A company’s IT department may be its most important business area. Why? Because anything that happens in IT has the potential to affect every other part of the business. A poorly managed IT department can mean a lagging corporate website, broken internal applications, overlooked security vulnerabilities, a lower customer experience and more problematic issues.
An IT manager is the person who sits at the head of the technology department and ensures that technology service delivery occurs smoothly. They often develop the company’s strategy for new technology investments; hire, train and supervise new IT staff; Establish, coordinate and manage computer networks and perform a wide variety of other tasks.
If you take on this role, you must have solid leadership skills and a strong vision to not only implement new technologies, but also evangelize their value to other stakeholders in the company.
At the application stage, the best way to demonstrate your “championship” is in your cover letter. But writing a compelling cover letter can be more difficult than designing a new WLAN. To help you, we have prepared a detailed example of an IT manager cover letter with some additional tips!
Example of a cover letter for an IT manager (Word)
Download example (.docx)
IT manager cover letter (plain text)
Hello Whitley Smith,
My name is Amanda Rich, and I am writing this letter to express my interest in the position of Director of IT in the Richland School District. As requested, I have attached a copy of my resume and authorization for a state and federal background check. Thanks in advance for reviewing my application packet.
I am currently in the process of completing a 2 year contract as an IT consultant for Bay Area Community College. In this role, I was responsible for modernizing the college’s legacy billing system and implementing a new suite of remote-friendly employee solutions (Office 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online). I also worked extensively with an IT security company to perform regular audits of the school’s networks and security infrastructure. The new systems implemented during my contract resolved a number of documented security issues and received a 96% student and staff satisfaction rate.
Before entering consulting, I worked in IT security management roles for almost ten years. The vast majority of my experience has involved managing IT teams and systems for public school districts, community colleges and local government agencies. This allowed me to develop strong IT vendor management capabilities (RFP process management, onboarding, SLA negotiation, budget, retention, etc.), along with a strong suite of technical project management skills (I am certified in Agile and Scrum methodologies).
Additionally, I completed ISO compliance and cyber security training with Microsoft in 2020-21 to expand my cyber security skills.
I know that the Richland School District has undergone significant changes and challenges over the past 36 months. The inauguration of the new center for technological education is truly an amazing achievement and a benefit to the entire community. It would be an honor for me to take on the role of Director of IT to help Richland remain among the industry leaders when it comes to digitizing the classroom.
I will be available to take on any new role after August 1st. Are you open to an interview in the coming week? I would love to meet with you and your team to discuss how I can help.
Regards,
amanda rich
How to write a cover letter for an IT manager
Any position with the title “manager” assumes that the candidate has strong soft skills. As a techie, you may be inclined to focus more on your technical skills (which are also important!). But remember: you won’t necessarily be talking to a techie colleague. Hence your reference to the application “99.999% uptime for ERPs” or “Creating a geo-redundant secondary DR site” It is not always possible to get a proper assessment.
A good IT manager cover letter offers a balanced snapshot of your hard and soft skills. Contextualize your innovative technology ideas through the lens of end-user outcomes, rather than diving deep into the complexity of the architecture.
To help you create a persuasive letter, we have prepared some additional tips.
There is a vision
When an organization hires an IT manager, they are looking for someone who will take responsibility for their technology vision and translate it into reality. To get to the interview stage, you need to show that you have that game plan. Use your cover letter to briefly outline what ambitious IT programs you helped realize and what results they produced for your previous employer.
Demonstrate leadership skills
This tip is especially important if you are new to IT management or other management roles. Your previous resume and cover letters may focus on a variety of technical and soft skills. That has to change a bit now. Your cover letter should reflect bigger picture capabilities such as your ability to strategize, innovate, persuade and inspire people around you to act.
Talk about your successes
Your cover letter is the ideal format to introduce yourself and go over your previous IT successes. Don’t get bogged down in your daily tasks. Instead, focus on a few key accomplishments that truly showcase your ability to lead an IT team and overcome major challenges.
Last tip: focus on people
IT managers need to provide leadership on both the technical and the human level. Your cover letter should demonstrate that you are able to provide both. If you don’t provide a balanced view of your skills, the hiring manager may pass over your application for someone who clearly does.
