Reviewed By Conrad BenzContent Manager & Hiring Manager
Ida Pettersson
Career Coach and Resume Expert
5 years of experience
Committed to empowering job seekers of all experience levels to take the next step in their careers, Ida helps professionals navigate the job hunt from start to finish. After graduating...
Here are three executive cover letters for a chief executive officer, chief information officer, and chief technology officer. We also have writing tips to help you create an authoritative cover letter that lands more interviews.
[Hiring Manager’s Name] 123 Company Address Company’s City, State, Zip Code (xxx) xxx-xxxx hiring.manager@gmail.com
Dear [Mr./Ms./Mx.] [Hiring Manager’s Last Name],
Years of experience in C-suite roles has prepared me well for Band’s next CIO. I have proven success in business generation, operations management, entrepreneurship, and security in higher education, private industry, and government. I am seeking to leverage technical architecture, IT development, and software engineering abilities in a new challenge.
As CIO of Plainview University, I am responsible for the central administration of technology for faculty members, graduate, and undergraduate schools. During my tenure, I have initiated numerous campus-wide programs that have shaped the entire university’s technological landscape.
Before this, I was CIO for Row Chemicals, where I designed reliable and high performing Service Oriented Architecture solutions. From 20XX to 20XX, I was CIO of the State of New York, where I oversaw the strategic management and direction of the state’s technology resources and network infrastructure.
Please consider the following career achievements:
Plainville University: Founding executive director of Plainview OpenCourseWare – the original Massive Open Online Course
Row Chemicals: Created enterprise software suite to assist business process flows, event flows, and GUI frames with over $110 million in revenue
State of New York: Spearheaded several public infrastructure anti-hacking projects in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security
I look forward to scheduling an interview at your earliest convenience. Please call (212) 256-1414 or email me at youremail@gmail.com. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Name
[Today’s Date]
[Hiring Manager’s Name] [341 Company Address] [Company City, State xxxxx] [(xxx) xxx-xxxx] [hiring.manager@gmail.com]
Dear [Mr./Mrs./Ms.] [Manager’s Name],
With years of success in the industry, I am ready to join Capital Industries as your next CEO. I have a track record of identifying growth opportunities in the cloud computing industry over the past 20 years. I am seeking to leverage my exceptional company management, capital fundraising, and software application engineering abilities in a new challenge. I work well with established teams to spearhead new markets.
As Chairman and CEO of Century Industries, I am responsible for providing the visionary leadership for a $10.5 million technology company offering a cloud-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) for the natural gas industry in the Midwest. My hands-on ability to work with clients in the field resulted in numerous successful partnerships.
Please review a list of my career highlights:
Implemented high quality product development with designated sales pipelines
Advised on balancing short-term and long-term holding strategies to maximize foothold in dynamic technology market
Oversaw the development of a new line of higher-quality services by hiring a team of technologists
Expanded market share from 30 percent to 45 percent in two years, and increased profit margins by over 40% during that same time
I researched the background of Capital Industries after our initial discussions about the role. With a new market strategy, your engineers and sales teams will be a great foundation to begin creating new products. I am ready to lead Capital Industries to new heights of success.
I look forward to scheduling an interview at your earliest convenience. Please call (xxx) xxx-xxxx or email me at yourname@gmail.com. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
David Perez
[Today’s Date]
[Hiring Manager’s Name] 123 Company Address Company’s City, State, Zip Code (xxx) xxx-xxxx hiring.manager@gmail.com
Dear [Mr./Ms./Mx.] [Hiring Manager’s Last Name],
I am confident I will be an excellent fit for TVidia.com’s CTO position. I have proven success in product innovation, entrepreneurship, and product development in video technology over the past 15 years. I am seeking to leverage my data-driven software development abilities in a new and challenging role.
In my current role as CTO for Render, I determine the overall strategic direction of product development and uphold the company’s position at the forefront of technology by focusing on product content and user design. Previously, I was Chief Technical Architect and Vice President for Envisio.io, Lead Technical Architect for AdNext, and Founder and CTO of VidEx Networks, Inc.
