Supervisor Cover Letter Examples and Templates for 2023
Supervisors are managerial professionals who hire, train and coach new employees to help them succeed in their responsibilities. If you enjoy leading groups toward a common goal and strategizing to improve outcomes, working as a supervisor might be a suitable career path to pursue. If you're planning to apply for supervisor jobs, a strong cover letter and resume could help you demonstrate your qualifications to potential employers.
In this article, we discuss what to include in a cover letter for a supervisor job, offer some tips that may help you craft your letter and share an example letter that you could use as a reference when writing yours. When you finish your documents, you can upload a resume file or build an Indeed Resume to start applying to supervisor jobs.
Zoey Baldwin
Indianapolis, IN
466-555-5548
zoeylbaldwin@email.com
April 9, 2023
Dear Hiring Manager,
My name is Zoey Baldwin, and I'm eager to introduce myself as a candidate for the open Supervisor position at Canterbury Street Day Camp. I have six years of experience working at day camps and overnight camps and two years of experience in a managerial position. With a diligent set of health and safety skills, a proven ability to train and mentor camp counselors and a positive attitude, I'm confident I'd be a valuable addition to your team.
In my last position, I coached a team of 12 new day camp counselors, providing them with the fundamental skills needed and fostering confidence. I designed a three-week training program, giving presentations on topics like conflict resolution, allergy safety, parent communication and behavioral management. I wrote instructional guides that counselors could reference, created video tutorials explaining how to use safely use recreational equipment and provided accommodations for a deaf counselor. By the end of the program, 100% of the team passed their new counselor exam, with 85% of them receiving a perfect score.
In addition to my strong mentorship skills, I'm highly organized, and I believe creating functional systems for storing digital and paper documents helps camps stay compliant. While working as a counselor, I volunteered to help my supervisor with injury reports. I created a physical binder that organized paper reports by team and chronologically to help staff members quickly find information. I backed up this binder with a digital spreadsheet containing key information about all injuries and created a checklist for counselors to follow after an incident to ensure we were following internal protocol, meeting safety standards and communicating with parents.
I'm thrilled by the opportunity to supervise counselors at Canterbury Street Day Camp. I believe my values align with your organization's and that my leadership skills, goal orientation and organizational efficiency enable me to help your team thrive. If you're interested in learning more about my background, please reach out to me by phone or email to schedule an interview at your earliest convenience. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my application, and I look forward to learning more about the job and Canterbury Street Day Camp.
Sincerely,
Zoey Baldwin
To upload the template into Google Docs, go to File > Open > and select the correct downloaded file.
What to include in a supervisor cover letter
Here are some elements that may be vital in a supervisor cover letter:
1. Contact information
An excellent cover letter could increase your chances of getting an interview, so it's important that hiring managers know how to contact you. Where you place your information can depend on the format you choose.
Many people choose to include a professional header at the top of their letters. A header typically includes your name, phone number, email address and any links to personal websites, professional social media accounts or work portfolios. If you're writing in block letter format, you might include a block of sender information, which typically includes your name and your home address.
Related: How To Write a Letter in Block Format (With Example)
2. Work experience
Your cover letter typically serves as an in-depth explanation of the information in your resume. You can discuss your career history and explain how individual duties qualify you for the job to which you're applying. It might be helpful to review the job description and mirror some of the responsibilities discussed in it with specific numerical data.
For example, a job description for a supervisor position might mention motivating teams to reach their quotas. In your cover letter, you could discuss incentives you used at your last job to inspire higher production numbers and include metrics to demonstrate your success.
Related: How To Format a Cover Letter (With an Outline and Examples)
3. Relevant skills
Plan to highlight your hard skills, which are technical abilities that enable you to perform the job functions, and your soft skills, which are character traits that make you a good fit for the role. When mentioning skills in your cover letter, it may be beneficial to include anecdotal examples of times you demonstrated these skills in the workplace. Here are some skills that may be valuable for supervisors:
Leadership: These professionals guide groups, so it's important that you can perform the managerial tasks required of you. It may be helpful to discuss your ability to give clear instructions, offer targeted feedback, motivate teams, delegate tasks and recognize outstanding achievements.
Organization: Supervisors often keep detailed notes, create work schedules for their staff and maintain financial records like receipts and expenses. People who implement efficient organizational systems may excel.
Customer service: When customers have issues, staff members may escalate complex situations to you. It may be helpful to show that you know how to navigate challenging conversations, find solutions that please everybody and prioritize customers' needs.
Communication: Supervisors are responsible for communicating important information to their teams. Writing and oral communication can be valuable skills in this career, and you could consider mentioning times you adapted your communications to meet team members' unique needs.
Read more: 10 Skills Every Supervisor Should Have
4. A call to action
In your closing paragraph, it's typically helpful to include a call to action. Explain the desired outcome you'd like the cover letter to earn you, like an interview, follow-up conversation or an opportunity to perform a trial assignment. For example, you could invite the hiring manager to learn more about your qualifications through an interview or share that you are happy to answer additional questions about your background.
Read more: How To Write a Good Call to Action (With Examples)
Tips for writing a supervisor cover letter
Here are some tips that may help you enrich your cover letter for a supervisor job:
Be honest
It's important that your cover letter accurately reflects your experiences and capabilities. If you lack some of the qualifications requested in the job description, focus on the strengths you can offer a workplace. Honesty and trust are core values for many workplaces, and some hiring managers might be open to training the right candidate to fulfill their needs.
Related: 10 Tips for Applying for a Job With Less Experience Than Required
Ask peers for their advice
It may be helpful to ask a friend or colleague to read your cover letter and offer their feedback. People who know your work style and personality may be able to recommend topics to include to demonstrate your value. Having another person review your letter may also help you find and correct typos and identify opportunities to use stronger language.
Related: What Is Peer Editing? Definition and Tips
Include specific details
Many organizations may prefer to hire results-driven supervisors who have a record of success. Supporting your claims with specific anecdotes and numerical data could increase your credibility. Detailed situational examples may also help hiring managers visualize you excelling at your duties.