Engineer cover letter

Engineer Cover Letter (With Examples)

If you’re applying for a reputable engineering position, the chances are that you’ll be competing against a crowd of other qualified candidates.

In these cases, it’s not enough to just attach an impressive resume. If you want to truly maximize your chances of getting the job interview, you’ll need to include a well-written cover letter as well.

Cover letters allow you to go beyond just the brief overview of your abilities that your resume provides. They’re a great tool for tailoring your technical qualifications specifically to the job in question and leaving a strong impression on hiring managers.

In this article, we’ll discuss the core structure that all effective engineering cover letters follow. We’ll also provide you with free samples and important tips to help you write your own.

Parts of an Engineering Cover Letter

No matter what type of engineering position you’re applying for, all effective cover letters include the same key elements and follow a similar core structure.

These components are:

1. The header. Include your contact info as well as the company’s info. You should also use a professional greeting, such as “Dear [Hiring manager’s name],”

   If you don’t know the hiring manager’s name, use “Dear Hiring Committee,”

2. Opening paragraph. Focus on achievements that directly relate to the position's duties. Minimize filler and grab the reader’s attention as quickly as possible.

3. Body paragraph #1. Emphasize your key skills while conveying confidence and passion.

4. Body paragraph #2. Highlight additional, relevant key skills that fit the job description.

5. Closing. Thank the reader for their time and make a results-based offer.

Engineering Cover Letter Opening

The opening paragraph is the most important section of your cover letter.

Most surveyed hiring managers say that they only spend an average of 60 seconds reading over a candidate’s application. This means that if you want to make a positive impression, you have to do it at the very start.

Establish your credibility immediately by providing an example of when you’ve proven your ability to generate positive results for a past employer.

Especially for engineering positions, it’s critical to quantify your achievements when possible. Vaguely describing how you’ve improved a company’s processes is never going to leave as strong an impression as providing actual metrics such as percentage increases or dollars saved.

Once you’ve caught the hiring manager’s attention, follow up with more achievements to hammer in your credibility. These should be short and memorable, no longer than a single sentence.

If an existing employee of the company referred you for the position, then you should also mention it at the start of your opening paragraph.

Engineering Cover Letter Body Paragraph #1

The job of the opening paragraph was to tout your achievements and grab the recruiter’s attention.

With the first body paragraph, it’s now time to explicitly describe your technical skills and qualifications.

Make sure that you tailor this section specifically to the job listing in question. Whatever main qualifications and skill requirements are mentioned at the top of the listing, include them here.

You don’t actually need to mention your university degree if this isn’t an entry-level position. However, if you went to an impressive school, the wow-factor definitely makes including it as a one-liner well worth it.

Engineering Cover Letter Body Paragraph #2

Note how this sample body paragraph does the following:

• Aligns your skills to the needs of the company. In our sample, we’re assuming that the job listing mentions work relating to drafting components for vacuum engines, so that’s the specific topic we’re targeting.

  It’s especially important to directly link your skills to the job listing since not all recruiters will be engineers themselves, but rather HR employees are given lists of skills and keywords to look for in applications.

  This means that even if your engineering experience is transferable to the duties of the job, the recruiter may think they’re unrelated since you never explicitly drew the direct link.

• Convey your passion and personality. When applying for engineering job vacancies, you’re likely going to be competing against a crowd of other similarly qualified candidates.

  Unless your achievements and abilities are truly exceptional, you need to convey your personality in order to stand out.

  Examine how our sample communicates the following:

  1. You cared enough to research the company’s activities.

  2. You’re genuinely interested and driven.

While your achievements and skills may grab the recruiter’s attention and get your foot in the door, it’s how well you can stand out as a confident individual that will truly make you stand out from the crowd.

Engineering Cover Letter Closing

It’s important to get the closing paragraph of your cover letter just right, as it’s your last chance to leave a strong impression on the hiring manager.

This section needs to accomplish the following:

• Sums up your cover letter. The first line of our sample reminds the reader of all the technical achievements we’ve mentioned throughout our cover letter, which leaves them as a final thought in their head.

• Invites the recruiter to follow up. Make sure to always mention that you’re enthusiastic and available for further discussion.

• Thanks the reader for their time. It’s a standard professional practice to add a brief line to show your appreciation.

Engineering Cover Letter Sample

Here is a complete version of the engineering cover letter we’ve covered so far:

Important Engineering Cover Letter Tips

Here are some additional guidelines to keep in mind when you’re writing a cover letter for an engineering position:

• Use figures and percentages. The average recruiter will spend less than 30 seconds reading over your cover letter. In most cases, they’ll skim over many of the words.

  Numbers help combat this issue, as they’ll stand out on the page and draw the recruiter’s attention towards important sections of your cover letter.

  Make sure that you’re always using them when speaking about your achievements and work history.

  For example, saying “I improved X process by Y%” is much more effective than saying “I drastically improved X process.”

• Try to convey soft skills. Demonstrating your technical qualifications is obviously important for an engineering-focused position.

  However, if you’re able to brand yourself as an engineer who isn’t just a technical expert but also an effective communicator and team player, you’ll instantly set yourself ahead of any candidate who’s only focusing on their technical abilities.

• Use keywords. Companies often use applicant tracking software to automatically filter and rank candidate applications based on how many keywords they include.

  Many hiring managers are also instructed to pay attention to how frequently candidates mention certain technologies and skills throughout their resumes and cover letters.

  For these reasons, make sure that you pay attention to important skills and terms in the job listing and explicitly mention them in your cover letter.

  This definitely doesn’t mean that you should just overload your cover letter with buzzwords. A human ultimately still needs to read it, and it’ll be obvious if you’re trying to resort to cheap tactics.