Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Looking for a job? These position are hiring now near you:
Your contact information
The date
The recipient’s information
Salutation
Opening paragraph
Body paragraphs
Closing lines
Here’s what it will look like:
Jennie Smith jenniesmith@email.com 333-222-1111 December 20, 2020 Melodie Lipscomb Hiring Manager Busnitech, Inc. mlipscomb@email.com Dear Ms. Lipscomb,
Stay on topic. Your cover letter should only be one page long (and ideally closer to half a page), which means you need to use your space wisely. Remember that the purpose of your cover letter is to convince hiring managers that you’re the best person for the job.
To do this effectively, go through the job description and find which of the requirements best describes you. Pick two or three to hammer home in your cover letter, and then mention the rest as you see fit. For example, if the position requires maintaining databases, conducting statistical analyses, producing reports, creating data-based solutions, and using predictive modeling, you could describe how you used your background in statistics and predictive modeling to redesign the company’s pricing strategy and increase profit by 20%. This example showcases several of your skills and shows the quantifiable results of your efforts, another must-have for your cover letter. If you don’t have much experience in this field because you’re changing career paths or are a recent graduate, you can use the same technique to show how your seemingly unrelated work experience actually does apply to this new position.Talk about why you want to work for the company. Employers want to hire a great data analyst, but even more than that, they want to hire a great data analyst who is passionate about furthering the organization.
Show that you bring the motivation and passion needed to do your job well by describing why you want to be a part of the company.Share what you’d bring to the organization. Your cover letter will be much more effective if you can lay out what value you’d add to the company if hired. Companies want to know what they’re getting out of the deal, too, so make sure you’re selling yourself as an asset to them and not just as a fantastic person.
Talk about how your skills and values align with the organization’s mission, goals, and values.Your body paragraphs may look something like this:
I’ve long had a passion for using data to help companies be their best, and I believe this position will allow me to combine both that passion and my data analytics skills to further the organization’s health and goals. During my time at Willowbread Corp., I worked with multiple departments to organize and manage the company’s databases, used Python to make an automated web scraping tool for the marketing department, and created reports based on my data analysis in order to develop pricing solutions. I was even able to use predictive models to create a report on how adjusting the company’s pricing strategy would increase sales by 15% over two years. I presented my findings to the company’s executives, and they decided to implement my suggestions. Two years later, sales had increased by 16% due to those changes. This is just one of the ways that I’ve been able to use my skills to improve the organization, and I’d love to use them to further Busnitech, Inc. I admire your company’s vision to create an enjoyable and rewarding experience for its customers while building up the community, and I’d be honored to be a part of it.
Looking for a job? These position are hiring now near you:
Here’s an example of a cover letter closing:
I would love to discuss this position further with you. Please give me a call or send me an email at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Jennie Smith (Handwritten signature) Jennie Smith
Jennie Smith jenniesmith@email.com 333-222-1111 December 20, 2020 Melodie Lipscomb Hiring Manager Busnitech, Inc. mlipscomb@email.com Dear Ms. Lipscomb, I’m writing in regard to the open data analyst position at Busnitech, Inc. As someone with four years of experience in data analysis in the retail industry and an undergraduate degree in statistics; I was excited when I saw this position open up. I’ve long had a passion for using data to help companies be their best, and I believe this position will allow me to combine both that passion and my data analytics skills to further the organization’s health and goals. During my time at Willowbread Corp., I worked with multiple departments to organize and manage the company’s databases, used Python to make an automated web scraping tool for the marketing department, and created reports based on my data analysis in order to develop pricing solutions. I was even able to use predictive models to create a report on how adjusting the company’s pricing strategy would increase sales by 15% over two years. I presented my findings to the company’s executives, and they decided to implement my suggestions. Two years later, sales had increased by 16% due to those changes. This is just one of the ways that I’ve been able to use my skills to improve the organization, and I’d love to use them to further Busnitech, Inc. I admire your company’s vision to create an enjoyable and rewarding experience for its customers while building up the community, and I’d be honored to be a part of it. I would love to discuss this position further with you. Please give me a call or send me an email at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Jennie Smith (Handwritten signature) Jennie Smith
Don’t leave your technical skills off of your cover letter. As a data analyst, you likely have a variety of computer and technical skills. While your resume is the best place to list all of these, make sure you mention them in your cover letter as well.
Don’t force all of them in, and don’t just list them in sentence form, but do pay attention to the ones the job description highlights the most and incorporate them into your anecdotes and examples. If the company wants someone with skills in Python, for example, talk about how you used Python as a part of a successful project. Use your cover letter as an opportunity to flesh out the skills you list on your resume, painting a picture of what you can actually do.Focus on your skills, not your field, if you’re changing industries. Data analysts exist in nearly every industry, so it’s likely you’ll shift to another one at some point in your career.
To show hiring managers that your skills will apply to this new field, when you’re writing about examples of your work, make sure you put the focus on the soft and technical skills you used to accomplish the task, not the task itself. This will show hiring managers that you know about the company you’re applying for and that your skills will translate to the new position.Proofread, proofread, proofread. This is great advice for people writing cover letters in any industry, but it’s especially true for you as a data analyst. Your employer will be relying on your attention to detail and thoroughness, so make sure your cover letter reflects those qualities.