cover letter mackenzie

Consulting cover letter guide (for McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

Today we’re going to explain everything you need to know about writing consulting cover letters.

We’ll start by reviewing an example cover letter that got interview invitations from ALL the MBB firms (McKinsey, BCG, and Bain). 

And then we’ll explain exactly how you should write your own cover letter to land consulting interviews. Here’s a full list of the topics in this guide:

• Example cover letter

How to write your consulting cover letter

Consulting cover letter tips.

• The skills consulting firms look for

Consulting cover letter screening process

• Get help with your cover letter

Let’s get to it! 

Click here for a consulting letter/resume review with an ex-MBB consultant

Example cover letter (which got interviews at mckinsey, bcg, and bain).

Below is an anonymised cover letter from a candidate who got interviews at McKinsey, BCG and Bain. So you can trust that this template works.

The image here highlights the different sections of the cover letter, but we’ll dive deeper into the text later, and you can also get a downloadable copy below.

Free download of the consulting cover letter example, here. 

In the next section, we’ll go step-by-step through each part of the cover letter and explain how to go about writing it. But before we dive in, please note the following points about the above template:

• A lot of people use this template. Get inspiration from it, but every sentence in your letter should be written from scratch.
• This cover letter might sound impressive. It's one of the best ones we’ve seen. But even if you have not achieved as much as this person, you can still get an interview.

With that said, let’s dig into the cover letter writing process!

As a starting point, this video provides a nice overview of the full writing process for a consulting cover letter. 

Now let’s break things down further.

1. Introduction

Example - Introduction

Mary Taylor - [email protected]

DD / MM / YYYY

Dear Sir / Madam,

I would like to apply for an Associate position at McKinsey in London.

This section is a formality. It should simply state the following information:

• Your name and email address. You can replace your email address with a postal address although those are not commonly used anymore.
• The date on which you are sending your letter
• The position, company, and office to which you are applying

Keep it short and sweet.

2. Why you? 

Example - Why you?

I started working as an Analyst at Big Finance in New York in September 2020 and was quickly promoted to Associate in a year and a half instead of the average four years. While at Big Finance, I advised a broad range of clients who constantly gave me positive feedback and regularly asked to work with me again. Before joining Big Finance, I graduated as the top student of my MEng in Chemical Engineering at Prestigious University in the UK. While studying, I received two competitive scholarships and awards. In addition, I developed my leadership skills as the President of the Prestigious University Consulting Club. High energy was essential to lead a team of 5 managing the club and growing the number of members by 20%.

This is your "GOLD MEDALS" section. It is the first section of your cover letter and therefore the most important one.

It should state the TOP 3 achievements of your life to date that are relevant to consulting. These achievements should be as unique and as memorable as possible. When your reviewer reads them they should think "Wow, that's impressive. I want to know more about this person."

To write this section you need to step back and ask yourself "What are the most impressive things I've done with my life so far?" This is not an easy question to answer. 

In our experience discussing this with a close friend can help. It's sometimes easier for them to quickly point out the impressive things you have done as they are an external observer.

In addition, notice how achievements are QUANTIFIED in the example above. Saying you have been promoted "in a year and a half instead of the average four years" is much more powerful than saying you have been promoted "quickly." You should quantify your achievements whenever possible.

This section is your chance to grab the reader's attention. If there's nothing impressive in it, they will stop reading and just scan the paragraphs. So don't miss your opportunity!

3. Why consulting?

Example - Why consulting?

There are several reasons why I want to pursue a consulting career. To start with, I know I will enjoy being a strategy consultant because I have already worked in a strategy team in the past. This was in summer 2019 when I was a Strategy Intern at Big Grocery Retailer in London. In addition, I think consulting is a unique opportunity to comprehensively learn about business management by working on a variety of company situations. Over the past two years, I have started building my business skills while advising clients on financial matters at Big Finance. I now look forward to learning more about companies’ management at McKinsey. Finally, I want to work in consulting because I truly enjoy interacting with clients. Throughout my work experiences I have built a successful track record of developing and maintaining relationships with clients including, for instance, the senior strategy team at Big Grocery Retailer.

Once you have convinced your reviewer that you have impressive achievements under your belt they'll be thinking: "Ok, this person is impressive. But do they REALLY want to be a consultant? Or are they just applying because they're not sure what to do with their career."

