Career Services Office
Cover Letters for Nonacademic Careers
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The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce yourself and to demonstrate the fit between your background and the position or organization to which you are applying. Your cover letter is an opportunity to very briefly tell your "story," especially if you are applying for a position that is not clearly linked to your previous experiences. Use your cover letter to guide the employer's attention to the most significant portions of your résumé, to explain how your particular experiences have provided you with the skills you need to be successful in the position, and to convey enthusiasm for the position for which you are applying. Your emphasis should always be on what you can do for the organization, not what you hope to gain from the job experience.
A cover letter should generally accompany any résumé you submit for a nonacademic job. If you are posting/dropping your résumé online, however, there may not be a place to include a letter. Career fairs are also generally not venues that require cover letters. In these instances, you should take extra care to ensure that you have clearly indicated on your résumé what type of job you are seeking.
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