Example 1 Cover Letter

The following represents a very generic cover letter that I have sent to multiple employers. It lists details I think are important to the kind of jobs I would be applying to, and is also easily tailorable; all I really have to do is change the position title and company name to match the applicable position/company being applied to. This is a great thing to have to send to employers, in bulk, and at a fast rate. 

My thoughts about the contents of the letter are annotated in bolded italicized wording. The link to the Google Doc of this cover letter can be found here. If you copy the document to your Google Drive, you will be able to edit it, save it as a PDF, and start sending it out to prospective employers in no time!

If you don’t know to whom the letter/email is being addressed, simply state to whom it may concern; otherwise, say, “Hello <FirstName>.”

To Whom It May Concern,

Tell the reader who you are, and why you are reaching out to them.

My name is David Marcus, and I am reaching out to formally submit my interest in the ABC Engineering Position at XYZ Company.

Fill in ABC Engineering Position and XYZ Company with the appropriate details for the position/company you are applying to.

Give the reader some background information about you: education, certifications, work experience, job responsibilities, etc. Try to provide context about when you may have worked at these jobs as well.  

I am a Professional Electrical Engineer, and am alum of the University of South Florida. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in December of 2013, and I have been working as an engineer in the aviation industry since then. I worked for GE Aviation as a Systems Engineer for 3.5 years, and I currently work as an Electronics Engineer for Northrop Grumman Corporation. In these positions, I have led and supported multiple military and commercial aviation programs, and have served as the subject matter expert over many types of avionics. I author bench test procedures, technical reports, and white papers, and also produce many other types of technical, program documentation for internal and external customers. As a lead engineer, I also serve as the primary interface between my functional department (electrical hardware/software integration department) and all of our internal/external stakeholders (customer, program management, logistics, vehicle eng., manufacturing, systems, quality, subcontractors) throughout engineering program lifecycles.

Break up your work experience into multiple sections, especially if the type of work is considerably different. With this being said, it is always good to be well rounded. You never know who is going to pick up your resume. More often than not, people will interview for one job, but get offered a different job at the same company but a different team.  

For the last two years, I have been working with a Radar Tracking subject matter expert in developing MATLAB algorithms for a Radar group at Northrop Grumman. In this area, I have created algorithms to process and fuse large amounts of data from multiple sensors, correlated the data against established areas of interest, improved speed and efficiency of code execution, and have integrated the algorithms within the platform for deployment in a near real time system to improve platform capabilities and increase warfighter safety.

Most recently, my duties have expanded to performing technical trade studies/analyses, basis of estimate (BOE) development, and detailed planning for the capture and execution of future modernization programs for multiple military aircraft platforms. I earned my Professional Engineering (PE) license in June of 2019.

If you do anything in your spare time that may relate to the job, go ahead and list it here. Like I said before, you never know who’s going to pick up your resume.

In my spare time, I have worked on various projects with commercially available SDRs. With these devices, and MATLAB, I have been able to perform the following tasks:

• Generate text messages and convert messages to binary
• Generate a frame structure for transmitting data
  • Frame structure contains data guard followed by preamble (synchronization sequence) followed by message in binary format
• BPSK module frame data
• Initialize radio for data transmission
• Apply pulse shape filtering to frame data prior to transmission
• Transmit frame data repeatedly via radio
• Receive and record transmitted message using same radio (transceiver) or receive only radio
• Apply matched filtering to received data prior to compensating/decoding
• Autocorrelate data for coarse synchronization
• Apply frequency compensation
• Cross correlate data against preamble (synchronization sequence) for determining data start position
• Apply phase compensation
• Demodulate data
• Convert data back to binary and then convert to text message 

Thank the reader for their time, restate your interest, point the reader to your resume, and leave the door open for future discussion. 

I am very eager to learn more about the open positions and opportunities at XYZ Company. Please find my resume along with this letter. I would be glad to discuss all potential opportunities, and how I will be an immediate, positive impact within the XYZ Company team.

Fill in XYZ Company with the appropriate details for the position/company you are applying to.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

David Marcus