Bid Cover Letter: Fill & Download for Free

I have provided a 7 step guide for writing a compelling cover letter based on my own experiences of writing effective cover letters, helping others with their cover letters and assisting my manager with screening applications. I have included examples of how each step is helpful. This approach is particularly helpful to technical specialists e.g. engineers and geologists who may need some quick tips on marketing and effective communication. I have used the same approach of benefits, evidence, features in writing successful bids to clients to tender for projects.I recognise that writing a compelling cover letter takes a lot of time and critical thinking, so if you are restricted with time, pick your top job vacancies to apply for rather than resorting to a bulk mailout of a generic cover letter.Research – get this right and it will provide a strong foundation1. Research your networks. See who in your network knows about the company or hiring manager. See if you can get a hold of company mission statement, values statement etc. The last job I applied for I discovered that a number of people I knew also knew the hiring manager. I dug for as much information about him and his team as I could. I found out that he was technically very competent, an excellent manager, cared about his team members, very personable, keen on building a strong team. I also managed to get a hold of a company values and personnel competencies manual which outlined company values and how it relates to expectations of behavior and competencies for the different levels in the organisation i.e. graduate level, professional level, senior, level, principal level. This was very useful in terms of responding to the selection criteria with an understanding of the expectations of a specific level, in my case it was for a principal role. So I knew exactly what the organisation expected of this role in terms of the various selection criteria. I used some of the keywords in my cover letter.2. Research every agency and job site. If the position is being advertised through an agency, research various job sites and see if the same position is being advertised by various agencies. Contact all agencies and ask for more information about the position and company. The more background information you can get the better. As an example, a friend of mine was interested in a position offered by one agency through one job site. In doing further online research he discovered that the same position was advertised by multiple agencies through various job sites. Yet, each description provided a new piece of information about the position and each conversation with every contact person provided even more information. Be diligent. It pays off.3. Always call the contact person. See if you can get more information about the company and position that was not in the job description or advertisement. If you are lucky enough to get a hold of the hiring manager you may be able to get a glimpse into their personality, what they are focused on, and what their personal KPIs might be. When I called the hiring manager, who was the contact person for the job advertisement, I was able to discover more about the expectations for the vacant position. I later found out, after starting employment, that the hiring manager was restricted with what words and terminology he could use in the job description due to the bureaucratic rules of the organisation and that although he wanted to provide more specific job requirements and expectations he was not able to. Always call the contact person and try to get more information.Analyse and Plan – this is where all the hard thinking happens4. Identify keywords in the job description, conversation with the hiring contact person, company mission and values and anything else you got your hand on. Use these keywords.5. Identify benefits. This is the key above all! This is where technical specialists often get it wrong. But those who are marketing-minded would be more familiar with this approach. It is natural to put the focus on yourself, but actually you need to place the focus on the organisation and show off your understanding of their needs. This is where you get a chance to connect to the organisation and make them feel that you are a perfect fit.Identify how the organisation would benefit from hiring you. This should relate to the key reason for the existence of this specific position in the company. Do not confuse benefits with evidence or features. You know an idea is a benefit because it can be categorised into one of three items: (saves) time, (saves) money (or increase profits), (adds) confidence (emotions).As an example. I was helping a geologist, to apply for a principal geologist position. In a conversation with a contact person from a job agency he discovered that the company was looking for a geologist to assist in due diligence of potential investments in coal tenements. From this conversation he identified that the key concern of the company was in identifying quality coal tenements to invest in and filtering out the poor quality tenements. As an experienced geologist he would be able to identify whether the exploration company that was undertaking the exploration work was providing reliable data to the investing company or whether they were manipulating the interpretation of data to make it seem that a coal tenement was better than it actually was.In writing the cover letter the benefits that had to be highlighted up front was: as an experienced geologist he could provide geological confidence in the quality of the coal tenement which would support investment decisions and he could save money in terms of identifying poor quality tenements.6. Explain the evidence in your ability to provide these benefits. So in the example of this geologist, he gave a succinct summary of his 7 years of experience in coal exploration and specifically in data handling and interpretation as well as quality control of an exploration team of 90 people and 11 drill rigs. He could identify when other geologists were not thorough or precise in the processes, discrepancies in interpretation or if there were any quality control issues.Write your cover letter – build out from the dot points you developed in steps 4, 5 & 6.7. Your cover letter structure should be as follows (I am assuming you already have knowledge of creating a letter format):- Introduce yourself.- Highlight upfront the benefits to the organisation for hiring you.- Explain your evidence for being able to provide these benefits. Remember to refer to your references e.g. “ As my references can attest, I am reliable and communicative.”- Refer to your CV for more detailed information.- Close off e.g. I look forward to hearing from you.- Sign off.Make sure to keep your cover letter to one page.Check and recheck your contact details.All the best!

