Your resume details the work experience that gives you the gravitas to head up a workgroup, but to really show your skills, you need a team lead cover letter that expresses your leadership style and your philosophy of decision-making, delegating, and motivating.
In your position, it’s very important to gel with the company culture and those who you will be leading. That means you need to choose your words carefully and adjust your tone accordingly.
This team lead cover letter guide offers tips to help you create an application letter that has hiring managers wanting to get to know you better. It includes the topics:
- Why write a cover letter?
- What is the best format for a team lead cover letter?
- What sections should be included?
- How to make the most of your work history
- Overall writing tips
Let’s start with the sections of your application letter.
Best format for a team lead cover letter
Formatting is an important part of any team lead cover letter. Before you start typing, you need to know what sections go into a cover letter.
The format of a cover letter should contain the following elements:
- 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)
For general advice on cover letters, read our comprehensive cover letter guide, but below you will find specific advice on how to make the most of each section of your own document.
Why write a cover letter?
Will your letter be read? There’s no certainty that it will, however, in the cases where it is, a persuasive cover letter can make a big difference. As we mentioned above, your position is one that requires a personality fit as well as the skills to get the job done. Within your cover letter, you have the opportunity to display characteristics that blend into the company culture. That means doing a bit of homework to discover what the company culture is, but the extra effort will pay off.
This team lead cover letter example will give you a blueprint for writing your own cover letter:
Dear Ms. Lough,
As an experienced warehousing team lead, I have five years of experience managing a team of permanent and part-time warehouse workers to pick fresh fruit and vegetable orders for supermarkets and wholesale customers.
I have managed teams of 20 to 30 staff, working in warehouses with between 400 and 900 products. My teams averaged 25% above the average pick ticket volume and earned 26% above the warehouse average. My success lies in motivation and coaching an efficient physical approach to the work. My teams were off sick 15% less than average because they understood their individual physical limitations and worked within their capabilities.
In terms of picking accuracy, my teams consistently worked above the required rate and my annual employee turnover of 22% (excluding seasonal workers) was a testament to our productivity. I am a certified forklift trainer and regularly led the internal health and safety courses. A safe team is a team that works at its limits, but not beyond.
I have worked with a range of voice picking and RF technology and helped to introduce a degree of automated picking solutions in my previous role. I know that 10% of your warehouse is automated currently – I can help you to increase that where it makes commercial sense.
You have a great reputation for staff advancement, and I would be interested in potentially joining your management training program in the future. I look forward to the chance of discussing my experiences during a potential interview.
Sincerely,
Tom Porter
If you’re looking for additional inspiration for cover letter writing, you can check out our related IT cover letter samples:
Cover letter header
The header of your team lead cover letter has two purposes:
- To put your name, title, contact information, and social media presence front and center
- To add a graphic element to what otherwise would be a completely text-driven document
Display your name prominently and use your current title if it is relevant to the job you seek. Your contact information should be the phone number and email that you check most frequently. Add the URLs for your social media accounts only if they present a professional image. It is likely that your LinkedIn profile is your best bet here (but only if it is up-to-date).
Finally, align the style of your header with that of your resume design to present a united application package.
Cover letter greeting
Right off the bat, you need to set the tone of your team lead cover letter with the appropriate greeting. We recommend sticking with “Dear Dr./Mr./Ms./Mx. [Last name],” but be careful with the honorific you use. It is always better to make a call to find out who to address and how than to slip up here.
If at all possible, you should address the hiring manager by name. Why? Research shows that people respond more positively when their name is used than if it is not and since you are applying for a position that requires rapport with a team, you should begin with your cover letter.
If you absolutely cannot find the name of a person, or the HR department does not have a specific person who will review applications, you may use something like “Dear … Team,” or “Dear Hiring Department.” Under no circumstances should you resort to “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam.”
