Many people want to change career opportunities for a variety of reasons, including a willingness for a higher salary, career progression, and interesting employment. If you’re considering a career change, it is best practice to craft your cover letter.
In addition to customizing your curriculum vitae and preparing for your interview, changing careers frequently necessitates the creation of a cover letter that details your experience, strengths, and transferable skills. Your cover letter should explain why you’re the best candidate for the job and how your abilities and background have given you a unique and valuable perspective.
This article will demonstrate to you how to create an eye-catching career change cover letter that will help you land a job in a new field.
What is a Career Change Cover Letter?
A career change cover letter is not the same as a general cover letter. When changing careers, you should specify the reason for the change in your cover letter.
Even if your previous jobs are irrelevant, you must explain briefly how you were successful and what you accomplished. A career change cover letter’s main purpose is to highlight your existing abilities that can be applied to the new employment field.
What To Highlight In This Cover Letter?
If you’re looking to change career paths, you’ll need to answer the majority of the recruiter’s questions in your cover letter. Some of the issues that recruiters face are listed below:
- Why are you changing your career path?
- How do you feel about this new job field?
- Why did you choose us?
- What are your Transferable Skills?
How to Write This Letter
While your career change letter can be formatted similarly to a basic cover letter, the information should be specially designed to address why your current experience is important and beneficial to both the job and the company. Begin by following these steps to write a career change cover letter:
- Introduce yourself
Begin your cover letter by introducing yourself, your goals, and why you’d be a suitable candidate for the position. Highlight your most impressive, valuable, and relevant accomplishments while avoiding exaggerating your lack of experience.
- Show your enthusiasm
Your cover letter should demonstrate to the hiring manager that you’re actually excited about and keen on the job opportunity, even if it means starting at the bottom.
Include information about the company’s mission, values, or products that you admire or that align with your own standards to demonstrate that you’ve completed your research and are confident you’ll be a great fit.
- Outline your previous job performance
Your cover letter should showcase your accomplishments from previous positions. This could include meeting sales targets, managing employees, or finishing a rising project. Even if you lack specific employment experience, this shows the employer how you would benefit the company.
- Include any skills you have that will be useful in your new job
You should describe how your hard and soft skills translate to the new role, as well as how your previous achievements and proven abilities may transfer.
Tips for Writing This Letter
While you must personalize your cover letter to your job hunt and the company to which you’re applying, there are a few standard procedures you can follow to make your application stand out:
- Incorporate research
In order to make this a customized cover letter, integrate your own company research as well as specifics from the job description.
- Elaborate your reasons
Justify your ambition for changing careers and your commitment to learning new skills. Highlight your ability to quickly learn processes, concepts, and strategy. You are the best proponent of your existing skills, so include any information relevant to the new position.
- Obtain excellent references
Obtaining several credible references to support your qualifications, skills, and qualities is essential during a career change. When the employer requests references, make a list of them. Ask each of your references if it’s alright to include them ahead of time as a good gesture.
Sample and Template
A career change cover letter template is provided below to assist you in deciding what information you should include in your own letter. Include the hiring manager’s contact information and name in the cover letter’s introduction.
Career Change Cover Letter Example
Albert Scott
albertscott@email.com
March 17, 2019
Lucy Schwen
ABC Company
123 A St.
Dover, DE 1993
Dear Ms. Lucy,
I’m writing to express my enthusiasm for the Sales Manager position at ABC Company. I have 11 years of marketing experience and would like to move into a sales position at a great organization like yours. I have a wide range of marketing skills that will help me succeed in this role.
Despite the fact that I was a valuable asset to my previous employer as a marketing executive, I have dealt with numerous experiences that support common marketing skills. I manage a marketing team while working one-on-one with clients. My client relationships are significant to me because they allow me to strengthen our bond, provide pertinent product portfolio, and maintain an ongoing business arrangement.
I’ve received numerous honors as a marketing manager, including Manager of the Year and Employee of the Month on various occasions. This required not only marketing expertise, but also the capability to lead and motivate a team to achieve a common objective.
My marketing background, I assume, would add value to your team by providing a unique perspective. I am a quick and optimistic learner who is eager to take on leadership responsibilities at ABC Company. I would appreciate your consideration if you were aware of a more appropriate job or a recently vacated position.
Sincerely,
Albert Scott
Career Change Cover Letter Template
[Your name]
[Email address]
[Date]
[Recipient Name]
[Title]
[Company]
[Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]
Dear [Recipient]:
As a registered nurse with ten years of experience, I am excited to apply for the Medical Writer position at Holistic health Company LLC. I spent the last 3 years of my career at City Hospital in the emergency department, where I gained hands-on experience caring for emergency patients. I am confident that this knowledge and expertise will be especially beneficial to your project.
While I have enjoyed my job as a nurse for the past ten years, the last year has been incredibly exhausting. This prompted me to consider alternative career paths. I’ve spent the last six months learning about medical digital content writing. I believe that this new career will allow me to maintain a better work-life balance while still utilizing my healthcare and nursing expertise.
I created a website to show off my writing abilities. I’ve included a link to demonstrate my medical writing abilities.
I’m interested in learning more about your mission to teach ordinary people life-saving skills and tactics. My skills, I believe, would be a valuable asset to your team and could help you get one step closer to completing this mission. Please notify me when you will be available for a video chat. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my qualifications and suitability for the position. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Key Takeaways
- Many people change careers because they are dissatisfied with their current employer or the job they are doing.
- Start your cover letter by introducing yourself, your objectives, and why you’d be a good fit for the position.
- Gaining several credible references to back up your qualifications, skills, and qualities is important when changing careers.
- Your cover letter should highlight your accomplishments from previous positions.
- Your cover letter should prove to the hiring manager that you’re extremely excited about and interested in the work opportunity, even if it means starting at the bottom.
- Your cover letter should explain why you’re a strong fit and how your skills and background have given you a valuable and unique perspective.