There are 4 critical steps in the process. We’ll go over each and if you follow my lead, you’ll land your first contract already next week.Understand that freelancing may easily convert into a serious international endeavor. You only need to further adjust your actions and responses to stop thinking job and start thinking business.STEP 1 - BRANDING processAs a freelance web developer, you’re entering one of the most competitive niches today. Don’t get intimidated because most of the freelancers don’t really want to invest their time in learning how it’s done. That’s your edge if you’re serious about it.The first thing you wanna do is to appear professional!To do that, you’ll buy a cheap hosting to cut on your expenses and BUILD A BRAND’s WEBSITE. That website will become your central marketing hub so take your time and build it to represent your brand.You’re a developer/designer which means that you provide with both backend and frontend — a complete — solution. The website must clearly demonstrate those services, so don’t rush with it; otherwise, you are risking a negative first impression.Central design (homepage, about, services and every other hub) must be designed for branding purposes (pick your colors, logo, and fonts and use it/stick with it).One of the hubs will be a link to your portfolio. It’s here where you’ll upload and explain (link) the creme of the crops or the projects you’ve done in the past that attract immediate attention. It would be great if those links would lead to websites with traffic!!However, if you don’t have some, build some NOW! Fail to do that and nobody will take you seriously.Don’t be afraid to run a blog or to build a simple downloadable magazine-like portfolio showcase easily available (one-click download without email hook) for your clients!!!STEP 2 - Creating a freelancer’s profileThis is not something that you should be doing pro forma. From the profile photo, elevator pitch, long description of the services and portfolio samples - every detail must sell!What you’ll do when you sign up on Upwork, for example, is to go over the profiles of at least 10 top competitors and see how they did it. Profile them. Study them. There has to be something in there they did right; otherwise, no one would choose their services, if you know what I mean.Be careful about your profile photo. Consult with people BEFORE you upload it because, as the rule of thumb, first impressions really do depend on a visual representation! It’s not rare that a client picks the provider based on a profile photo, remember that. Every little count!Be short, be concise and to-the-point, meaning that you won’t write essays in your short desc (elevator pitch). Instead, you’ll use as fewer words as possible to explain what you offer to the market.And that starts with the tagline that appears next to your name.You’re advised to use maximum 3–5 words (the principal marketing rule). For example: “Backend and Frontend Web Solutions,” or “Complete Web Solutions.” Take your time and play with it until YOU WANT TO HIRE YOU!!! Imagine yourself in your prospect’s shoes!The point of the tagline is to give a clear clue about what you are offering to the prospects in 3 words.In a long description, list your services. Use bullet points if there’s a lot of it, to make it easier for the clients.If your English sucks - get someone to proofread and edit it. Awkward sentences and grammar errors will act as a deflector. Again, take your time and write a compelling pitch. This is one of your assets in this business so you’re advised to take it seriously.While we are on the subject, it’s important that you comprehend the following:Freelancing is not yet another “job.” It’s full-scale entrepreneurship where you’re competing on the global market. Fail to recognize it as such and you’ll be making far less than expected!Learn the industry inside-out, learn strategies and tactics, and see how the entire process looks through the eyes of your potential clients!Populate the portfolio section of your profile with 4–5 best examples of your work. Use short descriptions of the process/work and link each with your web where details are provided.PAYMENTS!This can give you headaches if you’re not a US resident since the most work is done for US-based clients. You want a safe, fast and cost-effective payment process that looks professional in the same time, because there will be