Sarah Clarity Studios

Writing Emails / Cover Letters? Yeah, this is an important one!

Okay, so the thing about these, is that even though people always say, “no one reads your cover letters,” they most certainly read your emails, and if your emails stink, then your cover letters will too.

You have to know that at some point in the application or consideration process, someone is going to look at your stuff. Not an automated system. Not an AI anything. A person. A living, breathing, most likedly overworked and underpaid staff member is going to go through the pile of tons of applications, and will look at your letter.

They do read!

So is it worth writing a scintillating cover letter even if you get a no or no reply?

Let’s think together now? Softly!

Yes.

It does matter. You need to know that sometimes, people are looking for very specific applicants.

“Sarah, my manager of this new team is new. She’s very young. We want an artist who won’t give her lip or attitude. Dang. These applicants are way older. Look at this Naruto fanart on their site! D*mn. No, my manager will quit if she has someone like that on her team. We gotta work with her gently.”

“Sarah, our team has literally made 5 managers quit. Ugh. I need someone who is experienced and possibly just from our sister company — really frenemy company…just my luck…these are new graduates, fresh out of art school. *Sigh* This is great work, you know? We just…they can’t manage! There’s no way they will last 2 minutes in this team!”

“Sarah, my top artist has just gotten promoted to a different IP in company! No!!!!! I refuse to hire anyone else. I am digging in my heels and protesting for the next month! Then I’ll hire. But not this month. I’m devastated!”

“Sarah, I just got a promotion, and then my boss had to go on vacation for 2 weeks. I’m supposed to interview our next candidate, and I don’t even know how to interview on the other side of interviews! What is this madness?!”

So to put it lightly, you can see that you will never be on the knowing end of why you didn’t get something.

You know how most of these people would comment about your good cover letter?

“What a nice cover letter, though. Nice to know people can still write these days! I hope they get their next job soon!”

*Laughs, shakes head* “Look at this talent! Now how come our IP can’t do this sort of thing. I know what will happen, even if I say they should get a chance. ‘No, because that’s just not our style…’ ugh. We should honestly consider doing things this way.”

“Oh…I would! But we just decided to do it in this other style, no!!!! You came a season too late! Try again later! Please!! I like you!!!”

“How come we never hire the guys who know what they’re doing? Seriously! I don’t care how old he is. Man. He knows everything. Look at this. And now I’m gonna have to write a stupid email saying no to this guy who looks like a genius! I feel stupid. Don’t make me say no. If he applies next time, I’m just saying yes and saying my finger slipped.”

Don’t assume it’s because you have bad art. If your stuff looks better for another company? They will pass over you with regret, usually.

It is not your age. It is not your race. It is not your gender.

It is a lot of things. And it may have nothing to do with you or your work.

So, what makes these people’s days? A good cover letter. One that wasn’t written entirely by AI, right? Even if you have AI assistance for typing up a cover letter, please write a draft by hand on paper, so you don’t have word prompts everywhere.

Would you really say “It’s my absolute delight to XYZ?” Do you even know what it means to be absolutely delighted? If it sounds off, or completely not you, please use your own words.

Okay? Okay.

So, we can look up cover letter formats online, and that is a good place to start. What you always need are:

1) The date.

2) To Whom It May Concern OR Dear [person’s name here]

3) Your interest in applying / submitting / participating / joining

4) A little bit about you or your interest in said company / group / position

5) A thankful exit, like “Thank you for your time” or “Thanks for considering me for this position. I appreciate it!”

6) Your name

Try to keep it within one page for readability. Do not omit any important information like your soft skills that may not show up on your CV / resume / portfolio! Do not assume that your artwork alone will explain anything about who you are as an employee / manager / leader.

A typo or two will not kill you. Yes, it is good to spell-check and proofread everything. Yes, it is better to have no mistakes than 2 mistakes. However, people know that we are all imperfect, and you writing “to” instead of “too” will not be the deciding factor of if you get hired or not.

You addressing the right person and having the right tone in your letter will.

If they are a formal company, they will prefer formal speak.

If they are a casual company, they will prefer “hey” to “hello” any day.

