First job cover letter example with no experience
With no work history, a first job cover letter shows three things: what you have done that is like the job (volunteering, a school job, work experience week), one sign that you turn up, and when you can work. This one is from a Year 11 pupil applying for a Saturday job in a card shop.
Fictional letter from Amelia Hughes, the applicant in the cv for a 16-year-old. Every person and employer in it is invented.
Why each paragraph is there
I am applying for the Saturday Sales Assistant job advertised in your shop window. I am in Year 11 at Hollins Vale School, predicted grades 5 to 7 in nine GCSEs including 6 in English and maths, and I would like my first paid job to be in a shop.
Which job and where you saw it, then your school year and predicted grades in place of a work history.
Since March I have volunteered on Saturday mornings at the Cedar Hospice charity shop, where I serve customers at the till with a supervisor, take card payments and fill in Gift Aid forms. I have not missed a shift. At school I help run the tuck shop twice a week and count the float after each break, and in my work experience week at Pennine Garden Centre I priced stock and helped customers find what they needed.
Volunteering, a school job and work experience are your experience: say what you did, with one sign that you are reliable.
I have bought birthday cards from your shop for years and like how your staff remember regular customers. I would enjoy serving on the till and keeping the card stands full on busy Saturdays.
A short, true reason for this shop, and the tasks you would take on.
I can work every Saturday and weekdays after 4pm, with more hours in the school holidays. My CV is attached, and my supervisor at the charity shop has agreed to give me a reference. Thank you for reading my letter.
When you can work, who will vouch for you, and a polite close.