An office manager cover letter has to convey one important feeling: “I will do everything in my power to make your working life easier.” Any hiring manager has to feel enthused when they sense it.
The presence of an office manager impacts the lives of all colleagues who enter the workplace. When there is an opening for this position, every employee has a personal stake in ensuring that the new hire is highly competent. In a world where collaboration is essential, the office manager undertakes numerous responsibilities that would otherwise consume significant time if performed individually.
Hence, when crafting your office manager cover letter in addition to your resume, keep in mind that it will be reviewed by other staff members beyond just the hiring managers and HR team. Everyone desires your excellence! Therefore, the readability of your cover letter will be the primary factor considered.
Resume.io offers expert advice and support with every cover letter preparation step. Our job-winning resources include a wide selection of occupation-specific writing guides and free cover letter examples. In addition, we offer formatting advice, plus field-tested templates and builder tools to help you create both resumes and cover letters.
This writing guide, together with the corresponding office manager cover letter example, will:
So, let’s begin. What goes into making a compelling office manager cover letter?
The office manager cover letter serves as a powerful tool to not only showcase your skills and abilities but also to express your genuine enthusiasm for the role. As an office manager, you are entrusted with a diverse range of responsibilities, making it crucial to highlight your passion for the specific tasks associated with the position. By articulating your genuine love for these responsibilities, you can captivate recruiters and stimulate their imagination, allowing them to envision you seamlessly carrying out these tasks within their organization.
Moreover, an exceptional office manager cover letter possesses the ability to significantly enhance your prospects by demonstrating a strong alignment between your passions, the nature of the business, and the potential areas where your assistance may be required. By showcasing this compatibility, you present yourself as a perfect fit for the organization, capable of effectively contributing to its goals and objectives.
Focus on other people in your office manager cover letter — it’s not all about you.
The most effective office managers make a difference to those around them. Center your cover letter around your impact on others rather than just your ability to complete tasks. Anyone can do a task brilliantly, but if that doesn’t help anyone else, the value is diminished.
Bear in mind the phrase about busy fools and don’t come across as one in your cover letter. Everything you do at work should be carefully considered, with others at the forefront of your mind. If your cover letter gives the impression that you are “all about them,” then recruiters will definitely want to find out more during an interview.
Strive to come across as an office manager who is keen to raise the bar rather than being content with maintaining the status quo. Demonstrate your awareness of what may go wrong and your willingness to tackle routine problems and the odd crisis ... even fight fires that might break out on occasion.
For additional inspiration, you can check out these related administrative cover letter examples.
Concise communication and organizational skills are the staple of any office manager. So the structure of your cover letter will speak volumes about your ability to get your message across.
Your office manager cover letter should include the following components in order:
Let's take a closer look at the purpose of each one and how to optimize the impact
12/07/2020
Dear Mr. Steadman,
Working as an office manager with recruiters means that I always need to put recruiters, clients, and candidates first. Exceeding the needs of everyone is central to an efficient recruitment operation.
Significant experience overseeing recruitment operations has equipped me with the skills to streamline procedures for my team, foresee client requirements, and guarantee a seamless journey for our candidates.
At a previous employer, I levelled up our systems, introduced new technology such as chatbots to reduce unnecessary admin and improved reporting around business development. This brought an uplift of 22% in referrals. For any recruiter, it is critical that both front and back offices are efficient.
I always try my best to be the glue that holds the office together. When someone is not having such a good day, I am always happy to listen. I might have saved 9% on the office inventory costs, but I hope that I have added more value by improving employee engagement and retention.
My track record in improving processes fits the demands of the role:
When an office manager has an attitude of smoothing out the operational bumps before they grow into obstacles, employees don’t have to worry.
I would love the opportunity of an interview to gauge your requirements in more detail.
Sincerely,
Bryan Heydon
The header of your office manager cover letter might seem like a boring topic, but some vitally important boxes need ticking here. Include your name, contact details and anything else that the employer requests. The point is to make the process of reviewing and following up on your job application as easy as possible for hiring managers. Any time spent trying to track down missing information is time they could spend instead talking to one of your competitors.
The header also gives readers a chance to pause before getting into the meat of the cover letter. White space is valuable in any document to signify something important is coming up.
Keep in mind that the header of any application document is likely to be scanned by the employer's applicant tracking system ( ATS), so make sure that your contact details are easy for it (and then the hiring manager) to find and "read."
The aim of the cover letter header: Get the basics right — make it simple for people to contact you and easy for the ATS to "see."
Just as the little things matter once you are hired, getting the initial greeting right in your office manager cover letter is essential to start off on the best foot. The overall tone should reflect how you communicate, flowing from the letter's first words. Nothing should be jarring to the reader in moving smoothly on to the content that counts.
If the job application instructions mention a contact person, that is who you should you address in the cover letter greeting, preferably by name. Don’t underestimate the power of beginning any communication with a name.
