Menards cover letter example

Working in the DIY industry, either in store or head office, requires an immense amount of specialist knowledge. Not just any retail professional can get their head around the variety of 35,000 SKUs that are stocked and the complexity of how customers shop for home improvement projects. While a retail resume should be packed full of quantitative achievements, a cover letter offers the opportunity to explore the specific fit in a lot more detail. Hammer home your advantage.

This Menards-specific writing guide along with our adaptable cover letter example will look at the nuances of applying to such a coveted employer. Working in home improvement is a highly rewarding career – in this guide we will consider:

• Looking at the right format to make the most of your DIY career journey
• What to include in each section – intro, middle part and conclusion
• How to find a balance between breadth of experience and detail
• Common mistakes that risk sinking your application

Best format for a Menards cover letter

Most retail professionals are highly structured in their approach to their work, so they will expect to read a well-presented cover letter. You only have the space to hint at the start of a few retail success stories, so pick the examples carefully. Make sure that they are tailored for each potential employer. The standard format is as follows:

• Cover letter header
• Greeting / salutation
• Cover letter intro
• Middle paragraphs (body of the letter)
• Conclusion of your cover letter.

While this guide is specifically written for retail professionals, our comprehensive cover letter guide brings together a far broader range of cover letter writing and job search advice for when you sit down to write this most essential of documents. When you have so few words to work with, every turn of phrase matters.

The Menards cover letter example is designed to serve as a model for your own:

Cover letter header

The header of the cover letter should contain your full name, your email and mobile number. Do not think that they are not required (you never know when the hiring manager might decide to invite you to an interview). As the saying goes, “retail is detail,” so make sure that you do not detract from your amazing career story by making basic errors in the header.

There is no requirement in a cover letter to include your full address (there are discrimination and potential data safety issues) – just your town and state will be fine. You can share the address at an offer stage. Also, as the Menards cover letter is an electronic document, you don’t need to include the inside address of the employer. This is traditional, but only do it if you are sure that it is correct.

Cover letter greeting

The greeting of the cover letter is not so tricky to get right if you know to whom the letter should be addressed. A formal “Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. Surname” will be fine. It is best to address it to the direct hiring manager, but the HR representative will be acceptable. Job descriptions will usually note to whom correspondence should be addressed.

If you are not sure to whom it should be addressed, then you might consider phoning the company to ask. This is impressive and shows initiative. If you have drawn a blank, then a “Dear (Company Name) Team” is far warmer than the formal “To whom it may concern.”

Cover letter introduction

The introduction should get to the heart of how your specific function helps to get the right home improvement product in front of the right customer. If you work in logistics, share an example about efficiency. If you work in the commercial side of things, talk about product development and cost savings. If you work in marketing, then strategy, market research and customer trends should dominate.

Ideally you would have worked in home improvement previously, but if not you need to think about how their customer differs from your previous experience. Buying food is not the same as buying products to refit your bathroom. How will your role differ?

The introduction should focus on how you made your personal difference in your role – go beyond the achievement to how you made it happen. Check out the introduction of our cover letter sample below.

Cover letter middle part (body)

The middle part, or body, of a Menards cover letter should contain a serious amount of numbers. Everything in retail is measured, and as your previous employers may have been in a different financial situation than Menards, do not forget to add in the context of the achievement. Raising store sales by $100k in a month may not impress many people, but if that was a 25% uplift, then jaws will drop.

The trick with sharing lots of numbers lies in the fact that the next question will be: “How?” You will have the time to answer this during an interview, so do be afraid to instead use the cover letter space to add a little personality to your story. Talk about the obstacles that you faced to make it happen, the people that you had to persuade or the market circumstances that you overcame. 

The middle part of your cover letter needs to make the Menards hiring manager think: “wow, I wish that they could do that for me.”

How to end a Menards cover letter (conclusion & sign-off)

A Menards cover letter should end with a sense of how you will walk into the role and make a difference from day one. There will always be doubts about your application that will need to be covered at the interview, but when you only focus on 3-4 career stories in your cover letter, each one needs to be strong.

The last consideration is the sales tactic of a call-to-action in the conclusion. The hiring manager will be carefully considering whether to invite you to an interview at this point, so make sure that you mention that you are looking forward to the possibility of meeting. Adopt a hopeful tone, but why wouldn’t you be curious to find out a little more?

Avoiding basic mistakes in a QA cover letter

While the following common mistakes might seem unlikely, just one error can reflect poorly on your application. You will doubtless be excited to send it off to Menards, but once you have pressed that send button there is no going back. Check: 

1. Accuracy of grammar and spelling. With the amount of online assistance in this area, such mistakes are unforgivable. Grammarly works well.
2. Use industry language. While a cover letter is more conversational than a resume, make sure that you are including enough industry terms and jargon. It should be clear to both the ATS and the hiring manager that you are a retailer, through and through.
3. Only include impressive numbers. While it is important to quantify your achievements, double check to ensure that the feats are truly impressive.

Key takeaways

1. Keep your focus on the specifics of home improvement retailing
2. Share only the examples that are most relevant to the future role
3. Make sure that you quantify your retail wins and add context.
4. Don’t go into too much depth – you can offer more detail during an interview.
5. Choose a suitable template that is professional and powerful.