Best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire

Short, strong examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire

Let’s start with what you came for: examples. Below are short, realistic snippets that show how to write to a company you genuinely admire, without sounding over-the-top.

Example of a cover letter opening for a company you admire (tech company)

Dear Hiring Manager,

When I saw the Product Manager opening at Notion, I immediately thought of the way your product helped my remote team stay organized through a messy, fast-paced acquisition last year. I’ve followed your release notes and community forums for over three years, and I admire how you build features with users, not just for them. I’d love to bring my background in B2B SaaS and customer-led discovery to your team.

Why this works:

It doesn’t just say “I admire your company.” It gives a specific, personal connection (helped a remote team during an acquisition) and shows ongoing engagement (three years of following release notes and forums).

Example of a cover letter paragraph for a mission-driven nonprofit

I’ve admired the American Red Cross since I volunteered at a local blood drive in college. Over the past decade, I’ve watched your disaster relief updates and preparedness guides become a go-to reference in my own community work. Your focus on evidence-based response, in partnership with organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is exactly the kind of mission-driven collaboration I want to support as your new Program Coordinator.

Here, the admiration is anchored in:

• A personal experience (college volunteering)
• Long-term engagement (a decade of following updates)
• A credible external reference (CDC)

These are the kinds of best examples you want to keep in mind as you draft your own letter.

Example of a cover letter for a company you admire on social media

I first discovered Glossier through your “Skin First” campaign on Instagram in 2019. Since then, I’ve watched how you listen to your community’s feedback and turn it into new products, from Milky Jelly Cleanser to your fragrance line. That two-way conversation is why I admire Glossier—and it’s why I’m excited to apply for the Social Media Manager role. In my current position, I grew our TikTok audience by 220% in a year by building exactly that kind of feedback loop.

This example of a cover letter shows how to:

• Connect admiration to a specific campaign
• Show you’ve followed the company over time
• Tie that admiration directly to measurable results you can bring

How to turn admiration into a strong cover letter strategy

Liking a brand is nice. Hiring managers, though, care what you can do with that admiration.

When you study the best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire, you’ll notice three patterns:

• They show a timeline of interest (not “I just Googled you yesterday”).
• They highlight 1–2 specific things the company is known for.
• They connect those things to the applicant’s skills and results.

Think of admiration as the hook, not the whole message. It gets their attention, but your experience closes the deal.

Research tips so your admiration sounds real, not generic

To write at the level you see in the strongest real examples, do a bit of targeted research:

• Read the company’s About or Mission page and pull out one or two phrases that genuinely resonate.
• Check recent news or blog posts so you can reference something current. For public companies, look at recent press releases or annual reports.
• Skim their LinkedIn posts to see what they’re promoting right now.
• For nonprofits or universities, look at impact reports or research summaries. For example, Harvard’s career office offers detailed guidance on cover letters and employer research: Harvard Office of Career Services – Resumes & Cover Letters.

You don’t need to mention everything you learn. One or two well-chosen details, like in the examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire above, are enough to show you’ve done your homework.

Longer examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire

Now let’s look at fuller examples you can model your own letters on. These are especially helpful if you’re applying in 2024–2025, when many applications are scanned by applicant tracking systems (ATS) but still read by humans.

Full example of a cover letter for a company you admire (remote-first tech)

Dear Hiring Manager,

I’m excited to apply for the Senior Software Engineer position at GitLab. As a long-time open-source contributor, I’ve admired GitLab’s commitment to transparency, from your public handbook to your remote-first culture. When I was leading a distributed engineering team across three time zones, your documentation on async collaboration became our unofficial playbook.

Over the past six years, I’ve built and scaled backend services in Go and Python for high-traffic SaaS products. At my current company, I led the refactor of a legacy monolith into microservices, reducing average response time by 38% and cutting deployment incidents in half. I see a strong overlap between that experience and GitLab’s focus on reliability and continuous delivery.

What I admire most about GitLab is how you live your values in public. Your remote work guide has shaped how thousands of teams operate, including my own. I’d be excited to contribute not only clean, scalable code, but also to the kind of open documentation that helps other engineers succeed.

Thank you for considering my application. I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss how my background in distributed systems and remote collaboration can support GitLab’s next stage of growth.

Sincerely,

Jordan Lee

Notice how this fits with other best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire:

• The admiration is specific (public handbook, remote-first culture).
• The candidate points to a concrete resource (remote work guide) and links it to their own behavior.
• They balance praise with proof of skills and results.

Example of a cover letter for a company you admire (healthcare / patient-centered)

Dear Hiring Committee,

Since my first clinical rotation, I’ve admired the Mayo Clinic for its patient-centered, research-backed approach to care. Your online resources, especially your articles on chronic disease management at MayoClinic.org, have been a constant reference point for both my patients and me. When I saw the posting for a Patient Care Coordinator, I knew it aligned perfectly with the kind of impact I want to have.

In my current role at a busy internal medicine practice, I manage a panel of over 500 patients, coordinating referrals, follow-ups, and education around conditions like diabetes and hypertension. By implementing a simple follow-up call protocol and clear patient instructions, I helped reduce no-show rates by 18% and improved patient satisfaction scores by 12 points over two years.

What I admire most about Mayo Clinic is your commitment to making complex information understandable. I share that passion. I regularly translate medical jargon into plain language handouts and short videos for our patients, which has significantly improved adherence to care plans.

I’d be honored to bring my experience in patient communication, care coordination, and data-informed process improvements to your team.

Sincerely,

Ana Martinez

This is a strong example of how to write to a respected institution without sounding like you’re writing a fan letter. The admiration is real, but it always loops back to what the candidate offers.

