Engineering Cover Letter: The Complete Guide with Templates

Engineering has always been an important part of human development. It means that getting an engineering job can secure your employment for most of your life. Of course, a big company would want to hire the best of engineers. In this case, aside from resume/CV, you might also need to write an engineering cover letter. 

So, what exactly is a cover letter?

A cover letter is a document consisting of 250-400 words that is sent with your resume to provide employers with additional information alongside your skills and experiences. The purpose is to display detailed information upon the achievements in your resume/CV, your strengths, and explain why you are the perfect candidate for the job.

An engineering cover letter is important when applying for engineering jobs because recruiters would want you to elaborate on past experiences working on projects, how you achieve accomplishments, how you overcome challenges and problems, etc. They want to hear proof and stories to be sure that you are the perfect candidate for the job.

Recruiters may receive hundreds of job applications in a day. By this, your cover letter needs to stand out among hundreds of others. So what does an eye-catching engineering cover letter look like?

Here is a sample cover letter for engineering jobs that could attract hiring managers.

Well, there you have it! Any hiring manager would have an eye for Jesse’s numerous achievements and strong motivation.

You can also make an engineering cover letter as powerful as Jesse’s.

But first, let’s break down each section of a cover letter for engineering jobs.

What should an engineering cover letter (engineering motivation letter) include?

Here are the components that made up a cover letter for an engineering job application with examples.

First things first, the cover letter header consists of three main parts: your contact information, date, and the hiring manager’s contact information. These include your name, position, address, phone number, and email.

Simply start by greeting your hiring manager by his/her name. This will leave a good first impression on the company. You can easily search for their name through the company’s website or other platforms (eg. LinkedIn).

Then, grab the hiring manager’s attention with a couple of eye-opening sentences as the opening of your engineering cover letter. Make sure you do this part right because you need to differentiate yourself from other competitors from the very start of your application letter for the engineer position.

In the context of a job application letter for engineers, there are several ways to do this:

• Convey enthusiasm

• Mention a contact

• Show an impressive accomplishment

In this section of a cover letter for an engineering job, you can mention your strengths, achievements in the past and explain why you are the best candidate for this position.

You can write it in paragraphs or in bullet points. Here are some examples:

In paragraph:

In bullet points:

In this part of an engineering cover letter, you will explain your motivation in applying for the position. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how well you know about the company and its products, as well as how much you resonate with the company’s values. 

Although a cover letter does not necessarily have to include this segment, it can gain you some extra points. You can bring up your portfolios, projects, personal special circumstances, etc.

When reaching the end of your engineering cover letter, you can mention further opportunities that you look forward to (eg. telephone call or Skype call). Also, don’t forget to express gratitude. It is a way of expressing politeness that anyone would love to hear.

Last but not least, sign off with your name and signature.

Now that you’ve seen segments of an engineering cover letter as well as examples of cover letter for engineering jobs, here are some tips for different engineering professionals you shouldn’t miss when writing your engineering cover letter.

Application Letter Tips for 5 Different Engineering Professionals

Software Engineer / Software Developer

• Include software skills in your software developer cover letter. Use this chance to highlight the most impressive accomplishment you’ve achieved using your knowledge of the specific tools you’ve listed.
• Any soft skills contribute to a positive working environment so be sure to add soft skills to your software engineer cover letter.
• Do your research. You can include successes or failures that the company faced in the past because this lets the hiring manager know that you are aware of the challenges you might face in the future.

Mechanical Engineer

• Recruiters might want to know the experience you have with tools (eg. MATLAB, Autodesk Revit, etc.) on a cover letter for the mechanical engineer position. Remember to include the ones that match the job requirements.
• A motivation letter for mechanical engineering usually includes past achievements that are measured with numbers. This way, recruiters are ensured that you are result-driven when solving problems.

Civil Engineer

• Civil Engineers are thinkers by nature, they deal with technical problems and figure out the best solutions. When writing an application letter for a civil engineer job, it is important to showcase your problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Project management is another skill you can include in your cover letter for a civil engineer position. You may include experiences about managing a diverse team, working with clients, using resources effectively, etc.
• Include essential technical skills (eg. CAD software, reviewing blueprints, map reading) to your cover letter for a civil engineering job.

Electrical Engineer

• Since electrical engineering is broad, it is better to highlight several hard skills that match the job requirements in a cover letter for an electrical engineer position.
• Electrical engineering is one of the most rapidly growing disciplines in the engineering field. Thus, you might want to express your enthusiasm for learning since you will need to stay up to date.
• It is also great to quantify your achievements in an application letter for the electrical engineer position to let recruiters know you are goal-oriented.

Network Engineer

• Network engineers spend time dealing with the data center. Therefore, it is ideal to display experience working with network infrastructure, network security, firewalls, and cable installation in your network engineer cover letter.
• You can emphasize your excellent communication skills because you might interact with clients and help troubleshoot network issues.
• In some cases, only having a degree related to computer engineering isn’t enough. Therefore, additional certificates such as completion in specialized training programs would be a big plus when writing your network engineering cover letter.

Then you ask:

“I’m a fresh graduate, I don’t have the skills and achievements as stated above.”

“How am I gonna write an engineering internship cover letter with no experience?”

Are you a fresh graduate looking for ways to writing an entry-level engineering cover letter?

No matter it is a job application letter for electrical engineer freshers, a cover letter for mechanical engineer freshers, or a cover letter for software engineer freshers, the following 5 tips can for sure take your cover letter to the next level!

Extra Tips on Cover Letter for Fresh Graduate Engineers and Internships

Tip 1 : Stress on career objectives

Though an application letter for an engineering fresh graduate may lack experience, you can still put emphasis on your career objectives. Write about why you want to work for the company, what you’d like to achieve from the company, or how you can bring benefits to the company.

Tip 2：Highlight educational qualifications and soft skills

Let us not underestimate having a diploma/degree because knowledge and experience accumulated in education help shape who we are. You also can share about your laboratory research, thesis project, or study cases. Mentioning these are a great way to show your strengths in a cover letter for a fresher engineer.

Engineering applicants tend to weigh on technical skills, therefore neglecting soft skills. However, when scanning for engineering internship cover letters, recruiters often look for a candidate’s soft skills. While hard skills can be taught, interpersonal skills are difficult to come by.

Tip 3：Show understanding of the company

Doing research about the company’s history, mission or any current challenges is an effective strategy to show your sincerity and enthusiasm towards the position. Apart from expressing how much you want to work for the company, try elaborating how much you understand the company, how you resonate with their values, and how can you contribute to the company.

Tip 4：Include keywords from the job description

Many companies utilize a software called Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to filter candidates’ cover letters. It scans for relevant keywords and evaluates whether the candidate’s skills match what recruiters are looking for. For example, if programming languages like Python and Java are stated in the job description, don’t forget to specifically include them in your cover letter. But, make sure it is really a skill you have.

Tip 5：Proofread your cover letter

Last but not least, always proofread your work to make sure there aren’t any typos or grammar mistakes. This is extremely crucial because it mirrors your attentiveness and attitude towards the job.


Still have no idea on writing your application letter for the engineer position?

That's okay! Here is an engineering cover letter template made for you!

There you go!

Now that you have an understanding of writing a cover letter for different engineering jobs, it is time for you to achieve that dream job of yours. Good luck!