Ask a Career Consultant
Hi there! Every week, the Career Development Team for Researchers at the Office of Career and Professional Development answers an anonymized career development question from the UCSF community. You can also visit the archive of all of our past columns. To submit your own question, email it to [email protected] with the subject line 'ASKOCPD.'
A postdoc asks—
Isn't a cover letter just a repetition of my resume written out? Is there something else that should be in there, or is that it?
A strong cover letter is not just a rehash of information from your resume; in fact, I’d argue that information that can be found in your resume doesn’t belong in your cover letter at all! If you think of a “cover letter” literally, it is the first page of your complete application that includes your resume. Resumes are limited to only talking about your past experiences and skills, but a cover letter is an opportunity for you to:
- Explain why you want the job in the first place! If you're finishing up training at UCSF, it's pretty unlikely you're going to be hired to do exactly what you've already done as it appears on your resume
- Talk about your future goals and plans and how they align with what an employer needs
- Give context and explanation for anything they might find in your resume that doesn't immediately seem perfect for the job
- Elaborate on how and why you've done what you've done on your resume
Ultimately, your cover letter is an opportunity to strengthen your application with additional information that doesn’t fit the format of a resume.
-Ray Care, Program Director, Career Development Team for Researchers