By Kayla Nicholas

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Here’s the first cover letter I ever wrote! It provides insight to my past experiences but also how I hope to incorporate what I’ve learned towards this new position.

December 4, 2021 
New York City Mayor’s Office of Correspondence 
City Hall
New York, NY 10007 

To Whom it May Concern, 

My name is Kayla Nicholas, and I am a senior in high school. Given my interest in public service, I was especially intrigued with the internship offering in the Mayor’s Office of Correspondence. Throughout my high school career, I have tried to cultivate my passion for law and public policy, inspired by my experiences in debate when doing argumentation. Not only that, but I’ve figured out ways to understand and give back to my community and pay forward the support others have given me in the past while combining my interests in law. The opportunity to work with the Correspondence Office will help me understand the role the Mayor’s Office plays in facilitating support to communities like mine in a legal/governmental space, while also being able to contribute my own writing and communication skills to aid in that support system. 

As a high school student, professional opportunities are not usually accessible—however, I have never let these limitations prevent me from pursuing a cause I’m passionate about. This sentiment has been exemplified in my founding of an organization known as the “Lawyer Connection Club,” which serves as a space for students to learn from professionals ranging from city councilmen and state senators to judges and attorneys. In my role as president and founder, I am required to schedule meetings with said professionals and promote events to club members. To host events requires me to figure out times that work for guests and students alike, while also writing professional emails and correspondences to convince individuals to speak at our meetings. This leadership role allowed me to take sole initiative in correspondence and event planning and strengthened my writing, organization, scheduling and communication skills. My strength in these skills helped me garner a large participant pool for my organization and would be strong assets for fulfilling the Office of Correspondence’s goals. 

Additionally, my work with the New York City based firm DLA Piper this past summer helped me in formulating a new perspective on the law and the type of legal professional I want to be. While with the firm, a lot of my time was spent independently compiling documents and doing research for attorneys. I also did written reports for attorneys in various practice groups based on said research. However the biggest fulfillment I got was when I was able to assist a partner in a pro bono assignment. Despite working with a corporate law firm that mainly focused on finance and business, I was given a unique opportunity to work on an assignment for a veteran suffering from PTSD. As I read through his information and worked to compartmentalize and summarize his files, I had a thought: By helping put together those documents, I was doing more than just helping an attorney—I would be having a profound impact on the life of someone who had experienced hardships I would probably never understand. The overall internship experience helped me strengthen my writing and research skills but did more to help change my overall perspective of the type of career I’d like to have in the future. I believe the perspectives I gained at DLA will only serve to strengthen the communication I will facilitate with constituents seeking services from the Mayor’s Office. 

All in all, I am very interested in the possibility of interning for the Mayor’s Office and believe my skills will serve to be an asset to your team. Attached please find my resume. If you have any questions, please contact me. Thank you for considering my application. 

Sincerely, 

Kayla Nicholas

Process

Overall, I tried my best to do research on the basic tenets of a cover letter. I knew I had to write a response regarding why I was interested in the position but from there I wasn’t sure about the nuance required for the work. In my preliminary research I found out that not only did I have to express my interests for the position, but work to connect personal anecdotes regarding previous jobs and experiences I’ve had to strengthen my candidacy. My research highlighted the importance of tying information that may not have been explicitly expressed in my resume (such as work assignments that were impactful or challenges I’ve faced in other positions) as an aid to strengthen my application. It was with this understanding that I wrote my first draft of my cover letter.

Luckily enough, I was able to attend a Girls Write Now workshop on the same topic of cover letter writing. During this event, I was able to work one-on-one with my mentor for the day to help strengthen and emphasize points that may have gotten lost during the initial writing stages. Adding on from that aid, my mentor and I also took a deep look into my writing to see how to be both concise and detailed while sharing important anecdotes for work settings. All in all, that cover letter draft has been revised and reworked over the past couple of months, becoming stronger and making me a more well-rounded applicant with each new version!