Project Manager Cover Letter Template Project Manager Cover Letter Template: Fill & Download for Free

Put yourself in the position of the hiring manager.Assume you have a stack of 50 applications to go through and 30 mins to do it - that's 36 seconds per application.Think about what would grab your attention within the first five seconds of reading the cover letter, enough to make you want to go over your 36-seconds-per-application allocation for this particular application and read the full resume.The thing to remember is this - a hiring manager is not, even with the best will in the world, going to want to (or have the time to) read through a couple of paragraphs of text on a cover letter to work out whether it's worth reading the actual resume it accompanies. It's the old adage where you have five seconds to make an impression.So the perfect cover letter will enable the hiring manager to decide, within five seconds of scanning it, whether it's worth reading your resume or not.You might start with a brief, introductory paragraph written in friendly but professional language, but the main part of the cover letter will contain, as bullet points, some details of the achievements, results and successes in your career so far that are relevant to the job and/or company you're applying for.These details should be presented as data - real numbers that are relevant and impressive. You will hopefully know your industry, and the job you're applying for, well enough to know what these might be.Don't say, "I am an expert software engineer with a high level of initiative and strong technical knowledge." Of course you are, and so is everyone else applying for this job. I strongly believe that there is no point making generic, unsubstantiated statements about qualities or personality. Ditto for things like "I am delighted to provide my application for this position" or similar throw-away statements - again, of course you are, and so is everyone else applying.Say something like, "I am a software engineer with a GPA of [x.x] from [XYZ University], and X years of experience working on software projects which are relevant to this particular job and company because [reasons, including data]."Obviously tailor this to your particular stage in your career - maybe your GPA isn't relevant any more, but your experience managing multi-million dollar projects and large teams of people is.Remember that best case, when confronted with a long, dense cover letter, the hiring manager might just ditch it and do a five-second scan of the resume instead; more than likely, though, you'll go on the "maybe" pile, in which case you'd need to hope that the hiring manager has the time and inclination to re-visit your details later - assuming they don't find enough good resumes in the remainder of the ones they're reviewing.Or worst case, you'll go straight to the "no" pile, because the hiring manager knows he/she won't have time later. Believe me, I have sat across the desk from countless hiring managers while they've been reviewing resumes, and the first thing that pretty much all of them did was triage the whole pile like this. They do not go through them one-by-one, reading every word in every paragraph from start to finish.I gave a longer list of bullet points (almost step-by-step) in my answer to How do you get your resume and cover letter noticed?

The most important thing is to tell the truth. Apply for a junior PM position, show focus, effort and reliability. Don't send a template cover letter. Be more creative with it and even with the CV. You have to show the them that you care.

I’ve landed three remote jobs during my career and there’s a rigid step-by-step process I use to land full-time remote jobs. I have it down to a science now. So much so that I documented it in detail here to help other people land full time remote jobs.Here is the process in a nutshell:Step 1: Know why you want to work remotelyIf you want to work remotely to “try something different” there’s a small chance you’ll get hired by a remote company. There’s an even smaller chance that you’ll enjoy working remotely.Some good reasons for wanting to work remotely include:A desire to travel — you want to see the world or country without putting your career on holdA desire to help someone — you want to help an elderly or sick family member or friend without putting your career on holdA desire to be more peaceful and productive — you’ve been in multiple office environments and the gossip, politics, fluorescent lights, and cubicles create negative energyAction step: Take 5 minutes to think about why you want to work remotely. What doors will it open up? If nothing compelling comes to mind, I recommend stopping here.Step 2: Find full-time remote opportunitiesMany people make the mistake of only applying to remote jobs through remote job boards like We Work Remotely, Remote OK, and Jobspresso. The thing is, hundreds of people apply to these jobs each week because they are the most obvious platforms for finding remote work.A better approach is to use major job boards like Indeed and ZipRecruiter to find remote jobs.For Indeed, put the name of your desired position in the “what” field and the word “remote” in the where field. (Indeed is the only major job board I know that supports “remote” as a location.”)For ZipRecruiter and other major job boards like LinkedIn Jobs, put the name of your desired position and the word “remote” in the “job title” field and leave the “location” field blank. The opportunities you find this way will have less competition.Perhaps the best way to find remote jobs though are through AngelList Jobs, a job board where startups with remote cultures post opportunities. Competition is a little higher here but usually not as high as remote job boards. To find remote opportunities, click the “Location” tab and select “Remote OK”.You can also use this trick to find opportunities that aren’t listed on job boards.When you find opportunities that interest you and that you’re qualified for, add them to a job tracking sheet like this.Action step: For now, find five remote job opportunities and add them to your job tracking sheet. Don’t apply yet though. Only do so after you create an online resume, portfolio site, and “idea first” cover letter (see below).Step 3: Create an online resumeThe more digital assets you have, the more appealing you are to remote hiring managers. Since most communication is done online through text at remote companies (web chat, email, internal wikis, etc) having assets like an online resume shows you can communicate effectively on a digital platform.To create an online resume, I recommend using VisualCV.Action step: Create a resume with VisualCV.Step 4: Create a portfolio siteAnother digital asset that will improve your chances of getting interviews is a portfolio site. Here is mine.In addition to creating a portfolio, you’ll want to create showcase pages for your most recent jobs. These are separate web pages on your portfolio site that expand on the accomplishments listed on your resume. Here is an example of one. You may have noticed that I link to these pages at the bottom of each job in the “Experience” section of my resume.Action step: Create a portfolio site with WordPress. (I show you how to do this step by step in the remote job course.)Step 5: Write an idea-first cover letterRemote companies are untraditional so don’t send them a traditional cover letter. If you do, you won’t hear back.Instead, send them a note about your ideas for helping the company in the role you’re applying for. Doing this will take more time but it will get you more responses.Here is the cover letter template I use.Try not to spend more than 15–20 minutes writing the cover letter. Even when you put in more effort, it might fall on deaf ears.Note: The cover letter template linked to above is particularly effective for applying to jobs on AngelList.Step 6: Apply to remote jobs and prepare for interviewsComplete some applications and see what happens. If you don’t hear back from anyone, don’t get discouraged. Keep applying. This is a game of volume. The more you apply to, the more you’ll hear back from.That said, only apply to jobs that interest you. Working remotely for a company you don’t care about is just as bad as working in an office for the same company.Trust me on this one.When you do get an interview, do these two things:If the first interview is via conference call, download the conferencing software a day or so before the interview. I’ve made the mistake of downloading it just a minute before and have arrived late to interviews because of this.If you’re interviewing with the hiring manager (the person your role will report to), offer to do a test project. This will show them that you’re genuinely interested in the role and joining the team.And that’s the skinny of it all.If you want more details and are serious about getting a full-time remote job, check out the extended version.