Example of a cover letter for a company you admire (sustainability-focused brand)

Dear Hiring Manager,

I’m writing to express my interest in the Sustainability Analyst role at Patagonia. I’ve admired Patagonia since I bought my first used jacket through Worn Wear in 2018 and learned how seriously you take repair, reuse, and supply chain transparency. Your decision to donate 1% of sales to environmental causes, and later to dedicate company ownership to fighting climate change, set a standard for what corporate responsibility can look like.

In my current role at a mid-sized apparel company, I led a project to map and evaluate our Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers against environmental and labor benchmarks. By partnering with our procurement and operations teams, we shifted 40% of our sourcing to higher-rated suppliers within 18 months, while keeping margins stable.

I’m especially excited about the opportunity to work on data collection and reporting that informs decisions like your material choices and circularity initiatives. I’d love to bring my experience with lifecycle assessment tools and ESG reporting frameworks to a company whose values I already live out in my daily life.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,

Marcus Nguyen

Again, this fits right in with the other real examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire: the candidate references specific programs (Worn Wear, ownership shift) and then shows how their skills plug into those priorities.

How admiration changes your tone and structure

If you compare these letters to more generic samples, you’ll see a few differences that show up consistently in the best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire:

• The first paragraph almost always includes a reference to how you discovered or interacted with the company.
• The middle paragraphs blend your achievements with the company’s values, products, or mission.
• The tone is confident but personal—less “To whom it may concern,” more “I’ve genuinely been paying attention to you.”

You don’t need a completely different structure, but you do want to:

• Open with a line that connects you and the company.
• Use one paragraph to highlight 2–3 relevant achievements.
• Use another to tie those achievements directly to the company’s current direction.
• Close by reinforcing both fit and enthusiasm.

2024–2025 trends to reflect in your cover letter

Hiring changed a lot in the last few years, and the strongest real examples reflect that.

Remote and hybrid work. Many admired companies are either fully remote or hybrid. If you have experience working across time zones, using async tools, or managing your own productivity, weave that in. Companies like GitLab and others share their remote playbooks publicly; referencing how you’ve applied similar practices can set you apart.

Skills-focused hiring. Employers increasingly care less about where you went to school and more about what you can do. The U.S. Department of Labor offers updated guidance on in-demand skills and occupations: CareerOneStop – Skills Matcher. Use that kind of data to describe your skills in language employers recognize.

AI and automation. Many companies now use ATS tools to scan for keywords. The best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire balance human warmth with strategic keyword use. Pull phrasing from the job description (skills, tools, responsibilities) and blend it naturally into your stories.

Values and social impact. Candidates and employers are both paying more attention to values, ethics, and social impact. If you admire a company for its stance on climate, diversity, or community work, mention it—but always connect it to something you’ve actually done, not just something you like.

Common mistakes when writing to a company you admire

Even strong writers trip over the same pitfalls. When you look at weaker examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire, you’ll often see:

• Flattery with no evidence: “You’re the best company in the world” with nothing to back it up.
• Copy-pasted mission statements: repeating their tagline word-for-word without adding your own perspective.
• No connection to the role: talking only about why you love the brand, not why you’re qualified.
• Over-sharing: turning the letter into a long personal story that never ties back to the job.

A simple test: if you can swap the company name for another brand and the letter still makes sense, it’s not specific enough.

Quick template inspired by the best real examples

Use this as a flexible outline, then customize it the way you saw in the examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire above.

Opening paragraph
How you found the role + how you know the company + one specific thing you admire.

I’m excited to apply for the [Role] at [Company]. I first discovered [Company] when [specific moment], and since then I’ve followed your [product/mission/campaign]. I admire [specific value, initiative, or result], and I see a strong overlap between that focus and my experience in [your field].

Middle paragraph(s)
2–3 achievements that match the job description, with numbers where possible.

In my current role at [Organization], I [achievement with metric]. I also [second achievement]. These experiences taught me how to [skills that match the posting], which I’d love to bring to your [team/department].

Connection paragraph
Tie your achievements directly to the company’s direction or challenges.

What stands out to me about [Company] is [specific initiative, product, or value]. I’ve already [related action you’ve taken], and I’m excited about the chance to contribute to [future project or goal you infer from their site or job description].

Closing
Reinforce fit and interest.

Thank you for considering my application. I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss how my background in [skills] can support [Company] as you [specific goal or initiative].

This structure mirrors many of the best examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire, while still leaving room for your own personality.

FAQ about writing to a company you admire

Do I have to say how long I’ve admired the company?

Not necessarily, but it helps to show this isn’t a last-minute crush. Even a simple line like “I’ve followed your work since your 2021 climate report” can make your admiration feel grounded. Real examples include a time marker or a specific event.

Can I use the same cover letter for multiple companies I admire?

You can reuse the structure, but not the content. If your letter could go to three different brands with only the name changed, it’s too generic. The strongest examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire are tailored to one employer at a time.

What’s an example of a strong first sentence?

Something that combines the role and your connection to the company. For instance: “I’m applying for the Data Analyst role at Spotify after spending the last five years as a power user who builds playlists for everything from marathon training to deep work.” It’s specific, personal, and leads naturally into your skills.

How long should my cover letter be?

Aim for about three quarters of a page to one full page, single-spaced, with clear paragraphs. Long enough to tell a focused story, short enough that a busy recruiter can skim it in under a minute.

Should I mention salary or remote work in a cover letter to a dream company?

In most cases, save salary talk for later in the process. Remote or hybrid preferences are usually better handled in the application form or during initial conversations, unless the posting specifically asks you to address them in your letter.

Use these real, modern examples of cover letter examples for a company you admire as a starting point—not a script. The goal is to sound like the most thoughtful, prepared version of yourself, writing to a company you’d genuinely be proud to join.