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The header. List out your contact info, followed by the company’s info. You should also use a professional greeting, such as “Dear [Hiring manager’s name].”
If you don’t know who will be reading your cover letter, using “Dear Hiring Committee,” will suffice.Opening paragraph. Hook the hiring manager’s attention by immediately jumping into your top achievement and sharing quantifiable results.
Body paragraph #1. Provide more relevant and impressive achievement examples to demonstrate more skills and strengthen your credibility.
Body paragraph #2. Now that you’ve proven your past success, explain how you’re going to replicate it at the company you’re applying to.
Closing. Thank the reader for taking the time to read your application and invite them for a follow-up discussion.
Hook their attention immediately. After briefly stating the intent of your letter, cut the filler and immediately jump into your proudest career achievement.
Your main goal here is to catch the hiring manager’s interest so they pay closer attention to the rest of your cover letter than they otherwise would have.Focus on results. Simply describing your duties will leave the impression that you’re just another average candidate.
Focus on the actual value that you’ve created for businesses. Effective directors are value-multipliers, streamlining operational processes and developing strategies to grow the business. Show instances of when you’ve done exactly that, and be sure to back it up with real numbers.Briefly mention your college degree. It’s not necessary to include your educational background in your cover letter’s opening paragraph for most jobs, but it absolutely is for a director of operations position.
For such a highly competitive job, possessing a degree is almost mandatory. All of your competitors will have one, so hiring committees will often immediately disregard an application if they don’t quickly see those qualifications.Mention your references. If a contact referred you for the position, your cover letter opening will be the best place to mention it.
Briefly explain who they are and why they’re credible, and then integrate them into one of your career achievement examples.Here’s a sample cover letter opening to show you how to put these guidelines into practice.
“Kayla Davidson 2241 Rockefeller Street Bloomington, IN 44211 333-222-7712 kDavidson@gmail.com March 19, 2021 Eugene Brown 4412 Sapphire Ln Charlotte, NC 11122 777-221-4141 eBrown@gmail.com Dear Eugene Brown, I am excited to be applying for the Director of Operations position at Jefferson Industries. With my Master’s in Business Administration and over 12 years of executive management experience, I guarantee that I'll be able to help your organization reach its goals. At my previous role as a director of operations at Acme Industrial, I used my excellent negotiation and presentation skills to secure key government clients for the company, increasing its quarterly revenue by over $480,000.”
Leadership and managerial. This includes more specific skills such as:
Team building skills such as recruitment, training, and culture-building.
Effective written and verbal communication.
Perseverance and creativity.
The ability to navigate difficult decision-making processes.
Job-specific. Your role as a director will be extremely multifaceted, encompassing duties such as:
Project management. You’ll need to monitor the budget, scope, and deliverables of the company’s projects, or at least understand what to look for in a candidate when hiring someone to manage these tasks.
Consensus-building. Directors need to serve as directional leaders that create cohesion among individuals in the organization with differing points of view.
Strategic-thinking. It’ll be up to you to develop initiatives for strategic planning, as well as balance them with risk-management techniques to maintain organizational stability.
Here’s a sample second body paragraph that demonstrates some of these skills:
“A few other examples of when I’ve driven considerable business growth for my employers include:
At Hannipan Tech, expanded the company’s market share by 22% by performing careful market analysis and developing specialized penetration strategies
At Riverside Inc, developed a company-wide team development program that directly improved the average productivity of each employee across all departments by 17%.”
Here’s a sample body paragraph that demonstrates this method:
“I see in your job description that you’re hiring a director to guide your company during a period of unexpectedly rapid growth. Fortunately, leading organizations through such situations is one of my greatest areas of expertise and success. At Glowstone Tech, I took on the position of director while the company was struggling to scale its staff and operations. I adapted to the situation by immediately conducting an analysis of the business’s current operational capacities and identifying its key bottlenecks. By focusing on expanding those areas and reallocating resources to train new staff, we were able to fulfill all standing customer orders. This directly saved the company over $400,000 in orders that would have otherwise needed to be canceled. To prepare the company for future growth, I then implemented a plan to strategically restructure its internal communication processes. This cut down on redundancies between various departments, increasing the overall productivity of the organization by 22%.”
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Reiterating your main skills. Remind the hiring manager of your main skills and what you offer to the company,
Indicating your appreciation. It’s standard practice to thank the reader for taking the time to read your cover letter.
Inviting follow-up action. Communicate your enthusiasm for a follow-up conversation with the hiring manager to discuss the position.
Take note of how the following sample cover letter closing covers the above three bases:
“I would love to use these leadership and analytical skills to generate the same results for your growing company. I look forward to meeting with you so we can further discuss how I can fulfill your specific needs. Thank you for your time and consideration. Best Regards, Kayla Davidson”
Here is a complete version of the data scientist cover letter sample we’ve covered so far:
“Kayla Davidson 2241 Rockefeller Street Bloomington, IN 44211 333-222-7712 kDavidson@gmail.com March 19, 2021 Eugene Brown 4412 Sapphire Ln Charlotte, NC 11122 777-221-4141 eBrown@gmail.com Dear Eugene Brown, I am excited to be applying for the Director of Operations position at Jefferson Industries. With my Master’s in Business Administration and over 12 years of executive management experience, I guarantee that I'll be able to help your organization efficiently reach its goals. In my previous role as a director of operations at Acme Industrial, I used my excellent negotiation and presentation skills to secure key government clients for the company, increasing its quarterly revenue by over $480,000. A few other examples of when I’ve driven considerable business growth for my employers include:I see in your job description that you’re hiring a director to guide your company during a period of unexpectedly rapid growth. Fortunately, leading organizations through such situations is one of my greatest areas of expertise and success. At Glowstone Tech, I took on the position of director while the company was struggling to scale its staff and operations. I adapted to the situation by immediately conducting an analysis of the business’s current operational capacities and identifying its key bottlenecks. By focusing on expanding those areas and reallocating resources to train new staff, we were able to fulfill all standing customer orders. This directly saved the company over $400,000 in orders that would have otherwise needed to be canceled. To prepare the company for future growth, I then implemented a plan to strategically restructure its internal communication processes. This cut down on redundancies between various departments, increasing the overall productivity of the organization by 22%. I would love to use these leadership and analytical skills to generate the same results for your growing company. I look forward to meeting with you so we can further discuss how I can fulfill your specific needs. Thank you for your time and consideration. Best Regards, Kayla Davidson”
At Hannipan Tech, expanded the company’s market share by 22% by performing careful market analysis and developing specialized penetration strategies.
At Riverside Inc, implemented a company-wide team development program that directly improved the average productivity of each employee across all departments by 17%.
Research the company. A director’s particular duties can vary drastically across different industries and specific companies.
Guiding strategic planning at a technology company, for example, will likely demand a skill-set specialized in creating rapid growth. A director position at a manufacturing plant, in comparison, is much more likely to require a risk-management leadership style. Make sure to research the company as thoroughly as you can to better understand how to tailor your cover letter in a way that’s relevant to their particular challenges and needs.Focus on numbers. If possible, don’t list any achievement if you can’t back it up using numbers.
Directors are one of the main players in driving a company’s future growth, so hiring committees will be measuring candidates against each other using that as a metric. Quote numbers that prove how much you were able to expand a company’s market share or revenue, and you’ll set yourself far ahead of the competition. This is an especially important tip to follow if the purpose of your cover letter is to request a promotion. Companies will only raise your salary if you’re able to show that you’re worth it.