New Grad Registered Nurse cover letter example

As a new grad registered nurse, you will likely have a lot of enthusiasm for your newly acquired profession. You likely already have some student nursing experience under your belt, but to secure that first placement at a hospital or nursing home, how can your cover letter add to the more factual aspects of your resume?

The new grad registered nurse cover letter needs to bring out your human qualities – patient care, empathy and organizational skills are just a few of behavioral skills that you will be expected to exhibit from day one. Your attitude and motivations will make a huge difference in those early nursing days, and your cover letter is the place to describe them.

This guide considers how to compose the best possible new grad registered nurse cover letter, including the following:

• How the format of the new grad registered nurse letter can influence recruiters
• How to select what to write in the introduction, middle part and ending
• Writing a cover letter that includes both practical and behavioral nursing traits
• What a senior nurse is looking for when she takes on a new grad nurse

Best format for a new grad registered nurse cover letter

An effective nursing grad cover letter starts with a format that allows them to put across the main points in an organized way. It shouldn’t deviate from the following accepted structure:

• Cover letter header
• Greeting / salutation
• Cover letter intro
• Body of the cover letter
• Ending paragraph

New nursing grads should be proficient in their communication after their years of study, so they should understand the importance of setting out their arguments in a clear and easy-to-follow way. If their writing is jumbled in their cover letter, it could indicate that they aren’t the best communicators – something vital in a hospital ward.

The new grad registered nurse cover letter sample may offer some ideas:

Cover letter header

When lives are in your hands, you cannot afford to miss out any important details. While the cover letter header might only contain your full name, contact details and email, if any of them are missing (or inappropriate) then the reader may feel a slight unease about what is to come. Get the cover letter header right, and they will make a mental note that all is present and correct and move on to more important things.

Include your full name, email, mobile phone and social media accounts (if you wish). The HR team will likely look you up on social media as you will be in a public patient-facing role. This is ever more common, so make sure that you link to social accounts that are free from controversy. 

Secondly, the cover letter header is often seen to provide a mental pause before the body of your new grad registered nurse cover letter. The space that it takes up is not wasted because it allows a hiring manager to become fully present for what is to come.

Goal of the cover letter header: Ensure that the header is simple and functional – there is no need for bright colors or flashy fonts. You are a practical nurse now, after all. 

Cover letter greeting

In any professional setting, the formality and precision of greeting is important. A consultant is different from a doctor and people who have worked hard to earn their stripes deserve to be called by their proper title, as seen in our cover letter sample. Therefore, at the start of any nursing cover letter, make sure that you nail the title of the person in charge of hiring. 

Do some research in terms of whom the letter should be addressed to if the job description does not make it clear. There is a lot to be said for initiative in the nursing profession, so even a quick call to the ward to check may well be worthwhile. If you do not know, avoid the cold “To Whom It May Concern” if possible. A “Dear X Ward Team” or “(Hospital System Name) Hiring Team” would be far more appropriate.

Goal of letter greeting: Double check the greeting and use any call to check as a chance to ask any other clarification questions that you might have. 

Cover letter introduction

The introduction of the new grad R.N. cover letter is where you can start to get specific in terms of the sort of work that you will be doing in the role in question. Not every new grad nursing role will be the same, so study the job description carefully and pull out the parts of your student experience that are most relevant.

Hospital hiring managers won’t expect you to have a great deal of experience, but they will expect you to know what is involved in the role and to share what little experience you may have. Taking in a situational way about how you might act in certain cases would help – you know the theory and you are ready to put it into practice.

It is important that the hiring manager feels that you are using those first few lines to address the big problems that you will help to solve for their nursing ward. Read deeper into the job description – where do the biggest challenges lie? How will you make an impact on day one? What sort of attitude will you bring to the nursing team?

Goal of the cover letter intro: Early career nursing roles are highly competitive, so the more specific you can be about the fit at the start of the new grad registered nurse cover letter, the better. 

Cover letter middle part (body)

The middle part of the new grad nursing cover letter needs to focus on where you see yourself making the biggest clinical contribution. Which parts of the nursing activity are you most looking forward to? Where do you think that you can make your difference?

Offer some examples of how you have worked in a team during your student days. You will have done some work experience, so share some of your achievements and how you dealt with the various problems that came up. Nursing is an unpredictable profession; so being able to deal with uncertainty is critical. Try to share details of when you have worked in similar environments as the demands in different parts of a hospital can vary significantly.

The middle part of a cover letter is a place to share any skills that your rivals for the role may not possess. The ability to speak a second language might make a difference in certain cities or maybe your personal experiences might add to your educational background. Anything that will make you stand out should be included.

Lastly, do not forget about your education. You have worked long and hard to get your qualification, so definitely include some highlights about your main successes. Try to add new insight into your coursework or academic achievements so as not to repeat your resume. See our cover letter sample below for more insight.

Goal of the body of your cover letter: The middle part of the cover letter is the place to make your unique case, showcase your relevant experience and shout about your educational achievements.

How to close a new grad registered nurse cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)

The close of a nursing cover letter should offer one final argument to hire you. Why will you (and no one else) be able to offer that unique level of care and attention for your patients? Take the risk away from the hiring manager’s mind and be clear just how much nursing potential you have, how keen to develop you are and what a great team player.

After you have made your final point, you should have the confidence to say that you are looking forward to the opportunity of an interview. A cover letter is a kind of sales pitch; and being curious to find out more about something that you are passionate about is an entirely normal feeling. You want to work there, don’t you? Then all you need to do is wait for that interview invite to drop into your email inbox.

Goal of the ending: End your new grad nursing cover letter on a positive and hopeful note by including a call to action.

Basic mistakes in a new grad registered nurse application letter

For any entry-level position, avoiding common mistakes will quickly set your application apart from other candidates. Here are some issues to watch out for:

• Spelling and grammar errors: Typos and grammatical mistakes will quickly ruin your credibility. Make sure to use spell check or ask a friend to proofread before you submit.
• The wrong tone: While medicine is a formal field, you’ll want to strike the right balance between professional and overly-formal. You should come across as confident in your tone without bragging or sounding arrogant.
• Poor formatting: Sloppy page design can send the wrong message right from the start. Pay attention to font styles and create a header that makes your name and contact information stand out. A cover letter template can make this quick and easy.

Key takeaways

1. Show the senior nurse what it would be like to have you in their team.
2. Choose the parts of your story and education that fit best with the ward team
3. Create a nursing cover letter structure with a clear intro, body and ending.
4. Check out our cover letter sample for more ideas on creating a great page layout.