Cover letter introduction
Why do you want the job? What will you bring to the team? These are the questions you should answer in the introduction of your team lead cover letter. It’s unlikely that a recruiter will read any further if they don’t know what you can do for them.
In fact, your entire application should be geared toward explaining how you will ease a pain point. Begin by introducing your biggest success and describing your overall professional life (for example, “With my 10 years of experience leading software engineers, I bring …”).
Within this first paragraph, you may even want to present an idea that you have that will enhance the efficiency, productivity, or products the company offers. This shows that you are already tuned into the needs of your prospective employer.
The goal of the cover letter introduction: get the recruiter curious about you and give them an idea of what value you will add.
Dear Ms. Lough,
As an experienced warehousing team lead, I have five years of experience managing a team of permanent and part-time warehouse workers to pick fresh fruit and vegetable orders for supermarkets and wholesale customers.
Cover letter middle part (body)
In the body of your team lead cover letter, you should go into depth about your career achievements, leadership style, and philosophy. You may choose to relate an anecdote about handling a conflict within the team, or motivating the team to make a tight deadline.
This middle section is about three paragraphs, one of which should contain a break-out of several of your successes that don’t require further explanation. Just as in your resume, the use of details and data will strengthen these bullet points.
Carefully consider which of your achievements best match the job description. Use anecdotes that illustrate your professional personality and show how you will manage your team in a way that benefits the company.
The aim of the middle part: back up your claims of excellence and describe how you approach your work.
I have managed teams of 20 to 30 staff, working in warehouses with between 400 and 900 products. My teams averaged 25% above the average pick ticket volume and earned 26% above the warehouse average. My success lies in motivation and coaching an efficient physical approach to the work. My teams were off sick 15% less than average because they understood their individual physical limitations and worked within their capabilities.
In terms of picking accuracy, my teams consistently worked above the required rate and my annual employee turnover of 22% (excluding seasonal workers) was a testament to our productivity. I am a certified forklift trainer and regularly led the internal health and safety courses. A safe team is a team that works at its limits, but not beyond.
I have worked with a range of voice picking and RF technology and helped to introduce a degree of automated picking solutions in my previous role. I know that 10% of your warehouse is automated currently – I can help you to increase that where it makes commercial sense.
How to close a team lead cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
You’ve demonstrated your value to the company and detailed your professional life and you still have the attention of your reader. Now you need a strong conclusion for your team lead cover letter. First, restate your main point (“I am a great candidate for the job because …”).
This may seem obvious, but before you sign off, you should make it clear to your reader that you would like to discuss the opportunity further. In this call-to-action sentence, politely request an interview or express your desire to meet via video, phone, or in person.
Finally, sign off with “Sincerely,” or “Kind regards,” and your name.
The goal of your conclusion: Restate your main point and let the reader know you’re interested in an interview.
You have a great reputation for staff advancement, and I would be interested in potentially joining your management training program in the future. I look forward to the chance of discussing my experiences during a potential interview.
Sincerely,
Tom Porter
Basic mistakes in a team lead application letter and how to avoid them
- Adopt the appropriate tone. You may be a casual leader, but it’s best to dial that back in your cover letter unless you are certain that the company is very laid back. It’s always better to err on the side of professionalism or you may come off as flippant.
- Address your reader personally. This goes beyond simply using their name to discussing the particulars of the job and the company. Generic, cut-and-paste cover letters are obvious to people who read applications all day.
- Proofread to avoid formatting errors, typos, and grammatical mistakes. The cover letter templates at Resume.io can help, but you should still get another set of eyes on your work. If you are touting your attention to detail, but have a spelling error in your text, you are unlikely to get the interview.
Key takeaways
- Your team lead cover letter can make all the difference, so write one even if it’s not required.
- Use your cover letter to detail your style and philosophy of leadership. Try including an anecdote that illustrates how you handled a difficult situation.
- Create a header in which your contact details stand out and which matches the style of your resume.
- Don’t neglect a polite request for an interview.
