Elena Prokopets
Claire Briggs Webber, CPRW
Financial analysts supply businesses and individuals with the insights they need to make better decisions. They carefully analyze market data and other information to predict the outcome of investments and other financial decisions.
Most of the time, you are focused on generating wealth for others. But you should also think about your prospects too. Confident progression over the career ladder is key to improving your financial prospects.
To make this happen, you have to sell yourself to potential employers. You begin that task with a great financial analyst cover letter.
Cover Letter Example for a Financial Analyst (Word version)
Here is a detailed sample letter to use as a reference for writing your cover letter. In this case, the letter is written by someone in search of an entry-level job upon graduating from college. However, the content here does a great job of exemplifying what should be included in a cover letter for professionals at any stage of their career.
Download cover letter example (.docx)
Financial Analyst Cover Letter Sample (text version)
Dear Ms. Eckert,
My name is Jared Davis and I am writing this letter to express my interest in the position of Junior Financial Analyst at Barron Investments. I have a bachelor’s degree in finance from SUNY Buffalo that I obtained in 2019 and will be graduating with an MBA from the same university in June 2022. During this time have accumulated more than 1800 hours of work in the fields of accounting and finance through internships and part-time employment.
In the summer of 2021, I completed an intensive internship at Watson Finance Group where I worked directly under senior investment banker, David Smith. While there I was able to gain extremely valuable experience in analyzing financial data, engaging with a range of investment customers, and using a range of software including SAP, Capital IQ, and Bloomberg. I was able to gain firsthand knowledge of the processes used to help individuals build their investment portfolios.
As I have been working on my MBA I have taken on an assistantship that includes teaching finance and accounting to undergraduate students and working as an assistant to Dr. Myers. This has given me additional exposure to the important subject matter, research, and classroom discussions.
I have worked hard in my own time, and through my employment to develop other digital literacy skills. I’m highly comfortable with remote collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Microsoft SharePoint, as well as Asana, Trello, and Slack among others. My experience with asynchronous work and ability to learn fast should allow me to easily navigate and expedite the processes you are using at Barron Investments. I believe that I will be able to use these abilities to become a productive and contributing member of your team from day one.
I am available to start on June 15th. If possible, I’d like to meet in person to discuss this opportunity, especially your recent move into cryptocurrency and NPC. These are the focus of my master’s thesis.
Sincerely,
Jared Davis
How to Write a Coherent Cover Letter for a Financial Analyst Position
The goal of a cover letter is to provide some complementary information to your resume. Specifically, it should:
- Contextualize some of your skills and work experiences
- Communicate your motivation and interest in the particular employer
- Provide a preview of your personality
The tips below will help you ensure that all of these elements are present in your cover letter.
Always Write a Unique Letter
It’s tempting to write a single, really amazing cover letter that you send out to every potential employer. It saves time and lets you focus on the job hunt.
Don’t do this. It will be very obvious to every hiring manager that you haven’t taken the time to research their company and, therefore, don’t fully hit their hiring criteria.
So here’s what you should do instead:
- Create and keep a generic cover letter outline
- Then personalize it for each employer
Specifically, add the name of the hiring manager and include extra information that shows you understand the company and its mission.
Keep Your Letter Brief
You want to include every bit of relevant information in your cover letter, but if it is too long nobody is going to read it. Be concise, and keep your cover letter length down to a single page or less. That’s the ideal length for readability, especially over email.
Lay Out Your Qualifications First
There are very specific qualifications that you must meet to be a financial analyst. If you don’t have those, you simply aren’t a viable candidate. Don’t waste time. Just list those in the first paragraph of your letter to instantly signal that you tick the baseline boxes.
Highlight the Best Parts of Your Resume
Your cover letter should not be a repeat of your resume. Instead, it should highlight the best and most relevant parts. Take three to four “talking” points from your resume and focus on them in your cover letter.
For example, you can talk about:
- Your main accomplishments
- Notable clients or projects
- Educational credentials
- Hard and soft skills
Avoid Cliches or Corporate-Speak
Do you pride yourself on being able to leverage opportunity, think outside the box, or circle back to things? That’s great, but you shouldn’t use that terminology in your cover letter. Corporate jargon is mind-numbing to read and does nothing to highlight your abilities. So drop complex terms and buzzwords and replace them with strong verbs and power words.
Final Thoughts: Follow the Instructions
Most job listings will provide you with explicit instructions on how to submit your application. This will include where to email it, subject heading, file types, etc. Double-check these, before you hit submit so that you aren’t excluded for failure to follow directions.
