Your UX writer cover letter exists to convince the hiring manager you’re a worthy candidate to invest in and put on their team. So keep that frame of mind throughout this process.
There are 10 sections to a successful UX writer cover letter:
- The personable intro
- The actionable hack
- The connection between past and present
- The humblebrag
- The quick breath
- The passionate plea
- The painting of the relationship
- The sweet spot
- The call-to-action
- The mic drop
Together, they look something like this familiar cover letter:
Let’s break it down…
1. The personable intro
Because showing your personality is so instrumental in a successful cover letter, the best way to hook the hiring manager is to lead with what makes you you.
Here’s a template to follow:
I’m NAME — aka fun fact about you, fun fact about you, and fun fact about you. To know me is to have a defining personality trait or interest of yours.
Here’s what this looks like for my coaching clients I’ve been using as an example throughout these lessons:
I’m Coaching Client — aka the creator on Hitrecord, the Amtrak adventurer, the Earth whiz, the forever student. To know me is to have watched every Pixar movie and have enthusiasm for (very) long walks.
This is much more of a gripping intro than the standard, “I would like to submit my application for consideration for the role.”
2. The actionable hack
Hiring managers can get distracted while reading your cover letter, and we want to do everything in our power to fight that. That’s where the actionable hack comes in.
Instead of linking to your portfolio at the bottom (or not at all,) we’re going to link to it straight away. It’s likely the hiring manager will click the link right away, and then if the hiring manager gets distracted, your portfolio is still open in their browser.
Here’s how to write the actionable hack:
Feel free to exit here and check out my portfolio at your portfolio link.
You can hyperlink the URL or spell it out.
3. The connection between past and present
The next step is to connect your past experience to the future you’re after.
Maybe you’ve heard that to land a UX writing job you have to translate your past experience to make it relevant to UX writing. This is our first step in that direction.
We’re simply going to link your former career path to UX writing.
Here’s how ya do it:
Who I am: A former your former occupation who now your favorite part of UX writing.
Here’s what that looked like for my coaching client:
Who I am: A former human services professional who now strategizes and designs purpose-driven humane designs.
By starting with connecting your past to your present, we’re quickly painting the picture of your experience and how it’s relevant.
If you’re an existing UX writer, instead of highlighting your past career path, focus on how you’ve leveled up in your career as a UX writer. Where were you two years ago compared to now?
4. The humblebrag
Next, we’re going to back up your career path with your relevant skills. What aspects of UX writing do you excel at? This is where you’re gonna put ‘em.
Here’s the template to follow:
What I do: I UX writing activity and UX writing activity to design solutions with descriptor of what’s important in design.
And here’s an example from my coaching client:
What I do: I collect data with humility and ruthlessly prioritize needs to design solutions with confidence.
5. The quick breath
We’re optimizing for readability here. To do that, we need to make sure your cover letter is the right balance of light and dense. That’s why we’re going to take a pause from the hard-hitting info and add a punch of personality next.
We’re going to add personality in the form of when you do UX writing and your preferred workspace.
Here’s a template to follow:
When I do it: When you work best.
Where I do it: Your preferred workspace.
Here’s an example from my coaching client:
When I do it: Day or night. Dusk or dawn. Rain or shine.
Where I do it: Preferably, in my cozy work nook.
Feel free to insert other punches of personality here, but try to keep them light and work-related.
6. The passionate plea
After the quick breath, we’re gonna come in strong and get right to the heart of why we do UX writing. We’re going to answer what makes you passionate about UX writing and why you care about creating good UX content.
What works best here is what comes from the heart, so there’s no template to follow here — just keep it to a short sentence.
Here’s an example from my coaching client:
Why I do it: At its best, UX writing can make good social, cultural, and environmental impact. I do it because I believe in ethical design and digital wellbeing.
7. The painting of the relationship
Throughout this whole cover letter we’re peeling back the layers and getting more and more intimate. This level of personalization and intimacy is what will help the hiring manager connect with you and make you feel like a real person, not just a limp piece of (digital) paper.
After we share what gets you goin’ about UX writing, you’re going to paint the picture of what it’d be like to work with you. This is a combination of your approach to UX writing and whom you typically collaborate with (or envision collaborating with.)
Here’s a template to follow:
How I do it: With descriptor of approach to UX writing and descriptor of approach to UX writing. Plus, the support of a team of collaborator, collaborator, and collaborator.
And here’s an example from my coaching client:
How I do it: With patience and persistence. Plus, the support of a team of Product Managers, UX Researchers, and Product Designers.
8. The sweet spot
The sweet spot is where you hammer in on your area of expertise. This is another section where you can highlight what makes you extra relevant to the role.
Here, you want to list if you’ve worked in the industry before, have focused on similar projects listed in the job description, or have any pre-existing knowledge that makes you qualified for the role.
Here’s a template to follow:
I have a track record of relevant expertise and relevant expertise for the industry the role is in.
And here’s an example from my coaching client:
I have a track record of attentive interactions while finding solutions for health, well-being, and hospitality to visual art, photography, and user experience clients.
9. The call-to-action
As any UX writer worth their salt would do, we’re going to start tying things up with a solid call-to-action.
Most people leave a call-to-action out of their cover letter, which is a big mistake. Including a call-to-action not only inspires action, but it makes you appear like a confident candidate.
