for full time jobs, you’ll see that you need to line up your references as
well.
These tips work for both situations and will ensure that you are asking
for recommendation letters in a professional, polite, and successful
way.
Keys to asking for a
recommendation letter
● Ask someone who knows
you
● Be mindful of the timing
● Let them know your goals
● Give them a copy of your
resume
● Say thank you
Reserved.

Ask someone who knows you
When it comes to choosing who you are going
to ask for a recommendation letter from,
make sure that you ask a professor, mentor,
or manager who actually does know you and
how you work. Ask the professor whose office
hours you attended or whose class you raised
your hand in. Even if you didn’t get an A in
the course, they’ll still be able to write you a
quality letter because they’ve gotten to know
you.
What you don’t want to do is ask a professor in
your 150 student lecture who might not even
know your name. The people who read
recommendation letters read hundreds of
them and they can tell the difference
between a letter written by someone who
knows the student and someone who is
writing a generic letter that could work for just
about anyone.
Reserved.

Be mindful of the timing
It is important that you are
respectful of the time of the
person you are asking to write
your letter.
Make sure that you ask well in
advance so that they know that
they have an upcoming deadline
and can plan their schedule
accordingly.
What you don’t want is to make
them feel rushed to meet the
deadline and they feel stressed or
aren’t able to provide a high
quality letter. Ask if they would be
willing to write the letter about
two months in advance. About
four weeks before the deadline,
follow up with them letting them
know that the deadline is four
weeks away.
Reserved.

Let them know your goals
In order for someone to write you
a great recommendation letter, it’
s important that you let them
know why you’re applying for
something.
Let them see your passion in this
next academic or professional
move so that they can see the
importance of you being
accepted.
The more details you give them,
the more specific and compelling
your recommendation letter
will be.
Reserved.

Give them a copy of your resume
If you’re asking a teacher to write
you a recommendation letter,
they may know what you’ve been
up to in the classroom but not
outside of the classroom.
By taking a look at your resume,
they will be able to get a holistic
view on how you spend your time
and your experience.
Reserved.

Say thank you
Don’t forget to say thank you and
send a handwritten thank you
note.
They have taken the time out of
their schedule to help advance
your education and career, so
make sure that you let them know
how much they appreciate it.
Reserved.

�ݺ�ߣ

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