Most people don’t write cover letters any more. It is a dying art and people think it is old-fashioned. In my opinion, a well-written cover letter will help you stand out and get that call for the first interview for your first job. Especially when you have no experience! You can search online and plagiarize generic cover letters but this article was written to help you write a great cover letter.

If you are asking other people for advice, they may tell you that you don’t need a cover letter in high school. They are correct. You don’t technically need a cover letter to get a minimum wage job in high school at a fast food restaurant or retail store. But you want to stand out don’t you? You want every advantage in the job search. A good cover letter will help you stand out from the other job seekers and get hired more quickly.

Throughout my career, as a hiring manager in marketing, I have reviewed hundreds if not thousands of resumes and cover letters. The first thing I do is divide them into three piles. “A’s” are, at first glance, my top candidates. “B’s” are decent candidates that I will consider if I go through all of my A’s. And the “C’s” are easy “No’s.”

I typically like to print the cover letters and resumes. I find it easier to review and make notes on paper. I know this sounds old-fashioned but old people like me may be on the receiving end of your resume and application letter. More on that later!

So, here are my tips to write a good cover letter with no experience.

1. First, write one.

Not every job posting will ask for a cover letter. So, yes, you can get a job without a cover letter. But like I said, I believe a well-written cover letter can make a difference. Why not give yourself the best chance with each job application? Especially if you have a lack of experience!

A few years ago I received two hundred applications for an entry-level position I was trying to fill. My job posting asked for a cover letter. This was a marketing position and I wanted to review the writing skills since writing would be part of the job. Out of 200 applicants, less than 10 sent a cover letter. Less than 10! The person I hired was one of the few applicants that wrote a good cover letter. She beat out candidates who had a few years of experience too! I am telling you it is possible to get a job with no experience.

2. Believe you are a rockstar!

You have to keep a positive attitude and believe in yourself. Now is the time to be confident and brag a little. Your cover letter is a great tool to make a strong first impression with your potential employer.

Be yourself and be authentic. You want to sound intelligent and articulate but don’t be a sesquipedalian. (I had to look that up!) Your cover letter should start to show your personality. Even if you don’t have all of the exact skills listed, a successful cover letter can provide additional reasons why you are the right person for the job.

3. Customize each cover letter.

I suggest you customize both your resume and cover letter for each job application. Think about it. Each company is looking for a different kind of person for each job. Why would the same resume work for every job? Do your best to find ways to customize your resume and cover letter.

With a little extra effort at the beginning of your job search process, you can do the legwork to make the customization process easier in the future. Even if you only change one or two sentences in the second paragraph, this will be better than a generic cover letter. The HR managers reading your letter can tell if you have taken the time to target information to their company or this job.

This advice may sound contradictory, but you can create cover letter templates that you can customize. The open and close may be the same in each letter. Like bookends. Then you customize the middle paragraphs for each job with relevant experience for each specific job.

You can find sample cover letters online but be sure to make it your own. Here is a rough outline of a cover letter example:

• SALUTATION: If you can’t find the name of the specific person accepting applications, you can start with:

  • Dear Hiring Manager (my favorite)

  • Dear Customer Service Department (for a customer service job)

  • Dear Human Resources Manager or HR Manager

• OPEN: I recently learned of the [Job Title] opportunity available with [Company Name] and I am writing to express great interest in learning more about the position and company.

  • The first sentence can clarify which position you are interested in. Some hiring managers will have multiple open positions. Some systems provide a job ID number to each position. This simple statement of the job title and job ID will help to ensure you are in the right group.

  • Include a sentence or two in the first paragraph that ties your relevant skills and work experience (if you have any) to the most important aspects of the job post.

    • I believe my four years of competitive swimming along with my leadership skills gained with my church youth group have given me strong skills to become a lifeguard.

• BODY: Two middle paragraphs that tell your story and go deeper than your resume. Explain why you are a good fit for the job.

  • You might research the company website to find information that you can incorporate. Check out the “About Us” section and see if they list company values or details about the company culture. That can demonstrate your motivation and shows how you are already taking initiative.

  • Maybe there is something in your educational background that is relevant to this job. A school project? A club activity?

    • I really admire your mission to empower young people. I worked as a camp counselor last summer and we created many activities designed to build the confidence and self-esteem of our campers.

