How to Write an Effective Cover Letter for an Online Job

I write cover letters in two slightly different ways. When I am the one applying for the job, my cover letter is less detailed and it’s main objective is to get the employer to read my profile. When the application is client-initiated (meaning: the employer already saw my profile and has invited me for an interview), my cover letter provides more details about my skills and the objective this time is to get the client to hire me.

But in both cases, I make it a point that my cover letter answers ALL the questions raised by the client in the job description or in the private message the he/she sent to me. From my profile, I take the skills that I feel will suit the position that I’m applying for, and edit them depending on the situation (as I mentioned above). I will also arrange my skills based on the job requirement.

For example, when I’m applying for a virtual assistant job whose main task is to setup and maintain blogs, I will place the paragraph mentioning WordPress, blogging, Web 2.0 platforms, HTML, CSS and other related skills above the other skills. Then maybe SEO and writing skills will come in the succeeding paragraphs.

When creating a cover letter, it is important that it doesn’t appear “canned”. It must read in a way that it speaks directly to the client/employer. I will discourage using a generalized cover letter because some client don’t find using such impressive.

If it’s too taxing to create a cover letter each time you apply for a job, you can create a guide or a template. A guide or a template will tell you what should be included in your cover letter, and in what order they come. But you have to vary the text and make sure that no two cover letters will look exactly the same.


My cover letters almost always contain:

1. Introduction (includes salutation/greetings, name “I am Juana dela Cruz”, title “a freelance web designer”, country “from the Philippines” and brief work history “I’ve been working as a web designer for so and so years, creating and designing websites for various so and so companies…”). If the client was the one who invited me to apply for the position, I always begin my cover letter by thanking him/her for considering me for an interview.

2. A brief summary of the job description. This is important because it shows that you have actually read and understood the job description.

3. Skills.

4. Availability, schedule and other work-related details.

Most of the questions/items raised in the job posting or in the message sent by clients are about skills and competencies, availability and rate, so make sure you cover them in 3 and 4.

5. End note (“Thank you”, “Looking forward to hearing from you again”, etc) and signature.

You don’t have to follow this guide exactly, but at least you’ll have an idea of the structure and you can be creative with your own cover letter.