Administrative cover letter example

The administrative desks of any company are its nerve centers. All information flows into and out of it. That means when hiring managers look to fill administrative positions, they need someone who can handle whatever comes at them with grace and efficiency. A great administrative cover letter gets your application to the top of the pile by showing off how you keep your department running smoothly.

The devil is in the detail, so how do you set yourself apart in a 400-word document? Rely on the experts to help!

In this cover letter guide, along with the corresponding administrative cover letter examples, we’ll cover the following topics to help you write the best cover letter possible:

• How to choose the best cover letter format and what paragraphs the cover letter should include
• How to make the most of each portion of your letter (header, greeting, intro, body and conclusion)
• What approach to take when writing your cover letter
• How to avoid common mistakes when writing your administrative cover letter.

What is the purpose of a cover letter when you have a great resume? (If you need help there, check out our resume guides as well.) What will make hiring managers sit up and take notice? The guide below will analyze the details and answer those questions (you can also check out our library of 125+ cover letter examples).

Best format for an administrative cover letter

Organization is the name of the game for administrative professionals, so show off your talents with a well-formatted cover letter. Your application letter should contain:

• The cover letter header
• The greeting / salutation
• The cover letter intro
• The middle paragraphs (body of the letter)
• The ending paragraph of your cover letter (conclusion and call-to-action)

While these sections are standard, what you put in them is not. Before you begin, consider each company you plan to apply to. Get an understanding of its culture and mission. Find out how many people you will work with, if possible. All this information will guide the tone you take and the message you choose to deliver. 

The comprehensive cover letter guide is a great read for general advice on writing cover letters, but the remainder of this text gets deeper into each paragraph and how best to compile it.

The administrative cover letter example below gives an overview of how to create your own application:

Cover letter header

Make the most of the only design element your administrative cover letter contains. Administrative workers need to present a cool as a cucumber image to the office at all times.  A cleanly attractive header helps you establish that image at first glance.

That’s a bonus benefit of the header, whose main purpose is to display your contact information. This section should contain your name, email and best contact phone number in legible type. 

 Although you want to create a memorable image with your header, make sure above all that it is readable. You don’t want to place any obstacles in the way of your goal. You're writing this letter to get an interview, so make it easy for recruiters to schedule with you.

The aim of this section: Lay the groundwork for you image as an organized professional and make sure your contact information is in the forefront.

Cover letter greeting

The greeting of your administrative cover letter is just a few words, but they carry weight. Why? People warm up if they are addressed by name. “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language,” Dale Carnegie, the guru of self-improvement and corporate training once said.

That’s why you should start off by using the name of the hiring manager, or if you can find it out, the name of your prospective boss. Unless you know for certain that a casual opening such as “hi there” is appropriate, stick with the more formal: “Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms. Surname” and triple check that you have the spelling and honorific correct. 

If you cannot discover the name of the person responsible for hiring, “to whom it may concern” is fine. “Dear _____ team” is acceptable if you know that fits in with the corporate culture.

The cover letter sample text below sticks with “Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms. Surname,” because it’s hard to go wrong with that traditional greeting.

The aim of the cover letter greeting: Make the extra effort to engage the hiring manager by learning their name and using it to draw them in.

Cover letter introduction

The role of administrative personnel is ever-changing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants can do some of the work that once was done by hand. A strong administrative cover letter uses the introduction to highlight what you can do that AI can’t.

Client follow-up, programming skills, dealing with office personalities and priorities and even interpreting the data computer’s crunch are all skills AI cannot do, FastFuture points out. Focus your introduction on these high-level tasks and show how you are learning and evolving into the role of the future. You must only answer the question: “Why should I hire you?” by making it clear that your value goes well beyond answering phones or scheduling meetings.

If you can’t convince the recruiter here that you will be a great addition to the team, you won’t make the cut.

The aim of the cover letter intro: Point out the high level skills that make you a true value add to the company. 

Administrative cover letter middle part (body)

You’ve wowed them with your main message, now you have the space to back that up with outstanding examples from your career. Explain why you want this particular job, then use career successes to show exactly how you will not just keep the office running smoothly, but improve processes and take on new tasks.

As you compile your career bests, make sure that they illustrate times when 25 tasks all had to be completed in the next 5 minutes or the office would implode! OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration (maybe not) but you want to demonstrate that you can handle the toughest situations with aplomb.

Try to let your personality show with both the stories you choose and the language you use. Also remember that the body of your letter also gives you space to add detail and data that did not fit into your resume. 

Read the cover letter sample text below for one way to accomplish this.

The aim of the body of your cover letter: Cement the recruiter’s impression of you as a multi-tasker who stays calm under pressure and reveal a bit of your personality.

How to close an administrative cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)

A memorable administrative cover letter ends with a flourish that leaves no doubt in the recruiter’s mind that you deserve that interview. Show confidence that you will have the office under control and will make the working lives of all you support easier.

Restate the reason you will be a great fit for the job. Then, add a more personal touch. Try detailing why you want to work for the company (it doesn’t hurt to be a bit complimentary but don’t veer into fawning) or express the satisfaction you get from a job well done. Leave something unsaid that would be a great question for your interview.

Finish with a respectful request for an interview and sign off with “Sincerely” or “Best regards.”

The aim of this part:  Remind the recruiter why you are an excellent candidate and request an interview.

Administrative cover letter with no experience

Maybe you’re thinking, “Sure, this would be easy if I had administrative experience, but I don’t!” That’s OK. Your targeted job requires many soft skills that you do have experience using. If you have participated (or better yet led) and extracurricular activities, completed group projects, taken any computer or business classes, or volunteered, you can use those experiences. The soft skills you want to highlight include:

• Organization
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Time management
• Reliability

Explain why you want the job and show that you are responsible and ready to enter the workforce.

Basic mistakes in an administrative application letter (and how to avoid them)

1. Spelling and grammar errors. While a hiring manager may overlook a typo, you don’t want to take that chance, especially because you may be tasked with client-facing communication. Have a friend or colleague look over your letter. Use a spellcheck and grammar check function, but don’t rely entirely on them. They make errors too.
2. Getting too wordy. Keep your examples and anecdotes to a sentence or two at most. You only have about 400 words, so you don’t want to spend them all in one place.
3. Focusing too much on one type of skill. You definitely need soft skills in your job, but don’t forget that your software expertise and ability to analyze data are valuable too.

Key takeaways for an administrative cover letter

1. Administrative roles have expanded to include higher level skills.
2. Adopt a tone and message that reflect the culture of the company you are applying to work for.
3. You will be working closely with many people, so let your personality show through. This will help recruiters decide whether you are a good fit.
4. Use examples that show off your grace under pressure.

Resume.io’s expert-tested and pre-formatted cover letter templates make it simple to click and start creating. Use the advice in this guide to help you develop a letter that speaks directly to the hiring manager and grabs you that interview.