Project Manager Cover Letter

Project Manager Cover Letter (With Examples)

When you’re applying for a job, you’ve probably heard that you should always include a cover letter with your application and resume.

This isn’t just another hoop to jump through: It’s a way to flesh out your resume and show your personality, qualifications, and passions to hiring managers. After all, they can only tell so much about you from a list of your awards and accomplishments, and they’ve likely read many resumes that are similar to yours.

A cover letter is also a great opportunity to show why you’d be a good candidate for a position if your resume is a little more unconventional for the position or if you don’t have a lot of work experience.

In this article, you’ll learn some tips for writing a cover letter for a position as a project manager and find some sample cover letters you can use to reference as you write your own.

Parts of a Project Manager Cover Letter

While you shouldn’t send out a one-size-fits-all cover letter for every job you apply for, there are some structural guidelines you can and should follow with each one.

1. Your contact information. At the top of your letter, list your name, phone number, and email address. You can also add your job title and mailing address if you want.

2. The date. Add a line break after your contact information and put the date that you’re sending the letter.

3. The recipient’s information. Skip another line and write the recipient’s name, job title, company name, and company address.

4. Salutation. For both a letter and an email, you’ll want to open with a “Dear” followed by the recipient’s name.

   A cover letter is formal, so make sure you either include the recipient’s first and last name or just use their last name preceded by “Mr.,” “Ms.,” or another appropriate designation. If you don’t know their name, you can use their job title instead.

5. Opening. This is your opportunity to hook your reader right off the bat to convince them to read your entire letter. You can be creative or straightforward, but make sure you’re matching the tone of the company and its culture. If in doubt, though, err on the side of professionalism.

6. Body. This is the meat of your letter where you provide examples of your skills and why you want the job.

7. Closing. Sign off with a call to action and a note of gratitude.

Project Manager Cover Letter Opening

In your opening paragraph, specify the job title you’re applying for, and give a quick synopsis of why you qualify for the job. This sets the stage for the rest of the letter and allows you to make sure hiring managers see the most important information right off the bat.

You might say something like this:

Project Manager Cover Letter Body

In this part of your cover letter, no matter how you structure it, there are some principles you should keep in mind as you write.

1. Sell yourself. It may seem counterintuitive to toot your own horn, but that is the whole point of a cover letter. Don’t brag, but be confident and specific in how you describe yourself.

   You can talk about your positive qualities without sounding braggadocious by backing up your claims with quantitative examples of your work. For example, instead of saying that you have experience as a project manager, say that you have three years of experience and have led 24 different projects, all of which finished on time and under budget.

2. Talk about what you bring to the company. Hiring managers don’t just want to hear how great you are; they want to know what you’re going to bring to their organization.

   Share what stood out to you about the organization and how you think it aligns with your abilities and unique experiences. Talk about why you want to work at the company and how you would help further it.

3. Share your technical skills and soft skills. Employers are looking for both technical and soft skills in their employees, so you should be sure to talk about both types in your cover letter.

   This is especially true if you don’t have a lot of experience in your field. Talking about the soft skills that transfer from your seemingly unrelated work experience can help you show hiring managers why you qualify for the position.

   If you do have more applicable experience, sharing this can be a good way to set yourself apart from other candidates.

Here is an example of some cover letter body paragraphs:

Project Manager Cover Letter Closing Lines

End your letter with a classy “Sincerely” or “Thank you” and then type your full name below it. Leave enough space between your closing and your name for your handwritten signature if you’re writing a physical letter, and if you’re writing an email, add in your contact information below your name.

For example, you could say something like:

Example of a Project Manager Cover Letter

While your letter will obviously be different from these examples, here are a few examples of cover letters for a project manager position that you can use as a reference point for your own writing. One is formatted for a hard copy letter, whether you print it off and mail it in or send it as an attachment, and the other one is an email.

Tips for Writing a Project Manager Cover Letter

When it comes to writing your cover letter for a project management position, there are a few tips you should follow.

1. Keep it brief. Just as your resume should be one page long, so should your cover letter (half a page, in fact).

   Hiring managers don’t have time to read multiple pages about how great you are. They want the highlights about what experiences, personality, and skills you bring to the table that set you apart from other candidates, not a multi-sentence description about your wizardry with Microsoft Word.

2. Make it relevant. You shouldn’t have a one-size-fits-all cover letter that you send out to every potential employer. Instead, you should tailor your cover letter to the position you’re applying for.

   Before you start writing, revisit the job description that you’re applying for and make sure you mention how you qualify for as many requirements it lists as possible.

   If you can, try to use the same keywords that the job description uses in case the employer uses an automated applicant tracking system to screen applications. Using keywords that are in the job description will give your application a better chance of making it through to a human reviewer.

3. Edit your letter. Sending in a cover letter riddled with grammatical and spelling errors will undo whatever professional impression you’ve created with its content.

   Read your letter out loud to help you catch smaller errors that you’d normally gloss over. If you can, ask someone else to proofread it for errors as well.