IT technicians appreciate the value of the smallest moving parts, so they should treat every word in an IT technician cover letter as an opportunity to influence the hiring manager. This is not a factual account of their competencies; it is their chance to explain why they are the perfect fit for the role — in their own words.
Creating a compelling cover letter story is like creating a piece of software. When all the right pieces are in place, the result is predictable. Resume.io’s 180+ occupation-specific cover letter examples and writing guides offer broad insights into the writing process.
In this guide, we’ll share our technical specifications for cover letter writing success. Peek into the source code of our IT technician writing guide and corresponding cover letter example:
- How to choose the best cover letter format and what paragraphs the cover letter should include
- How to maximize the effect of each cover letter paragraph: header, greeting, intro, body and conclusion
- What approach to take when writing your cover letter
- What mistakes to avoid when writing your IT technician cover letter.
Best format for an IT technician cover letter
The technical demands of your job mean that you understand the importance of following a set plan. While many things about the job search process are fluid, formatting the cover letter is not one of them. Ignoring the format norms is like ripping up the user manual for the latest piece of hardware and installing it your way. Follow this tried-and-tested formula:
- The cover letter header
- The greeting / salutation
- The cover letter introduction
- The middle paragraphs (body of the letter)
- The ending paragraph of your cover letter (conclusion and call-to-action)
While the format of an IT technician cover letter is rigid, the content is anything but. Leave the safety of listing your technical qualifications. Explore what it is like to work with you and why you make a difference to those around you. Think about the culture of your future employer and why exactly you would be a perfect fit.
Do some research to understand the sorts of challenges that you will be facing. The job description should give you a good idea, so tell the stories that demonstrate that you have what it takes. Don’t be lazy — the IT technician cover letter should be different for every job.
Our comprehensive cover letter guide shares more ideas about formatting with best practices around fonts styles, sizes and length.
Our IT technician cover letter example below may also offer some ideas to incorporate into your writing. Steal them with our blessing!
Dear Mr. Langstaff,
Working as an IT technician in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is a particular challenge – when there are technical issues, patients’ lives could be at risk. The reason why I love the industry so much is that I can clearly see when my technical skills make a difference.
I have been responsible for upgrading, maintaining, and troubleshooting technical equipment and software across five company departments. Technical issues within pharmaceuticals are particularly business-critical and last year we achieved a record low of only 29 deviations due to technical failure (that is 258 percent lower than the industry average).
Due to the geographical spread of the business, I am used to working remotely with internal customers who need their tech to work as intended. I often deal with 100+ incidents every week, from cold chain failures to database breaches, and my 98 percent colleague satisfaction rating is a testament to my dedication. I hate not being able to help people.
My ICT education has continued after my computer science degree, and I am constantly on the search for new certifications and qualifications. I act as a subject matter expert alongside the procurement department and am always keen to push the boundaries of our capability. I played a role in a supplier optimization project which led to 4.5 percent cost savings.
I understand that you are in a process of changing your operating model which will require considerable investment in logistics and warehousing tech. I have taken part in many such projects over the past decade and will be glad to share my thoughts should we have the opportunity to meet for an interview.
Sincerely,
Martin Cawthorn
Cover letter header
Any IT technician understands the need for everything to be in its rightful place. The cover letter header should be visually impactful, but the main thing is that it contains all the essential contact information for the candidate: full name, email, and phone number. This should be included both in the cover letter and the resume.
Most IT hiring managers won’t care if you include their company’s address in the letter (it isn’t standard practice these days), and for your own address, only include the city and state where you live. Only share your full address at the offer stage as there are data protection issues.
Goal of the cover letter header: Stand out visually from other IT technician job applications, with identifying information that’s eye-pleasing and easily found.
Cover letter greeting
While IT technicians often work for long periods on their own initiative, getting the formalities of the cover letter greeting right is important to create the perfect first impression. Use the IT director’s name in the greeting if possible. It may be listed at the end of the job description, or you might opt to call the company to find out to whom the role reports. Guessing from social media profiles is always a little hit and miss. Double check the spelling.
If you are not sure to whom the cover letter should be addressed, a friendly “Dear (Company name) IT team” will get you off on the right foot and not come across as too generic.
Goal of the cover letter greeting: Connect directly with the employer in a professional, friendly manner.professional
Cover letter introduction
Start your cover letter with an idea of how your IT technical skills will benefit your future employer. What will you be able to do for them that no other applicant will? Use only the most appropriate technical language and share the types of projects that you may be taking on in your new role. Tell them a story about how a rare skill made a breakthrough difference.