Consider whether “<Ms.> <Mr.> Surname” should be preceded by the traditional “Dear” or the less formal “Greetings,” “Hello” or “Hi.” The latter options might be acceptable only if the workplace is known to be relatively casual. But since office managers typically communicate on an extensive external basis, the more formal greeting is a safer bet. Stop and think about the way your previous employers would have liked to be greeted.
If you are unable to identify your cover letter recipient by name or job title, we suggest avoiding the horribly outdated “To Whom it May Concern.” A better option is along the lines of “Dear <Company Name> Team.” At least your cover letter will seem more personalized and less like a generic copy-and-paste job.
There is no need to include your full home address at the top of the cover letter. There are potential data protection issues here. Share your address only when you are at the job offer stage. The inside address is not required as this is old fashioned and it is a waste of valuable cover letter space.
The aim of the cover letter greeting: Reflect your ability as an office manager to assess the the appropriate communication manner and tone, and make sure that you hit the right notes.
The introductory paragraph or sentence of your office manager cover letter should convey how you want to be remembered by colleagues after a hard week or month at the office.
What is the greatest value you bring to a team? How do you set yourself apart from other job applicants as a potentially indispensable addition to this office?
Alongside all the apps and technology that employees use to manage themselves, there will always be a place for a human like you to help keep the office machine working smoothly. This is essential to express in your cover letter introduction. It is so easy for office staff to be sidetracked by day-ruining problems. But working with a reliable and innovative office manager can ensure that such issues are cleared up quickly.
Present yourself as an empathetic and caring colleague with a business professional’s brain. Show your keen sense for making the right decisions for the right reasons.
The aim of the cover letter introduction: Show your potential as the solution to all of the office issues needing to be managed.
Dear Mr. Steadman,
Working as an office manager with recruiters means that I always need to put recruiters, clients, and candidates first. Exceeding the needs of everyone is central to an efficient recruitment operation.
The body of your office manager cover letter should highlight examples of the major impact you’ve made on the operations of your previous employers. Being a safe pair of hands is a given for many office managers; but going over and above the call of duty puts you in a separate league. If you want a job with the best employers — where less firefighting is required — you have to prove that you can improve things, as well as keep them running.
Talk about how you go about your daily work, the sort of projects you have taken on and the difference you have made with your decisions. We live in an era of continuous improvement, both behavioral and technological, so your cover letter needs a thread of progress running through it.
Also address the way you make things happen with other people. Your influencing and delegation skills need to be first-rate, so any potential boss will be impressed by real examples of making the impossible happen.
Successful business people don’t want to be telling people what to do all the time. To a certain extent, they simply need someone around to handle things. If you portray yourself as reliable, efficient and inventive, your next job won’t be far away.
The aim of the cover letter body: Describe where you made an impact in previous jobs — talk about projects you took on, reflect your people skills and show that you are a safe pair of hands.
Significant experience overseeing recruitment operations has equipped me with the skills to streamline procedures for my team, foresee client requirements, and guarantee a seamless journey for our candidates.
At a previous employer, I levelled up our systems, introduced new technology such as chatbots to reduce unnecessary admin and improved reporting around business development. This brought an uplift of 22% in referrals. For any recruiter, it is critical that both front and back offices are efficient.
I always try my best to be the glue that holds the office together. When someone is not having such a good day, I am always happy to listen. I might have saved 9% on the office inventory costs, but I hope that I have added more value by improving employee engagement and retention.
My track record in improving processes fits the demands of the role:
When an office manager has an attitude of smoothing out the operational bumps before they grow into obstacles, employees don’t have to worry.
Your office manager cover letter needs a powerful ending that will resonate throughout the entire recruitment process. You've come up with some powerful arguments thus far, but what is the real kicker? If there is one reason why you deserve to get the job, what is it?
You won’t likely know the exact requirements of the role, nor can you be sure about the cultural and personality fit until the interview. So don’t be overconfident in trying to sell yourself. But it’s definitely important to finish on a positive note and say that you hope to be invited for an interview. A call to action is something that shows you are ready for the challenges that await.
Finally, conclude your letter with “Sincerely,” “Best regards,” or “Best,” above your name.
The aim of the cover letter ending: Reiterate your most uniquely compelling selling point for the specific employer, providing the right reasons to remember you throughout the recruiting process.
I would love the opportunity of an interview to gauge your requirements in more detail.
Sincerely,
Bryan Heydon
Certain concepts and ideas are must-haves in your office manager cover letter.
Some HR professionals get carried away with the content of their cover letter and slip up in all-too-common ways. For someone who should know better, this is unforgivable. So we make no apologies for sharing some of the more obvious mistakes to avoid:
With Resume.io, creating a compelling cover letter and resume is easy. Deciding on which job offer to take is the hard thing.