Nursing Student Cover Letter: Starting Strong with Writing Tips and Template

For new graduating nursing students, the experience of job application can be challenging before becoming a professional nurse, especially when the medical field is at stake in people’s lives and health. Regarding the process of job application, many nursing students might decide to enter the field because of job security, but a significant number find it difficult to secure employment. The good news is that nurses are currently in high demand and are projected to continue being so in the future as well.

Although there seem to be a lot of uncontrollable factors in finding a job as a nurse, there are ways that can increase the possibility of being hired. Cover letters for nursing students are required documents to provide for the hiring manager. Therefore, writing a good student nurse cover letter may increase your chance of being seen among the pool of applicants since a nursing student cover letter demonstrates your prior experience and personality to the hiring manager. 

It is absolutely normal to feel anxious and overwhelmed at this stage. This guide includes tips and new graduate nurse cover letter examples that will help you write your nursing student cover letter and land you a job opportunity.

Before diving into the details on how to write a nursing student cover letter, some references might help with giving you an idea of what a proper cover letter for a nursing student should look like. Below is a nursing student cover letter example that shows the overall structure and details that need to be included in a new graduate nurse cover letter.

When writing your nursing student cover letter, there are several elements that you need to keep in mind. Including these things in your student nurse cover letter can help form an organized structure and make points clear:

Information of sender and recipient 

On the top of your nursing student cover letter, there should be information about the sender, which is you, and the basic information of the recipient, which is your hiring manager. For your information, there should be your full name, phone number, email address, and lastly, the link to your portfolio or LinkedIn profile. When filling out the information about your hiring manager in the cover letter for nursing students, put in his or her full name, job address, company name, and the company’s address. 

A clear subject line (for emails)

For new graduate nurse cover letters sent through email, it is good to have a clear subject line that states what your purpose is, such as “Ann Chen Cover Letter for Nursing Position” so that the hiring manager can immediately know what the email is about out of all the emails they have to check every day. 

Greetings

Before you start your graduate nurse cover letter, greet your hiring manager. Start off with a professional greeting such as Dear Mr. or Ms. Chen if you know their name. If none of the information is known, you can also use “Dear hiring manager”.

Body paragraph(s)

The body paragraphs of your nursing student cover letter are the most important part that highlights your skills and elaborates your personality. Normally, the body paragraphs of your nursing student cover letter can be separated into 2-3 parts:

1. Opening 

The opening paragraph of the student nurse cover letter is the part where you mention your intention in applying for this particular job position and briefly introduce your background. 

2. Interest & Experience

The major part of your nursing student cover letter is for you to explain why you are interested in the field of nursing and later on bring up relative experiences that you have worked on before and further highlight some of the important accomplishments that can help bring out your skills.

Closing

The closing is the last paragraph of your nursing student cover letter. In the closing paragraph of the student nurse cover letter, briefly summarize how you’re a great fit for the position, and lastly, thank the hiring manager for their time and that you are looking forward to talking to them more about your thoughts. 

Sign-off

When you have finished your cover letter for a nursing student, remember to sign off formally along with your full name, such as “Sincerely, Ann Chen” or “Respectfully, Ann Chen.”

Your contact information (for email)

If you are sending your nursing student cover letter in an email format, remember to include your contact information at the end such as your phone number and the hours to contact you so that the hiring manager knows when to best communicate with you for further notice or interviews.

Although in a nursing student cover letter the mentioning of working experience is considered essential, don’t worry if you don’t have any experience and are trying to write a nursing student cover letter for an internship. There are some tips for writing a nursing student cover letter with no experience. 

1. Highlight your educational background

Since you currently don’t have much about your working experience to write, the part where you can elaborate on in your nursing student cover letter is your education. Highlight your educational background in both the opening and body paragraphs. Talk about the classes you’ve taken and what projects you have done that relate to your interest in the nursing industry. 

2. Underscore your transferable skills

To highlight your skills in your nursing student cover letter, separate them into another section and underscore your transferable skills so that each skill is listed one by one and it is clear for the hiring manager to see.

3. Research the job description

Before writing your nursing student cover letter, research the job description of the position you are applying for because you have to have enough understanding of the role in order to target the areas you want to further explain in your student nurse cover letter. 

4. Demonstrate your passion in the job field

You might not have enough prior job experience to talk about in your student nurse cover letter, but in the paragraph about your interest in this industry, specifically demonstrate that you have a high passion for what you do and that you are ready in facing what the work field might bring.  By doing this, you are showing the hiring manager that you have a clear understanding of what you are doing and that you are loving what you do.

5. Show specific interest in the position

To show the hiring manager that you understand the job enough, besides the research you did for the job description, tell the hiring manager how and why the specific position attracts you and how your personality fits in. Your nursing student cover letter should show the hiring manager that you not only have enough knowledge of the position but that the values of the job also fit in with your perspective.

After reading the guidelines about how to write a nursing student cover letter, writing a cover letter for a nursing student can still be challenging when starting from scratch. Feel free to follow the nursing student cover letter template below as a reference in writing your own nursing student cover letter as you apply for a job.

--- Originally written by Ann Chen ---