Best Cover Letter Examples To Help You Get Your Dream Job

Many people dread writing cover letters. It’s the idea of selecting your relevant backgrounds, experiences, and skills into one-page. You also have to stand out from among a hundred or even thousands of candidates vying for one position. And those ideas discourage some job seekers to write a cover letter that can help them get noticed. For those who do want to try, they can do a quick google search on best cover letter examples and tons of templates come up.

There’s not one actual template for a great cover letter. In the end, it’s up to you on how you want to stick out from the rest and possibly get hired from writing just a cover letter. 

In this article, we highlight the top five best cover letter examples on the internet. Take note, these are actual cover letters from job seekers that hiring managers found interesting, amazing, and compelling. These cover letter examples are meant to serve as an inspiration and not to copy.

The Job Seeker of Few Words

Many find this cover letter one that doesn’t say a lot (literally) but was enough for David Silverman. The candidate offered insights in terms of his relevant experiences rather than give a narrative of his whole professional career. Instead of beating around the bush, Silverman appreciated the effort of the candidate to know his worth in just a single sentence. 

Even if the article is 10 years old, this cover letter remains relevant and is one of the best cover letter examples.

What you can learn from this letter is basically to be straightforward. Not all hiring managers have time to read a one-page letter. Identify what you think would be valuable and relevant to the company. At least, in the interview, you’re able to explain yourself further, which is the most important part of the job search.

The “Lady of Winterfell”

Alison Green is a consultant for job seekers on her blog, Ask a Manager. She received an inquiry for advice about their cover letter for the Sales and Marketing Coordinator for a LinkedIn position. Green wrote that because of her blog posts about cover letters, the job seeker sent two copies of her cover letter. One was the “Before” version, the second was the “After”– which was the better one.

Green goes on to say the “Before” version was a generic cover letter sample. The “After” version became tailored to the job seeker’s experiences. Plus, the job seeker sounded confident and even presented an explanation of their achievements. This approach reinforces the job seeker’s resume.

It’s a stark contrast to the previous cover letter example. But, there’s nothing wrong with emphasizing your greatest achievements. After all, you’re advertising yourself to the hiring manager. Don’t hold back if you believe the best way to capture the attention of the hiring manager is to list all your accomplishments.

The Welcomed Surprise Connection

Hubspot is a known sales and marketing resource for businesses and entrepreneurs. Due to their acquired experience, Hubspot has their own CRM solution and tools that marketers and salespeople use in their workflow. The company shared a cover letter from one of their applicants. It impressed them that the company even hired the applicant for the SEO & Content Optimization Manager position.

In the cover letter, the applicant emphasized, from the start, one of Hubspot’s courses: Content Marketing Certification Course. That’s not all, the applicant mentioned they previously applied for the company. 

What sealed the deal, however, is the applicant saying he was working with Hubspot’s customer success team to create a campaign for one of Hubspot’s clients. The job seeker closes the letter by saying they’re a perfect match to ensure they both publish quality content to help brands.

What makes this letter impressive is emphasizing the interest in the company by using its resources to create great solutions. This could be misconstrued as “sucking up” to the company. 

However, it seems the applicant holds a genuine interest and appreciation for Hubspot. It helped his application because they put trust in Hubspot’s resources that Hubspot saw their potential in doing more and the possible quality outcomes produced by using their software.

The Fortune 500 Networker

In a similar case as Hubspot’s, The Muse also received a cover letter from Annie Breckling, an account executive. On her cover letter, she directly emailed The Muse’s CEO, Kathryn Minshew. Just like the others in this list, She points out her valuable accomplishments. She also indicates her passion for helping businesses become better by finding a perfect fit and solutions for C-level executives.

The clincher on Breckling’s cover letter was her contacts of Fortune 500 companies. The company would benefit from Breckling’s contacts, considering The Muse’s goal in helping job seekers become one of the best candidates to hire. That’s why it’s one of the best cover letter examples on this list.

Her approach to applying gave her an advantage because she was straightforward and confident about her abilities and networks. With that, Breckling’s cover letter earned her position as the Enterprise Account Executive for The Muse.

The Candid and Uncensored John Doe

Typical cover letters are formal. It’s a practice to show one’s professionalism towards potential employers. Sometimes, job seekers show more personality and flair in their cover letters. It’s a way for them to present themselves better in writing.

In this particular case, one job seeker demonstrated their authenticity by saying expletives. Hiring managers may find it too improper, but not to Jesse Hertzberg.

According to Hertzberg, he received the cover letter because of a job hiring at Squarespace. The position was Director of Customer Care and Operations in Portland. On “John Doe”’s cover letter, he indicates his background in Silicon Valley and Manhattan but ends up aging in Portland. 

Also, he lists out some other funny statements, saying he can refer an Ashtanga instructor in the state and says he’s one funny …person.

The applicant managed to balance writing about his background, experiences, and humor in one cover letter. His cover letter is remarkable because he doesn’t care about using expletives or use his humor. 

If it’s his way of expressing himself, then he’s doing a good job at it. He keeps it real throughout and doesn’t use fluff to impress Hertzberg. That’s why it’s considered one of the best cover letter examples on the internet.

It’s unknown if the applicant got the position, but it certainly awed Hertzberg.

Below is an example where humor was used, but it won’t work for hiring managers. Thankfully for that student, it was just an assignment.

The Only Not: The Groot Impersonator

Even if this isn’t the best cover letter example, Marvel fans can still get a kick out of this one. 

A teacher, Jeffrey Davis, asked his students to create a resume and cover letter as a Marvel character. One of his students picked Groot, the tree from Guardians of the Galaxy, who’s most known for saying only “I am Groot” in that order. 

The student’s cover letter only had the words “I am Groot” repeatedly until the student filled the whole page. The teacher’s post went viral on the internet for the cleverness of the cover letter.

While that would be something Groot would do, unfortunately, not all hiring managers have the same sense of humor as Mr. Davis. In the end, as a job seeker, you need to give more details about yourself other than “I am Groot” in your cover letter.

The Key Points

The common denominator among all the best cover letter examples, except for the I am Groot one, is the job seeker provides their value and worth based on the company for which they’re applying. 

It seems these job seekers know how to personalize their cover letters. It’s a plus for companies because it’s not the generic cover letter copied from the internet directly. It allows the job seeker to express themselves better than to copy on what’s given on the internet. Also, it helps them stand out from a large pool of applicants.

Three Additional Tips to Remember

1. Sometimes, you may have to apply for different jobs. You shouldn’t keep sending the same cover letter to every company because some jobs require a different set of skills. So, you need to customize your cover letter.

2. Don’t forget to proofread and edit your cover letter. Sure, everything about it was great, but it could turn off the hiring manager if they noticed some typographical errors here and there or some syntax errors you missed. If you need to, have it looked over by someone else. It’s better to have another opinion on how your cover letter can still improve before sending.

3. Professional doesn’t always mean robotic. Sincere doesn’t have to be informal. You can find a balance between professional and sincere tones in your cover letter that help you sound authentic.

The Bottom Line

There’s no one template that a job seeker can follow. In the end, it all boils down to personalizing your cover letter. The best cover letter examples give us insight in how a healthy mix of advertising and expressing oneself are the top important parts of getting noticed and even hired (maybe).