Please consider a few highlights of my career:
Responsible for delivering 15 products in less than two years with proven revenue growth of over $300 million.
Delivered numerous training modules and presentations by collaborating with top engineers from Google, the US Army, the Weather Channel, Emirates Airlines, and the USC School of Architecture.
Responsible for overseeing team to produce world’s first self-editing video using machine learning technology, resulting in numerous patents.
I look forward to scheduling an interview at your earliest convenience. Please call (212) 256-1414 or email me at youremail@gmail.com. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Average chief executive salaries in the US
The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license, this data is pulled from the most recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment & Earnings report (as of 10/16/2024), featuring the top states by use.
Average executive annual salaries by state
State
Salary / Year
California
$231,080
Texas
$239,200
New York
$212,960
Florida
$197,060
Pennsylvania
$200,560
Illinois
$239,200
Ohio
$175,930
Georgia
$212,560
North Carolina
$239,200
Michigan
$239,200
National Average
$192,673
How to write an executive cover letter
As an executive, you’ll have a long list of accomplishments you’ve achieved throughout the years. Here’s how to write a convincing executive cover letter that emphasizes them.
1. Customize your content
You must tailor your cover letter to your target job for your application to be effective. Generic cover letters are easy to spot, especially at the executive level.
To customize your cover letter, you need to do more than show how you meet the requirements listed in the job ad — every viable applicant does that. Make yourself a top-tier candidate by researching the company, looking for insights that you can address in your cover letter to demonstrate how your vision fits the organization’s goals.
Here’s how to find information that gives you a competitive edge:
Talk to connections in your professional network who are familiar with the company
If you were headhunted, ask the recruiter about the company’s expectations
Research the company’s website, social media profiles, and media mentions
View the company’s financial information in its annual report and on databases like Crunchbase
Discover what the company’s employees think about their jobs on Glassdoor
2. Quantify your accomplishments
As a candidate for an executive position, you likely have a career full of impressive achievements. But the candidates you’re competing with have similar track records.
Differentiate yourself from other applicants by using specific examples and data to show hiring managers how you produce results. Here’s an example executive cover letter that uses hard numbers to make its accomplishments more impactful:
Please review a list of my career highlights:
Co-Founder and President/CEO of CloudOne, a specialized Quality of Service (QoS) Platform using a PaaS business model with $35 million in total revenue — negotiated $50 million exit with Amazon Web Services
Grew Century Industries personnel from 50 to 250 and delivered revenue growth from $6 million to $10.4 million
Expanded market share for Intraserve, Inc. data access service from 30 percent to 45 percent over 2 years, increasing profit margins by 40 percent, with higher quality services
3. Use a professional format
As an executive, you’re the face of your company, and you’re expected to be a polished professional. Your target employer’s first taste of your professionalism is your application documents, so following professional cover letter formatting is critical.
The most efficient way to format your cover letter is by downloading a professional cover letter template and inserting your own information. Just ensure the template you choose includes the following components:
A header with your name and contact information
The hiring manager’s name, email address, and company address in a left-aligned list
A salutation using the hiring manager’s title and last name, formatted like this: “Dear [Mr./Mrs./Ms.] [Last Name] ,”
An opening paragraph that starts your cover letter by grabbing the reader’s attention with your most marketable qualifications and leadership goals
1–2 more paragraphs and a bulleted list that further explain why you’re qualified to lead the company you’re applying to
A call-to-action paragraph that ends your cover letter with an interview request and provides your contact information
A professional sign-off like “Sincerely” or “Best regards,” followed by a comma
Either your typed name or your signature followed by your typed name for easy reading
Committed to empowering job seekers of all experience levels to take the next step in their careers, Ida helps professionals navigate the job hunt from start to finish.
After graduating from New College of Florida with a B.A. in Philosophy and Chinese Language and Culture, Ida moved to Hong Kong to begin her own career journey and finally settled in Taiwan. Her insights on resume writing, interview strategies, and career development have been featured on websites such as LawCareers.net, Digital Marketer, and SheCanCode.
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