Here’s a template to follow:
I would love to take on a new challenge with company. Given my area of expertise background, I can make a mark on your continued progress.
I’d love to connect to learn more about the role to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to reach me at your email.
And here’s an example from my coaching client:
I would love to take on a new challenge with your company. Given my user-focused background, I can make a mark on your continued progress.
I’d love to connect to learn more about the role to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to reach me at client@gmail.com.
10. The mic drop
We could just end with the call-to-action, but we’re going to take it one step further and close even stronger with a mic drop.
What’s a mic drop? A thank-you. Never underestimate the power of thanking someone for their time.
Here’s a template to follow:
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to connecting soon.
Your name
Tying it all together
All together, the cover letter template looks like this:
Hi there,
I’m NAME — aka fun fact about you, fun fact about you, and fun fact about you. To know me is to have a defining personality trait or interest of yours.
Feel free to exit here and check out my portfolio at your portfolio link.
Curious to learn more? Indulge me as I dabble in the five W’s (plus one H.)
Who I am: A former your former occupation who now your favorite part of UX writing.
What I do: I UX writing activity and UX writing activity to design solutions with descriptor of what’s important in design.
When I do it: When you work best.
Where I do it: Your preferred workspace.
Why I do it: Why you’re passionate about UX writing.
How I do it: With descriptor of approach to UX writing and descriptor of approach to UX writing. Plus, the support of a team of collaborator, collaborator, and collaborator.
I have a track record of relevant expertise and relevant expertise for the industry the role is in.
I would love to take on a new challenge with company. Given my area of expertise background, I can make a mark on your continued progress.
I’d love to connect to learn more about the role to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to reach me at your email.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to connecting soon.
Your name
And here’s the full example from my coaching client:
Hi there,
I’m Coaching Client — aka the creator on Hitrecord, the Amtrak adventurer, the Earth whiz, the forever student. To know me is to have watched every Pixar movie and have enthusiasm for (very) long walks.
Feel free to exit here and check out my portfolio at portfolio.com.
Curious to learn more? Indulge me as I dabble in the five W’s (plus one H.)
Who I am: A former human services professional who now strategizes and designs purpose-driven humane designs.
What I do: I collect data with humility and ruthlessly prioritize needs to design solutions with confidence.
When I do it: Day or night. Dusk or dawn. Rain or shine.
Where I do it: Preferably, in my cozy work nook.
Why I do it: At its best, UX writing can make good social, cultural, and environmental impact. I do it because I believe in ethical design and digital wellbeing.
How I do it: With patience and persistence. Plus, the support of a team of Product Managers, UX Researchers, and Product Designers.
I have a track record of attentive interactions while finding solutions for health, well-being, and hospitality to visual art, photography, and user experience clients.
I would love to take on a new challenge with your company. Given my user-focused background, I can make a mark on your continued progress.
I’d love to connect to learn more about the role to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to reach me at client@gmail.com.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to connecting soon.
Coaching Client
No need to copy-paste — if you’re a member of Architect’s Edition(+), we’re gonna head over to my cover letter template next.
Wait — we’re not done yet
This is your template cover letter. But as we learned in JB#6, we need to use the UX writer job description to make our cover letter especially relevant to every role we apply to.
To do that, use the UX writer job description to do a keyword analysis:
And it left us with a keyword list like this:
- Thoughtful, well-designed experiences through words
- Listening to our customers
- Diving into research
- Writing with empathy
- Clean, clear, and enjoyable
- Write clear, thoughtful, and consistent copy
- All the points on a user’s journey
- Navigation
- Landing pages
- Emails
- Notifications
- Marketing copy
- Transform big-picture thinking and open-ended ideas into actionable next steps
- Communicate a complex product
- Incorporate research and deep empathy
- Experience writing for the web and mobile
- Successfully improved KPIs
- Figma
Now, we weren’t able to fit all of these keywords into our resume, so we’re gonna put the rest (and maybe some overlap) into our cover letter.
Here’s how we can use these keywords to optimize my coaching client’s cover letter for this specific job (keywords bolded):
Hi there,
I’m Coaching Client — aka the creator on Hitrecord, the Amtrak adventurer, the Earth whiz, the forever student. To know me is to have watched every Pixar movie and have enthusiasm for (very) long walks.
Feel free to exit here and check out my portfolio at portfolio.com.
Curious to learn more? Indulge me as I dabble in the five W’s (plus one H.)
Who I am: A former human services professional who now creates clean, clear, and enjoyable product experiences.
What I do: I write with empathy and dive into research to design thoughtful, well-designed experiences through words.
When I do it: Day or night. Dusk or dawn. Rain or shine.
Where I do it: Preferably, in my cozy work nook.
Why I do it: At its best, UX writing can make good social, cultural, and environmental impact. I do it because I believe in ethical design and digital wellbeing.
How I do it: With patience and persistence. Plus, the support of a team of Product Managers, UX Researchers, and Product Designers.
I have a track record of incorporating research and deep empathy while finding solutions for fintech companies.
I would love to take on a new challenge with your company. Given my user-focused background, I can make a mark on your continued progress.
I’d love to connect to learn more about the role to see if we’re a good fit. Feel free to reach me at client@gmail.com.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to connecting soon.
Coaching Client
Why have a template cover letter?
You’re never gonna be sure where the keywords will fit in, so it’s best to have a template to go off of. Simple as that.
Happy UX writing 🖖