times when you’ll deal with the clients directly, bypassing the freelancing platform’s fees and saving money.The best option for the non-US freelancers is provided by one of the largest banks in the world, The Bank of America. They have developed a neat way to handle payments for freelancers and other online entrepreneurs called Payoneer.You can use ACH transfers for payments in USD made by US companies. SEPA transfers in EUR made by EU companies and even payments made by UK companies in GBP. This system allows low- to no-fee transactions and it takes 3 days for the money to show on your account.Another benefit of having the US bank account — and that’s what you’ll get with Payoneer solution — is a simple way to link it to your profile on Upwork, Freelancer, goLance and every other freelancing platform since they are partners with Payoneer.The reason why I’m going wide with this is the fact that many non-US freelancers are struggling to get their money through usual wiring processes. It takes time for the transfer to complete and there are usually high fees connected with the process. Having ACH will save you hundreds of dollars in fees alone.STEP 3 - OPTIMAL PORTFOLIO sampleWhy OPTIMAL?If I’m a client and I want SaaS, you don’t showcase an e-commerce solution because it’s irrelevant.For every project you’ll ever bid on, you have to provide the link (in your cover letter that we will go through a bit later) to the portfolio sample that is closely related to the nature of the project you’re bidding on.The success of your cover letter depends on your ability to prove your expertise in that specific case, remember that!That implies the following:Bid ONLY on the projects that you can develop with ease; at least in the beginning.PROFILE both project’s requirements and the client to understand the core problem and see the solution because you’ll have to give a hint of that uniquely effective solution in your cover letter.Pick your most OPTIMAL portfolio sample and get it ready. If you don’t have one that means that you’re not experienced and chances are slim that you’ll land the contract. To tip the scale in your favor, adjust the existing sample or build the bogus one. Just make sure that it corresponds to the project you’re bidding on.STEP 4 - The COVER LETTERAs the rule of thumb, 5% of freelancers are taking 95% of all the money! One of the assets that give them an edge is the cover letter/bid/proposal. They learned the craft of writing an effective “seller,” that’s all.In the same time, around 90% of all cover letters are pure generic, copy/paste crap that no one reads. I know that because I’m hiring freelancers for both mine and clients’ projects.This is your edge. Do it right and you’ll rapidly increase your success rate.There are a few simple rules of writing a compelling cover letter that attracts immediate attention.You see, everything hangs on your ability to effectively sell yourself and you have only 2 assets on your disposal for that:Portfolio sampleCover letterThat’s all that stands between you and a successful professional freelancing career. It’s up to you to decide how efficient you wanna be.Another thing you must accept is the reality of rejection!Each will feel like a slap in your face and you’ll be tempted to “force the sale.” Know this: impatient seller is a dead seller. You simply cannot please everyone. No one can. Rejections are part of the process and there’s nothing you can do about.However, there’s one thing you should do about it…Every failed proposal must be investigated. You do that by comparing you fails with your successes. In addition, every time you get rejected or not picked, take a moment and check the freelancer who got awarded, if in any way possible. Research the profile and portfolio. See where you made a mistake and make sure not to repeat it. Learn from your fails as the only way to upgrade and progress. Because that’s how we do it. Through the process of trials and errors. We learn to walk after learning that grabbing the leaf of the plant mother placed in the living room can’t keep us on our feet. Do the same and you’ll be fine.Hope my answer provided you with some guidance. Be persistent and invest some of your time in personal development. Above all, invest time in learning the industry.All the best to you and good luck!

Lots of great answers here: How do I write a killer proposal on Upwork as a newbie?