Guide to writing an effective training cover letter

The covering letter is often seen as an uninteresting formality when putting together an application. However, it is essential if you want to enrol in a school, university or initial or continuing training establishment. Here are a few key tips for writing an effective cover letter that will help you secure a place at a business school like IPAG Business School.

What is the purpose of a cover letter for a training course?

What is the purpose of writing a cover letter to apply for a training course? Although this requirement can be confusing, it does have a certain appeal. A cover letter is an excellent way of setting yourself apart from other applicants.

Ideally, it should make your profile stand out from the crowd, grabbing the attention of the reader (the recruiter). It allows you to show your personality and talk about your motivation, as well as your career plans, in a concrete way.

This well-written letter will help you to get an interview at a business school after you have applied through Parcoursup or a training institute.

What is the structure of a training cover letter?

The most daunting part of writing a cover letter is trying to ensure that it reads smoothly and includes all the essential information about your profile.

The difficulty lies in not repeating the content of the CV. If you're wondering how to make a good CV, take a look at our recommendations. Please note that these two documents are complementary, not similar.

To start writing your letter, adopt the standard format for a covering letter. Take care with the layout, whether in terms of length (ideally 1 page), font or margins.

Opt for a standard structure:

• A teaser: "Dear Sir/Madam", or "Mrs XXX" if you know the name of the person responsible for training.
• An introduction: this very first paragraph is used to give a brief introduction of yourself, your background, what motivates you and your areas of interest.
• The development section focuses on your plans for your studies and your wishes for the future (choice of sector or field of activity that interests you, careers, professions that you are considering) and on your professional experience.
• The conclusion sets out your ambitions and your reasons for enrolling at this school.
• An appropriate greeting. For example, you could use a standard formula such as: "Yours sincerely" or "... Yours sincerely", etc. Each sentence should be clear and to the point.

Each sentence should be clear and provide the recruiter with new information. Clarity, conciseness and a logical arrangement of ideas are the keys to a well-written training cover letter.

What are the key points to include in a training cover letter?

The cover letter for a course of study is a document whose structure is generally highly codified. The masters cover letter is no exception!

For a standard professional cover letter - written in order to apply to a company as part of a job search or professional retraining - the letter is divided into 3 main paragraphs:

1. Presentation (you).
2. Interests in the company (them).
3. Your desire to develop within the company, your objectives (you + them).

For an academic cover letter, you can use this structure as a starting point, but adapt it as you see fit:

• A personal introduction, a presentation of your academic and/or professional background.
• An explanation of the specific reasons for your choice of school and training. What attracted you to this course, how you think you will benefit from it, your potential internship or apprenticeship project, etc.
• The relevant experience and skills you have to take the course, but also the skills you would like to acquire

How can you personalise the wording of your training cover letter to make an impact?

To avoid a generic tone or a "copy and paste" effect, and to generate more commitment and originality in your message, it's vital to personalise your cover letter! You can't just adapt a standard cover letter from the Internet.

If you're wondering how to personalise your cover letters, here are a few tips:

• Research the institution or training organisation in advance, and immerse yourself in its values and philosophy. Read articles that talk about the school and the courses it offers, try to gather together a few opinions and comments shared by students, etc.
• Adapt the letter to the specific course you are applying for, for example by mentioning the subjects covered in the programme you are interested in.
• Never lie! Authenticity and humble demonstration are worth a lot more to recruiters than a profile that seems too good to be true.
• Try to demonstrate rather than just evoke. You can do this by using personal anecdotes or concrete examples that illustrate your skills and experience. This will make it much easier to prove that your profile is a good match for the course.

What steps should you take to finalise your training cover letter?

Once you've fine-tuned the wording of your letter, it's time to work on the details, which are of vital importance for this exercise. Spend a little time proofreading and correcting your letter, because typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are particularly unwelcome.

To help you:

• There are spellcheckers available free of charge online.
• You can also reread your letter by changing the font, to see the text from another angle.
• Space out writing from rereading your letter: go for a walk for 2 hours, for example. This will refresh your perception of things.
• Read aloud to check that what you say flows smoothly. Get someone else to read it for you. This will give you a fresh eye on the text, as well as an opinion (which should be as sincere as possible).
• Finally, take care with the layout, to show your commitment and attention to detail.

You now have the keys to writing a successful training cover letter outlining your career plan. If you apply these tips to your IPAG application, you'll have a good chance of getting an interview. Still not sure? Contact IPAG for more information or personalised advice.