Cover Letter

I've been applying for professional engineering jobs across the country. It seems that no matter the number of applications I write, my time allotted to personalizing both my resume and cover letter never decreases. Below is an example of one of my recent cover letters.

Dear Sir or Madam,

This cover letter is in response to the Chemical Engineer opening as listed on the [...] career website. I was informed of this position as an alumni of the Chemical Engineering program at [...]. I feel I am a qualified candidate for your chemical engineering position for three distinct reasons: first, my mastery of engineering principles and concepts; second, my strong technical writing and communication skills; and third, my extensive leadership and extracurricular involvement.

Engineering Principles and Concepts
I received my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, and completed the coursework and a substantial portion of independent research applied to a Master degree of Chemical Engineering. The focus of my Masters research was coal and co-fired combustion. To enhance my practical understanding, I completed a graduate internship with [...] where I was a participating member of the Process Division Team. I studied the layouts of chemical and natural-gas plants, and performed costing analyses on the configuration of HRSG and turbine units. Due to my research and exposure to combustion systems, I am an advocate of clean and efficient energy production. I believe clean technologies are and should be made an integral part of our future.

Having spent many years in the pursuit of engineering, I have conquered a myriad of engineering sub-disciplines in addition to required coursework. For example, on top of the studies of core principles of heat and mass transfer, chemical kinetics, and thermodynamics, I have ventured into polymer science, biomedical engineering, material science, statistical theory, combustion, quantum mechanics, physical chemistry, and computer programming. To supplement my formal schooling, I have tutored students in the general sciences. This has kept basic governing principles (cause-and-effect, problem genesis, etc) in the forefront of my mind. The combination of an awareness of the interwoven nature between engineering disciples and a strong fundamental understanding of governing principles is an exemplary basis for scientific creativity. I posses both, posing me as a strong candidate to build on concepts with which I am already familiar, or quickly understand and master foreign or less-conventional theories.

I have participated in multiple professional conferences while either presenting information or attending to create professional networks and expand my understanding of engineering concepts.

Technical Writing and Communication Skills
Technical writing is my passion. I read and write literature of both a technical and nontechnical nature on a daily basis, consistently honing the necessary skills of literary concept structure, verbiage awareness, and overcoming 'writers block.' Practicing technical writing as an independent consultant and compiling a collegiate multivariate calculus textbook have given me experience with organizing various sorts of data into a coherent forms, meeting deadlines, and working in a literary manner with colleagues. I believe in meticulous documentation of progress and set-backs as not only required professional proof, but as a way to enhance learning.

I am a structured person who prioritizes tasks into short- and long-term goals, and is able to communicate said goals to personnel in a professional and approachable manner. I strive to be up-front and honest in all my communications.

Leadership and Extracurricular Involvement
I was the Student Body Secretary of [...], where I managed thousands of dollars of advertising information, and acted as a student representative on several collegiate executive boards. Additionally, I was involved in multiple [...] clubs, intramural activities, and professional performing groups. Such involvement is indicative of my drive for success, the desire to build positive professional relations, and evidence of consistently increasing my capability to perform in a variety of situations. These traits are directly translatable into involvement in the engineering field. I feel comfortable processing new information and handling pressure and deadlines while being aware of peers.

I have participated in consistent training meetings where we discussed the importance of and adherence to safe engineering practices. One of the fundamental attractions of a potential employer is their strong emphasis on safety. Safety always comes first.

Involvement in both engineering and non-engineering activities has helped me to develop a comfort of association among different professions and persons. This is a particularly strong asset for Hoku because I can work well not only with the operational and start-up teams, but feel comfortable expanding my associations to other groups as necessary to learn pertinent material or build relationships that would benefit

Per the above stated qualities, namely mastery of engineering principles and concepts, strong technical writing and communication sklls, and extensive leadership and extracurricular involvement, I aver the strength of my candidacy. I am highly interested in potential employment with Hoku Materials, and look forward to hearing from you.