Journalism Cover Letter

If you’re looking to break into the journalism industry, you know how important it is to have a strong cover letter highlighting your skills and experience.

While exciting and immensely rewarding, journalism is highly competitive, especially for entry-level writers. So whether you’re pursuing a career as a broadcast journalist, newspaper reporter, or magazine writer, you need to know how to pitch your relevant experience and essential skills to hiring editors.

A well-written journalism cover letter is an essential part of selling yourself. Here are three ways you can optimise yours so that it hooks the editor and lands you your dream job.

1. Tailor your cover letter to the company

It’s never a good idea to send out the same cover letter to multiple positions, but it’s especially bad in journalism.

Every publication has its values. Hiring editors will be looking for applicants who share those values and are passionate enough about their subject matter to thrive in an industry that’s both competitive and highly time-sensitive.

If you already know the basics of how to write a cover letter, you’ll know that it’s important to outline your motivations for applying to the specific job — even if employers will almost certainly ask you the same question at the interview stage.

You should outline your motivations at two points in the cover letter:

• the opening paragraph
• at the end of your letter, right before your closing statement

These are important opportunities to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the role and tell the employer why you want to work for them, not any publication that will have you.

Review the job description and company website, so you’re sure of the company’s exact values, mission, and subject matter.

Perhaps your target company has a focus on local markets. Perhaps it invests heavily in its video journalism team. Identify specific traits and values that align with your career interests and use your journalism cover letter to explain how these have motivated you to apply.

2. Show you’re qualified for the specific role

The purpose of a cover letter is to explain your reasons for applying and relate your experience and skills to the open position.

The contents of your cover letter shouldn’t be a generic description of your skills, education, and work history.

Instead, use your journalism cover letter to demonstrate your suitability for the role by providing an overview of achievements, skills, and qualifications that are highly relevant to the job description.

Most employers look for qualified candidates who won’t need extensive on-the-job training, so your cover letter should outline the traits and achievements they seek.

Review the job description and requirements closely to identify the role’s core competencies. These will likely include interviewing, fact-checking, and storytelling.

Choose three relevant skills you possess and explain how your mastery of them makes you an excellent candidate for the job.

Journalists typically need a number of hard skills (learned, industry-specific skills) and soft skills (personality-related abilities). These include:

Soft Skills	Hard Skills
Written and verbal communication	Backend software (e.g. WordPress, Medium)
Creativity	SEO
Time management	Video editing software (e.g. Premier, Final Cut Pro, After Effects)
Interviewing	Excel
Analytical skills	Google Analytics
Active listening	Newsletter design (e.g. MailChimp)
Pitching	Graphic design (e.g. Photoshop)
Scripting	Proficiency in news writing
Attention to detail	Social media analytics

3. Quantify your achievements

Numbers make the employer’s job easier by making your cover letter more digestible and easier to scan.

Some numbers you could include in a cover letter for a journalism role are:

• how many articles you’ve written
• the circulation of a publication you’ve written for
• changes in new site metrics (e.g. unique page visits, bounce rate etc.)

Quantifying your achievements will make them stand out to the employer, but only include numbers highly relevant to the hiring company and position.

For example, you might talk about your success in increasing unique page visits if the requirements for the job include SEO skills or proficiency in writing web content. You wouldn’t if the job ad is for a print publication.

Data is a powerful tool for your journalism cover letter, especially if you don’t have a long work history. They can draw attention to your skills and achievements and away from your years of experience.

Number of freelance articles, amateur writing prizes, or personal blog metrics (e.g. page visits or shares and comments) are great figures for entry-level journalists to include — if they demonstrate your suitability for the role.