Interior Design Cover Letter

You may be skilled at designing residential or commercial spaces, but finding the right words to discuss your skills and experience in a cover letter might be more challenging. To prove you’re the right interior designer for the job, pair your portfolio with a phenomenal cover letter that resonates with hiring managers.

Follow these three tips to write an interior design cover letter that’s just as eye-catching as your design concepts:

1. Highlight your interior design skills

Interior designers manage interior design projects from conception to completion. A job-winning cover letter showcases your design experience, effective use of space and resources, ability to meet client expectations, and key hard and soft skills that are required to prepare and execute design solutions.

To assure hiring managers of your technical expertise, highlight essential interior design hard skills when elaborating on your work history in the body of your cover letter.

Here are the fundamental interior design technical skills employers look for:

• Budgeting
• Sketching
• Technical drawing
• Consulting
• Property safety codes
• Zoning regulations
• Color theory
• Adobe Systems (Creative Cloud, InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop)
• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Autodesk Revit 
• Trimble SketchUp Pro
• Vectorworks

However, a successful interior designer also possesses many soft skills. Show employers you’re their ideal candidate by emphasizing some of these interior design soft skills throughout your cover letter:

• Creativity
• Active listening
• Attention to detail
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Leadership skills 
• People skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Customer service skills
• Decision-making
• Problem-solving skills
• Adaptability
• Project planning
• Negotiation
• Delegation
• Ability to take criticism
• Project management skills

Here’s an example of how to incorporate these skills into the cover letter body:

Over the past 10 years, I’ve managed interior design projects for both commercial and residential clients, analyzing clients’ requirements and transforming their ideas into beautiful, functional design solutions.

Additionally, use bullet points to highlight hard and soft skills in the body of your cover letter like this:

Below is a snapshot of my key strengths and achievements:

• Consistently met client expectations with 100% client satisfaction scores by creating innovative design concepts to ensure effective use of space and resources
• Leveraged expertise in integrated sustainable design solutions, including preparing 2D and 3D presentation/design drawings
• Increased revenue 47% by assisting the project manager in subcontracting fabrication, installation, and arrangement of materials, finishes, and furnishings

2. Use proper cover letter format

As an interior designer, you combine your artistic eye, knowledge of design trends, and spatial awareness to conceptualize aesthetically appealing designs. Because you’re responsible for creating functional and attractive design solutions, it’s especially important to present your qualifications in a well-organized cover letter.

Use proper cover letter format to ensure your interior design job application makes a great first impression on hiring managers and your information is easier to digest.

Here’s how to format your interior design cover letter correctly:

• Choose a professional cover letter font that’s easy to read
• Set your font size at 10.5–12 points
• Place your cover letter margins at 1” to 1.5”
• Present your qualifications concisely. The ideal cover letter length is 250–400 words.
• If you’re applying online, submit your cover letter in either PDF or DOCX format

3. End with a convincing closing statement

Knowing how to end your cover letter convincingly will inspire hiring managers to get in touch with you so they can get to know you better in person. To write a strong closing statement, avoid repeating what you’ve already discussed in the cover letter body and focus on how your interior design skills and experience will directly benefit the company.

Ultimately, you need to show employers you have both the skills and passion to bring clients’ visions to life by reiterating your interest in the job and providing your key selling points.

Here’s how to end your interior design cover letter memorably:

• Show your commitment to meeting client expectations. Because interior designers oversee various aspects of a design project to ensure successful completion, employers seek passionate designers who can handle the stress that comes with the job. For example, “I’m confident I’d be able to uphold your organization’s level of excellence by continuing to transform your clients’ ideas into beautiful and functional designs.”
• Align your design talents to the job by stating how your skills and experience can add value to the company. For example, “With my proven skills in leading projects and bringing pictorial visions to life, I’m prepared to provide cost-effective solutions and exceed client expectations.”
• Express your gratitude to the hiring manager for taking the time to review your job application
• Include a call to action that invites the hiring manager to schedule an interview so you can discuss your qualifications further