What if there were an easy step you could take to make your job application stand out among your peers? You wouldn’t hesitate, right?
Well, there is one step that proves to be invaluable time and time again: writing a cover letter.
Often, cover letters add color that may be missing from the job resume. For remote candidates, resume cover letters are an important way to share more about your background, skills and expertise. A resume cover letter can help your application stand out from the larger pool of candidates and showcase a bit of your personality that won’t show up in a resume.
As Basecamp’s David Heinemeier Hansson said in our past interview with him, “Writing is never going to go out of style. So these are investments you’re going to make, that’s gonna pay off for decades[, …] if not the rest of your life.”
The ability to write well will always be valued. Here’s why you should still write a resume cover letter for a remote job — and how to write one that gets you noticed.
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What is a Cover Letter?
A cover letter is a short letter that you include with your resume to introduce yourself and explain your interest in the role, company, and why you are best suited to the role.
The purpose of a cover letter is to provide more detail about your skills and experience than there is space for on the resume. Remember, a resume should be limited to two pages. A cover letter gives you the opportunity to expand a little more on your qualifications and add color to the positions and certifications you’ve achieved thus far.
When seeking a position that lets you work from home, a resume cover letter is an integral part of your application. First, you’ll likely be competing with a larger pool of candidates, as remote positions are open to virtually anyone. This means you’ll need to find a way to differentiate yourself from everyone else. The cover letter gives you a chance to tell more of a narrative about yourself.
Read More: 10+ Important LinkedIn Best Practices for Remote Software Developers
Secondly, the remote job cover letter provides space for you to highlight your WFH-relevant experience. Working from home requires different skills, as you’ll need to have a heightened sense of self-motivation, autonomy, and time management, among other things. Make sure you discuss the ways in which you’ve acclimated to remote work over your career and the ways in which you’re equipped to thrive in a virtual workplace.
A cover letter for remote jobs lets you showcase some of your personality, too. Remote employees don’t always have the opportunity to meet their team in person; conveying your personality to a recruiter must happen on paper, through the phone, or via video. A cover letter is a great place to start sharing a little of what makes you unique.
Writing a remote cover letter that achieves each of these objectives can be intimidating, but it’s also fun! Here are some tips to get you started.
How to Write a Cover Letter for Remote Jobs
A cover letter, especially software engineer cover letters, should be qualitatively different from your resume: don’t simply repeat everything you’ve already listed in your skills and experience.
If you can, use keywords from the job description throughout the cover letter. Explain how you will use relevant skills from your background to help the company achieve its goals. Make each cover letter specific to the employer; ad-libbing a cover letter is going to make you look bad.
Read More: What to Include on a Resume for Software Developer Jobs
How to address a cover letter
Some people include their address in a cover letter for a remote position; others don’t. It’s a matter of context: if you’re emailing the letter, then you don’t need to include a physical address. Your cover letter does need to include some contact details, however, such as your email address, phone number, or Skype username.
If you’re submitting a file, use this format for your cover letter address:
Your Name
Street Address
City, State Zip Code
You might also include the date of writing below your contact details. After that, write the hiring manager’s name (if you know it), their job title, the company name, and their address.
To start the letter, try one of the following greetings:
- Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs./Mx. [Last Name]
- Dear Hiring Manager (if you don’t know who you’re writing to)
- Hello [First name] (use this if you’ve been referred or have a personal relationship with the recruiter/hiring manager)
- To Whom It May Concern (use as a last resort, this can often be too formal!)
The first paragraph should then detail why you’re writing. What about the opportunity moved you to apply? Why are you interested in joining the company? Keep this paragraph short and sweet.
How long should a cover letter be?
Again, most recruiters don’t have time to read long cover letters. A short letter with three paragraphs is enough!
Once you open with a few sentences about why you’re interested, write about what you bring to the table, how you’ve worked remotely in the past, and wrap it up by thanking the person for their time.
Read More: How to Write a Great Thank-You Email After an Interview
Remote cover letter template
As you write, bear in mind that the format of your cover letter should address three questions:
- Why are you applying for the job?
- How are you qualified to do the job?
- What experience do you have working remotely?
Here’s a good cover letter template for remote job positions you can customize for your specific needs:
{Your Name}
{Your Address}
{Date}
{Hiring Manager's Name}
{Hiring Manager's Address}
{Company Name}
{Company Address}
Dear {Hiring Manager's Name}:
{Introduce yourself and refer to the remote job to which you are applying. If you were referred by someone they might know, mention it here. Briefly describe, at a high level, some of your relevant experience related to the position.}
{Describe skills you have that align with the job description. Include one or two brief examples of how you used these skills in previous professional situations. When possible, show how these examples made a positive impact on your employer or clients.}
{Discuss any experience you have working remotely, and describe the skills you’ve learned that enable you to perform successfully. If you don’t have remote work experience, demonstrate that you’re able to work with little supervision.}
{Thank the recipient for their time and consideration. Include a one-sentence summary about why you’d be great. End with an offer to answer questions or say that you look forward to the next step in the hiring process.}
Sincerely,
{Your name}
{Contact information}
Ultimately, a cover letter can only help your application. A cover letter for a remote position gives you a way to toot your own horn!
Take advantage of the extra opportunity to showcase why you’re the best at what you do.
Read more advice and tips for finding a remote software development job on the Arc blog.
Read More: 10+ Tips for Preparing for a Remote Software Developer Zoom Interview
You can also explore HireAI to skip the line and:
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⚡️ Identify top applicants from our network of 250,000+ devs with no manual screening
⚡️ Hire 4x faster with vetted candidates (qualified and interview-ready)
