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You want to apply for a position as a medical assistant and need to write a cover letter to accompany your resume. There are a few things to keep in mind when writing a medical assistant cover letter.
Your medical assistant cover letter has to be unique, stand out from the rest if you have any chance of being chosen for an interview. You need to grab the attention of the person reading the cover letter from the very first sentence.
A medical assistant cover letter can either help you get your foot in the door, so to speak, or cause you to be put on the pile of ‘unsuccessful applicants’.
Tips For Writing A Medical Assistant Cover Letter
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing your medical assistant cover letter:
- The letter needs to sell you
Think of how a new product is introduced to prospective consumers. You have to sell yourself in the same way, therefore highlighting all the benefits you have to offer the company, as well as introducing them to all your achievements.
- Writing in a professional but straightforward manner
Even though the cover letter has to be of professional quality you need to keep it straightforward. In other words, write the medical assistant cover letter in the same manner as you would speak. Don’t get carried away with using big words that you will not normally use during a conversation. The only thing you need to bring across is your enthusiasm for the position and what you have to offer the company.
- Write from a reader’s perspective
Basically what I am asking of you here is to write the letter in a way that you, if you were the reader, will enjoy reading. Each sentence has to start off with a power word. You don’t want the reader to get bored with the cover letter. If your medical assistant cover letter doesn’t grab his attention you have no chance of him continuing on and reading your resume.
- Focus on a couple of strong points
The biggest mistake most people make is basically repeating what is already said in the resume in the cover letter for medical assistant. Decide which points are most relevant to the position you are applying for and focus on those in the cover letter. Give the reader just enough information in the cover letter leaving him wanting to know more and therefore reading your resume instead of just glancing over it.
- Ask for an interview
Go for what you really want and if this position is what you want then end your cover letter with telling the reader that you will be contacting him within the next couple of days to arrange for an interview. The main goal for you applying for this specific position is to get an interview so don’t hold back.
What Do You Do If You Have No Experience?
What type of medical assistant cover letter would you have to write if you have no experience? Here are a few tips on how to write your cover letter when applying for a medical assistant position.
The opening paragraph of the medical assistant cover letter should be no longer than two or three sentences. What the reader needs to see in this paragraph is why you are applying for this position; maybe you are good with people or interested in helping others and also where you heard about the position.
With the second paragraph you will highlight all you previous work experience or qualifications that will help you when it comes to being a medical assistant. According to statistics most medical helpers did not have previous medical experience and all learnt on the job. Think of any qualities and abilities you have that is the same as that of a medical assistant. This paragraph has to be intriguing leaving the reader wanting to know more about you.
The third and final paragraph closes the letter and should also be only two or three sentences long. This final paragraph must highlight you interest in discussing this position further in an interview. Provide all your contact details.
Salary Requirements In A Medical Assistant Cover Letter
When you are looking or applying for a new job, you have to prepare yourself that you might have to consider a drop in salary. Unless requested by the company in the medical assistant job description, you would not normally include the salary you wish to receive in your medical assistant cover letter. On the other hand, if you are adamant to include salary requirements in the cover letter there are a few things you have to keep in mind when doing so allowing you to still be tactful while including your salary requirements.
- First you need to do your research to try and establish what salary is offered for this specific position, in this case being a medical assistant. Take into consideration all your education as well as any experience that you might have picked up over the years. Write down and explain why you think the salary requested is reasonable.
- In your closing paragraph of your medical assistant cover letter you will incorporate your salary requirements and tell them what salary range you believe to be acceptable for the specific position you are applying for.
- Do however; make it clear to the reader that you are willing to negotiate as far as the medical assistant salary is concerned.
What exactly is a medical assistant? As the name suggest, you will assist doctors as well as patients whenever it is needed. It is very stressful for a patient to come to hospital and not know where to go or what to do. Doctors and nurses might be extremely busy with their duties and that is where you come in. You will put the patients’ mind at ease helping out where you can, whether it is with documentation or explaining a procedure to the patient as well as the family and so forth.
Here are two samples of Medical assistance cover letters. The one is for an experienced candidate and the other for a candidate with no experience.
The cover letter for an experienced candidate will include things such as your qualifications, any studies you have completed as well as your work history. What did all your duties include when you worked in a medical environment, did you ever assist the doctors at the clinics and so forth. Did you take care of any paperwork, like insurance claims for instance, are you fluent in any other language apart for your home language, personality traits and anything else you feel might be of importance.
Make sure you also include the date on which you will be available to join the company.
The cover letter for a candidate with no experience gives you the opportunity to include all your previous work experience you might have picked up while working in a certain industry. You might have worked in an environment where you had day to day contact with various people allowing you to develop social skills which are something that is required when it comes to being a medical assistant. Mention everything you could think of that will make you the ideal medical assistant. You will need to work a bit harder on your medical assistant cover letter as you will be competing against other prospective medical assistants for this position and they might have had years of experience in this specific field. Make sure, if you are fluent in other languages, to mention it as this always comes in handy if patients speaking a different language comes to hospital allowing you to help and cross the language barrier.
Here is a list of tips which should help you write the perfect medical assistant cover letter:
- Make your opening statement unique, allowing it to stand out from the rest.
- Be careful not to sound desperate for the position, but rather come across as very confident.
- Highlight your skill and personality traits that will be an asset to the company.
- Make sure you do a spelling and grammar check before sending your medical assistant cover letter and resume to the company. I would also suggest having a friend read it first.
- Always be professional.
- Don’t ever include any skills or qualifications that you do not have as you will be caught out if not sooner than later.
There are so many different ways to write a medical assistant cover letter that you have the opportunity to make your medical assistant cover letter special and unique. You want yours to be the one that grabs the attention of the reader and leave him or her eager to read the rest of the cover letter as well as your resume.
It doesn’t matter whether you have any medical assistant training or a history in the medical field or what type of qualifications you have as long as you are willing to learn and have the social skills needed for this position.
Medical Assistant Cover Letter Example:
(Your details in center)
John Smith (Your Name)
15 Lexington Street (Your Address)
Chicago, Illinois, 46311 (Your City, State, Zip Code)
(123) 456-7890 (Your Phone No.)
johnsmith@mail.com (Your Email Address)
January 17, 2012
(Date to the right)
(Employer/Company details on the left)
Ashley Parker, M.D. (Employer Name)
Director (Employer Position)
Medi Clinic (Company Name)
1775 Ballard Rd (Company Address)
Park Ridge, IL 60068 (Company City, State, Zip Code)
Dear Dr. Parker
(Specify the job position and where you saw it)
I am writing in response to the Medical Assistant job position advertised on medicaljobs.com. I truly believe that I am the perfect person for the job as I have strong organization skills, dedication to work, a positive attitude, and I have spent a substantial amount of time performing both clinical and administrative tasks in previous fast-paced medical environments.
(Discuss your qualifications and what you specialize in)
I have 3 years experience in both clinical and administrative tasks,performing routing patient screening, additional technical supportive services, and medical clerical duties.
Apart from this I have substantial experience in other office duties such as answering phone calls, setting up appointments, filling out insurance forms, handling correspondence and arranging for hospital admissions, laboratory services, and supervising billing and bookkeeping.
(Add your contact details and when you are available by)
I am available immediately and would appreciate the opportunity to schedule a meeting with you to discuss the position further. Feel free to call me on (123) 456-7890 or email me at johnsmith@mail.com at any time to arrange a date that works for you. Thank you for considering my application and my resume is attached for your review.
Sincerely,
John Smith
(Your full name)