Capitol Hill Cover Letter

Dear [Chief of Staff or whoever is responsible for employment decisions]:

I am writing to apply for a position as a staff assistant for Congressman John Doe. While growing up in Nebraska's 7th District, I greatly admired Congressman Doe's efforts to improve the local economy and serve as a strong voice for social welfare programs. It would be an honor to work for Congressman Doe to help him fulfill his agenda in Washington.

During the 2002 campaign, I served as a research assistant with the Democratic National Committee, a position which ended following the campaign. While at the DNC, I supported many state and national campaigns by preparing extensive research reports and writing issue summaries for candidates and campaign staff. Additionally, I assisted a successful state legislative campaign during my senior year at the University of Notre Dame. I helped staff the campaign office and greeted visitors who wanted information on the candidate. I also coordinated several literature drops around the district, and was an active participant in the campaign's phone banks.

Through my experiences, I have developed strong organizational skills that will allow me to contribute to your office operations. During my tenure at the Democratic National Committee, I took on responsibility for coordinating all the research reports that were being sent out to candidates to ensure that they were delivered in a timely manner. Before I assumed the project, requests for information were being passed to from senior staff members to research assistants who then were responsible for sending them out. Unfortunately, since there were so many requests, some were never actually making it to the campaigns. I set up a system to track the requests and then check-off when they had been delivered. The system is still being used now.

This is a very exciting opportunity. I am certain that I would be a good representative for Rep. Doe and would be able to contribute to the office in a very positive way.

Thank you for your consideration. I will follow up with you next week to schedule a time to meet.

Sincerely,


Jane Bagley