Best ChatGPT Prompts for Writing a Cover Letter (5 Examples)

 

It is no longer news that ChatGPT can perform a wide variety of interesting and helpful tasks. Because the model powering the chatbot was trained on a vast amount of text data, ChatGPT is very knowledgeable and can provide precise answers to a lot of questions.

One way in which ChatGPT is being used is in writing job applications and cover letters. Therefore, this tutorial will explore some of the best ChatGPT prompts for writing a cover letter.

Here is an overview:

Let’s dive into the discussion!

 

Features of A Cover Letter

A cover letter typically has the following features:

• Personal Contact Information: A cover letter should usually contain the applicant’s contact information, such as their name, phone number, email address, and location address. Nowadays also, it is becoming common for cover letters to include a link to an applicant’s LinkedIn profile so that prospective employers can easily look them up on LinkedIn.
• Employer’s Contact Information: The prospective employer’s contact information is also included in a cover letter, such as the name of the company/organization and their formal contact address if known.
• Salutation: A cover letter should include a salutation or greeting addressed to an individual if he/she is known. A greeting addressed to an individual is preferred over a generic greeting like “Dear Sir” or “Dear Ma’am”.
• Body of the Cover Letter: This is the most crucial part of any cover letter. Usually, in the first paragraph of the cover letter, the applicant introduces themselves and highlights the position they are applying for. In the second paragraph, the applicant explains their skills and what they have to offer. They can also mention some projects they’ve worked on that could be of interest to the prospective employer. In the third paragraph, the applicant demonstrates their knowledge of the company and how they can help it achieve its vision. Then the fourth paragraph is used as a closing summary of the letter.
• Conclusion & Signature: This is where the letter typically ends with a formal closing remark like “Yours faithfully” or “Yours sincerely”, which will then be followed by the applicant’s signature and name.

Although cover letters by default have these attributes, there can be times, though, that a cover letter can deviate from this pattern depending on what kind of cover letter it is.

Therefore, in the next section, we will examine different types of cover letters.
 

Types of Cover Letters

• Application Cover Letter: An application cover letter is the most common type of cover letter. This is usually what is sent to a potential employer along with a copy of the applicant’s resume or CV.
• Referral Cover Letter: This is the kind of cover letter written by someone else, such as a colleague or former employer, recommending an individual for a position.
• Prospecting Cover Letter: A prospecting cover letter is also known as a cold contact cover letter. It is the kind that is sent to a potential employer who has not advertised any vacant or open positions. It is essentially marketing yourself and what you have to offer to companies.
• Networking Cover Letter: This type of cover letter is used to ask for advice or search for open positions and recommendations within your own network. This is basically leveraging your network to get a job opportunity.
• Email Cover Letter: An email cover letter is the kind of cover letter that is usually written in an email and not as a document attachment. Usually, this kind of cover letter is written when an employer has not specifically asked for a cover letter, and it is often short in length.

Having examined the kinds of cover letters there are, let us now write ChatGPT prompts to generate them.
 

Application Cover Letter Prompt

Prompt: “Can you write me a job application cover letter for the position of Analyst in Auxland Analytica?”

 

 

The first thing you would likely notice in the response given by ChatGPT after you run the prompt is that the generated cover letter has the aforementioned features of a typical cover letter.

Also, you would notice that its tone is one of job search. Therefore, including the keyword “application” helped ChatGPT to know what kind of cover letter we wanted it to write.
 

Referral Cover Letter Prompt

Prompt: “Write me a referral cover letter recommending me for a vacant position of accountant in The Accounting Company.”

 

 
In the above prompt, we instructed ChatGPT to write a referral cover letter, also known as a letter of recommendation, for a vacant position in a company, and it did a good job writing it from the perspective of either a colleague or a former employer.
 

Prospecting Cover Letter Prompt

Prompt: “I want to send a cover letter to XYPB Advertising Agency, but they have not advertised an open position. Write a cover letter telling them about my skills and expertise in data analysis and how I can be a good fit.”

 

 
As you can see in the above response, ChatGPT did a decent job crafting a prospecting cover letter, also known as a cold contact cover letter.
 

Networking Cover Letter Prompt

Prompt: “I belong to a network of data professionals, and I want to leverage this network for professional advice and job search. Can you write me a compelling cover letter that I can send to some within my network?”

 

 
You will notice that the structure of this cover letter is quite different from the structure of an application cover letter or a referral cover letter, both of which are usually addressed to an organization.

This is because of the purpose of a networking cover letter, which is to leverage a person’s professional network to get assistance with the job search.
 

Email Cover Letter Prompt

Prompt: “Can you write me a short email cover letter for the position of social media manager at BopCom Communications?”

 

 

Again, ChatGPT came up with a good response to the prompt passed to it.

From the above examples, it is quite obvious that you have to be very specific in your prompt request so that ChatGPT can know exactly the kind of cover letter you want it to write for you. See How to Write Better ChatGPT Prompts, for different ways to improve your ChatGPT prompt.

It is important to use keywords associated with a particular cover letter or describe in some detail the type and style of the cover letter you want.

The best ChatGPT prompts for writing a cover letter are those ones that make it easy for ChatGPT to understand what kind of cover letter it is required to write.

 

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Do you need more explanations on the best ChatGPT prompts for writing a cover letter? Then you should have a look at the following YouTube video of the Statistics Globe YouTube channel.

In the video, we explain the best ChatGPT prompts for writing a cover letter in some more detail.

 

The YouTube video will be added soon.

 

Furthermore, you could have a look at some of the other interesting AI-based tutorials on Statistics Globe:

• How to use ChatGPT for Story Writing (Example)
• Best ChatGPT Prompts for Marketing (5 Examples)
• What is A ChatGPT Prompt? (5 Examples)
• Best ChatGPT Alternatives for Coding (5 Examples)
• Introduction to Python Programming

This post has discussed the best ChatGPT prompts for writing a cover letter. As you use ChatGPT to craft cover letters, it goes without saying that such cover letters should still be edited and the content and wordings modified, because some employers now use AI to detect AI-written cover letters.

Any cover letter flagged as AI-written is immediately discarded, and the job application is rejected. Therefore, the point of this tutorial is to show you how you can use ChatGPT to create, more or less, templates for different kinds of cover letters, which can guide you in your cover letter-writing task.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this tutorial! In case you have further questions, you may leave a comment below.