The introduction of an IT technician cover letter should touch on how you go about your work, not just about what you do from day to day. What is it like to work with you? How do you come up with solutions? Why do you come to work every day? It is these snippets of information that will pique a hiring manager’s curiosity to find out more.
Goal of the cover letter introduction: Intrigue the reader enough to learn more about your well-matched strengths as an IT technician.
Here’s the greeting and introduction from our IT technician cover letter sample.
Dear Mr. Langstaff,
Working as an IT technician in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is a particular challenge – when there are technical issues, patients’ lives could be at risk. The reason why I love the industry so much is that I can clearly see when my technical skills make a difference.
Cover letter middle part (body)
You will be bursting to share your technical IT achievements in more detail than one line on your resume, so the middle part of an IT technician’s cover letter is the place to go into detail about the most relevant of them. Don’t just copy the job description by detailing your responsibilities — talk about what you did and the nature of your personal impact. Describing your role as an individual is particularly important when you are often working in a broader project team — what difference did you make?
While technical skills, IT jargon and software knowhow will still dominate, make space for the softer people skills that help you to get things done within a wider team. Your boss doesn’t want someone to sit on their own and fiddle around with the tech — you have to be able to talk to people to get to the bottom of their issues.
Goal of the cover letter body: Elaborate on how this employer would benefit from your contributions as a proficient IT technician.
Our IT cover letter sample illustrates what you might include in the middle part:
I have been responsible for upgrading, maintaining, and troubleshooting technical equipment and software across five company departments. Technical issues within pharmaceuticals are particularly business-critical and last year we achieved a record low of only 29 deviations due to technical failure (that is 258 percent lower than the industry average).
Due to the geographical spread of the business, I am used to working remotely with internal customers who need their tech to work as intended. I often deal with 100+ incidents every week, from cold chain failures to database breaches, and my 98 percent colleague satisfaction rating is a testament to my dedication. I hate not being able to help people.
My ICT education has continued after my computer science degree, and I am constantly on the search for new certifications and qualifications. I act as a subject matter expert alongside the procurement department and am always keen to push the boundaries of our capability. I played a role in a supplier optimization project which led to 4.5 percent cost savings.
Which projects should an IT technician include – most difficult or most successful?
Ideally, a combination of the two! Projects with quantifiable results will be of most interest to the reader, so prioritize those. Since difficult projects might be hard to describe succinctly, focus on projects you can effectively describe in one or two sentences. Save the more involved projects for explanation during the interview.
How to close an IT technician cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
An IT technician cover letter should close on a confident note. If hiring managers are under no doubt that you can do the role, their finger will be hovering over the "send" button for an interview invitation. Lastly, don’t forget to say that you are looking forward to the opportunity of meeting for an interview. A hopeful, but not overly presumptuous, tone can go a long way.
Goal of the cover letter closing: End on an optimistic, self-assured note with a call to action that carries an expectation of hearing from the employer.
Our IT technician cover letter sample below ends on an optimistic note.
I understand that you are in a process of changing your operating model which will require considerable investment in logistics and warehousing tech. I have taken part in many such projects over the past decade and will be glad to share my thoughts should we have the opportunity to meet for an interview.
Sincerely,
Martin Cawthorn
Basic mistakes in an IT technician cover letter (and how to avoid them)
IT technicians should be adept at looking for last-minute omissions or errors, so this aspect of cover letter writing should not be difficult. But in the excitement of sending off your cover letter, these small details can sometimes be overlooked. Watch out for:
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Spelling and grammar mistakes: Attentiveness and accuracy are the hallmark of a great IT technician. Missing one mistake in some code can have disastrous consequences. Use a grammar checker and ask a friend to proofread.
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Formatting errors: If an IT technician’s cover letter is poorly formatted, you have to wonder about the output of their technical work. Using one of our cover letter templates with the builder tool will make it easy to avoid any mishaps. The carefully designed format will not lose its visuals.
- A too conversational tone: IT technicians are expected to speak in a relatively technical manner, so don’t be too conversational with the language. Stick to the jargon that you would use when discussing your work.
Key takeaways
- Adopt a technical tone mixed with softer hints at your personality.
- Share stories with tangible results that match what will be expected of you.
- Find with one last anecdote and say you are looking forward to finding out more.
- Have a look at our IT technician cover letter sample for more ideas.
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