So my advice is, in order to avoid sounding like an AI prompted cover letter, that you write something by hand first, and then put it on the computer. One, you are putting in your voice, not anyone else’s. You can always make adjustments, but remember, like website design, if you design something that is not like what people associated with a certain look, then you are better being a little more “edgy” or a little more “old school” or “old fashioned.”

There is nothing wrong with old school or old fashion! Nor is there anything wrong with being edgy. You just need to know that you can’t lie on your cover letter and pretend to be Mr. Stoic when you are Mr. Passionate instead!

Please know that people who read your letter want to hear how you would speak in the event that you meet them.

“Oh, she’s funny! Okay, yeah, we can interview here. Nice!”

“Oh, he’s super polite! Really? My God…no one is that polite these days! Yes, interview please!”

“I like how he doesn’t have an ego. With this skill? Whew! I’d have an ego if I drew like that, for sure!”

“She pushed back on that one point. Geez. Way to sound intimidating in your letter! Well. We do have use for that sort of thing if you’re going to be Director for this franchise. Okay, sure. Just because you said. Interview tomorrow.”

Consider yourself a one-page ad for how good of a person you are.

You are not selling yourself. You are selling your skills. Your service.

“If you hire me, you’ll have the friendliest guy in town on your team. Pick me!”

“If you hire me? I’ll get you bagels and donuts every week! No problemo!”

“If you hire me, and the world ends tomorrow, I’ll save your entire team. We’re covered.”

“If you hire me, you can bet that I will keep these ideas and follow through to completion!”

It’s not just a list of skills. It’s skills plus personality.

There is always a place for you in the industry, and even if they said no for a year or two straight, it doesn’t mean they’ll say no in year three.

We have a place for everyone, if we can just make the timing match!

Do not hide your personality. If you are bright, be bright. If you are modest, be modest. If you are proud, be proud. The idea is that people need to see you.

Your hard work ethic vs. someone’s good looks?

You’ll get the job. Don’t worry.

Now, about those emails!

Do not be sloppy. Try not to only use the AI prompts for replies.

Address your person. Or at least say, “hey.” We write names, to remind us of who we’re speaking to.

Try to have your signature added in if you don’t want to type your name all the time. People can show you how. It’s not super hard.

If you are working with a more formal client, you can address them with Mr. or Mrs. or Director so-and-so, etc. And change to a more polite tone and slow down and make them feel at home.

If you prefer calls to emails, then do that. People can get tone of voice much better, and then you don’t have to risk having your friend be super curt or sharp in reply like, “no time – later” that just makes you want to hide for the next day and a half. If you hear them on the phone saying, “no. I have to finish. It’s crunch time!” then you will feel better and not take their reply of obligation personally.

We worry the most about first impressions, but continual impressions deserve a look too. Ever wonder why you get ghosted and it’s like, your best friend at work? Sometimes it’s something silly, like, “they never call me by name on email!!!” Super silly. Very small. See if you can mend relationships slowly and over time, just by addressing people by name.

Bosses, you can help your team at ease if you say, “hey team,” rather than just jumping to the main issue first. “Hey team” means that you are not mad at people and you are all still a team and people aren’t getting in trouble. Going super formal at an informal company can sound very scary and serious.

“Hey boss, can we talk?” sounds much better than, “I have to talk to you right now!” Even as a boss, things sound scary. Please be considerate of each other when communicating through email, to make sure people are okay.

Avoid writing IN ALL CAPS, because it looks very dramatic. If it’s like, “WOW!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!” then that’s one thing, but when you’re saying something like, “so THIS was COMPLETELY WRONG, because THIS, THIS, and THIS,” just sounds horrible. I don’t even want to know what was completely wrong, or what the 3 this items really are. You don’t either, right? Yeah.

Avoid all caps when it comes to typing emails. Obviously if you are using it to bold your IP names or something, that’s fine, but expressing strong emotion with all caps can turn people off. Please use all caps sparingly and without strong emotions attached if at all possible!

So ends our basics course for writing emails / cover letters! Hope it helps you to feel a little more at ease when it comes to writing!