Your engineering cover letter has to accomplish a few very important things. For starters, it needs to follow a strict format. A cover letter should be written like a business letter with a formal address, block style paragraphs, and a professional close. And, while it follows those rules, it has to be unique. Your cover letter should help you stand out from the crowd, even if it looks like every other cover letter in a company’s application pile at first glance. How do you do that? By making your content original, and by making sure you sell yourself as best as you can.
Of those two things, the format is the easy one. All you need to do is follow the guidelines. Picking out your content is more difficult. When you are writing your engineering cover letter, keep the following tips in mind so that your application puts you ahead of the competition:
Education is important. In the case of an intern, this is doubly true. If you haven’t graduated yet, then you’ll probably want to focus on something unique you did or learned in classes that makes you a good fit for the job. If you have graduated, mention your degree briefly. You don’t want to focus on education only, especially not if you have real world experience, but it can’t hurt to show the hiring director that you are smart.
Use your experience. Most engineers have some sort of experience. Classwork often demands that you do some research projects. If you’ve given presentations on a bridge for a large audience before and you are applying to a civil engineering company that specializes in bridge design, that is worth mentioning. If you’ve done research and used equipment that would be useful to your job, mention it. If you’ve had an internship, then you’ll want to review the responsibilities you had at that job.
Always relate back to the company. No matter what, when you are listing your skills, make sure to explain how those talents are relevant to the company. Being able to research local bridges and assess them for damage will help the company do its job accurately. Having experience with equipment means you can handle procedures that the company needs done. These skills benefit the company, which is what the hiring director will be looking for.
There are several great examples of engineering cover letters for you to look at when you are crafting your job application materials. Sometimes learning by example is the best. So, take a look at some of these free cover letter samples before you write yours up:
-http://www.bestcoverletters.com/cover-letters/Engineering
-http://www.resumecoverletterexamples.com/engineer/engineer-cover-letter.html