• CLOSE: I hope we can speak further regarding the position. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

  • The closing paragraph is the place to ask for the next step and reiterate your interest or enthusiasm.

Create a personal letterhead with your contact information at the top. With so many jobs hiring remote workers, you no longer need to include your physical address, just your phone number and email. Once you begin applying for jobs, you might want to change your voicemail message so that it is appropriate when someone from HR calls to schedule an interview.

4. Tell your story.

Share something personal that is not on your resume. Tie it to the job description but don’t just restate your resume. Your personal story needs to tie to the position or company.

If you are looking for an internship, you can relate your high school or college experience and activities. If you are more seasoned, you can talk about what your career goals are and how this position is aligned. You can share work experience (if you have any) that is not on your resume and relate personal stories to the job. You can talk about experiences from your activities that have given you transferable skills.

• If you were treasurer of a club or Greek organization, you can relate this experience to an accounting job or a retail job where you will be trusted to handle money.

• If you were a Resident Assistant (RA) in your dorm, you can tie your responsibilities to a position in HR.

• If you help with the school auction every year, you can use this to demonstrate project management and organizational skills along with leadership.

When a company has an entry-level job, they expect to train you. They know that you don’t have any professional experience yet. Don’t let your limited experience hold you back. They do want to hire someone who is motivated and who expresses interest in learning new skills.

Don’t worry about thinking you have to be a perfect fit for the job description. If you have personal qualities like a positive attitude, a willingness to work hard, and the motivation to make the extra effort, you can convey that in your cover letter and during the interview. I have hired candidates with less experience but a great attitude.

5. Explain what makes you unique.

Picture 100 emails with resumes from other candidates similar to you. Or picture 100 paper resumes in a pile on the hiring manager’s desk. What makes you different or better than all these other people? In marketing we call this the value proposition.

Something about the combination of your professional skills, previous experiences, key achievements, and personality traits make you unique. You will have to spend some time thinking this through so you can explain this in your cover letter and in person during an interview.

6. Envision the hiring manager.

Ok, I talked about this above. I am one one of the people at your prospective employer standing between you and your next job. There is a live human being involved in the hiring process looking for the ideal candidate for their open position. They partner with someone in Human Resources to write the job listing and post online. They have a list of job requirements they need filled and at the same time, this person has their own full time job. Make their job easier by writing a compelling cover letter that positions you as the perfect candidate.

Even though your application may be running through an ATS (applicant tracking system), ultimately there is a person reading through the resumes and making the decision to call for an interview or not. If you can research and find the name of the hiring manager, personalize your letter with the hiring manager’s name.

You might even be able to incorporate information from your research to help customize your letter. Did they post an interesting article on LinkedIn? Were they recently promoted? Was there a recent press release touting an award they won? Do you both support the same non-profit or charity? You could highlight your volunteer experience. Small details like these may make a big difference and get you noticed. This is a great way to demonstrate that you are a motivated, self-starter willing to go the extra mile.

7. Proofread.

Don’t go through all of this effort in writing the greatest professional cover letter ever and not properly proofread!

• Make sure your letter and resume are formatted similarly with the same fonts and font size.

• Beware when you copy and paste from PDF to Google Doc to Word. Fonts and font sizes will change.

• Scan the layout, margins, spacing, fonts to make sure everything is consistent.

• Read the copy forward to make sure it flows and to read the context.

• Read the letter backwards. This forces your brain to read each word individually and you will catch misspellings that spellcheck may miss. An example is the manger instead of manager.

• If you are applying to multiple jobs, be sure to double check that you are addressing the letter to the correct person and/or company.

Final ideas.

A few last notes:

• Name your PDF or Word document with your name and the company. This will help keep your own files organized if you create a custom cover letter and resume for each position. Everyone else will name their file “Resume.pdf.”

• Some applicant tracking systems only allow one file upload. If this is the case, create a new document that combines your cover letter and resume into one doc.

• Did I mention proofread? I’ve seen obvious typos and font changes in cover letters. You don’t want to give me a reason to put you in the No pile. I had a candidate mention their passion for market research and how excited they were to begin a career in market research. They had clearly reused an old cover letter and didn’t bother to make updates or read my job description. The job they applied for had nothing to do with market research. That sent them to the No pile.