The third section of your letter should therefore answer the  "Why consulting?" question . But here is the thing about this question: There are some reasons to go into consulting that you should tell your reviewer about. And some reasons that you should really keep to yourself.

For instance, one of the mistakes candidates commonly make in their cover letter is to write something along the lines of "I'd like to spend 2 or 3 years in consulting to learn more about business in general and then decide what I want to do." This is a HUGE mistake. 

Consulting firms want to hire FUTURE PARTNERS. Not employees who will stay for a couple of years. You can watch the video below for more details about this.

The best approach for your "Why consulting?" section is to write about past experiences that really show you know what you are getting into. The perfect situation is if you have done an internship in consulting or in corporate strategy and have enjoyed it. If that's the case, this is the perfect section to write about it.

But even if you haven't done related internships, there are plenty of angles you can use to connect your past experiences to what you will do as a consultant. For instance:

• You might have enjoyed working with clients when you were in M&A or in Sales
• You might have enjoyed structuring and solving tough problems as an engineer

You should use these experiences to say that "working with clients" or "solving tough problems" is something you KNOW you enjoy doing; and you look forward to spending more time doing this as a consultant.

When they read this section, your reviewer should think: "Ok, this person is impressive AND they know what they are getting into."

4. Why McKinsey / BCG / Bain / Other?

Example - Why McKinsey?

McKinsey appeals to me for three reasons. To start with, the different people from the company I have met and worked with all told me they had truly enjoyed their time there. For the past two years, I have worked for Michael Smith, a former Engagement Manager from the London office, who now works for Big Finance. Additionally, I regularly read McKinsey’s reports on financial services and think the insights delivered by Sarah James and others in the Finance practice are truly superior to that of other consultancies. By joining McKinsey, I therefore think I would have an opportunity to work with and learn from the best consultants in the industry. Finally, the fact that McKinsey was selected by Finance Supercorp to shape its digital strategy also played an important role in my decision to apply. This was a first-of-its-kind contract in finance and it shows that while at McKinsey I could get the opportunity to work on truly unique projects.

If you have managed to convince your reviewer that you have an impressive background and that you really want to be a consultant, you have a VERY HIGH chance of getting an interview. 

The only question that's left for you to answer is: " Why McKinsey  / Why BCG? / Why Bain? "

Top consulting firms  have a lot in common. In most regions, they cover the same industries and work for similar clients. They also pay similar salaries, and the career path is more or less the same from firm to firm. So what should you write about in this section?

In our experience, the most efficient way to set yourself apart in this section is to write about three specific elements:

When you write "I've met with Michael Smith," or "I've read report X," or "I've heard about project Y," you are making an argument that's SPECIFIC enough for your reviewer to think: "Ok they've done their homework."

If you stay too GENERIC, your argument will be much less credible. For instance, writing something like "While at McKinsey, I'll be exposed to a broad range of industries which I'm excited about" is a weak argument because you could swap McKinsey for BCG or Bain in that sentence.

In fact, this is the ultimate test. If you can swap McKinsey with another name in your "Why McKinsey?" section you are not being specific enough. You need to work on your paragraph again and mention SPECIFIC people, reports, or projects that you find interesting.

5. Conclusion

Example - Conclusion

For all these reasons, I am very enthusiastic about the chance to work at McKinsey. I am available for an interview at any time and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Taylor

The last section of the cover letter is a formality again. It should include the following elements:

• A sentence or two saying that you are enthusiastic and available for interviews at any time
• Your final signature

So how do you make it easy for your reviewer to put your cover letter on the "Accept" pile? We have put together the 10 tips below to make sure you can achieve this and avoid common mistakes.

Tip #1 Don't use a template letter

Writing cover letters is painful. But trust us, reading hundreds of them can be at least as painful. That's why you should make every effort to make your letter interesting and genuine. 

It's ok to get inspiration from templates such as the one we provide in this guide. But every sentence in your letter should be written from scratch.

Tip #2 Keep it to one page

One of the unwritten rules of consulting cover letters is that they should not be longer than one page. The trick to achieve this is to only select the MOST RELEVANT experiences from your  resume  and to summarise them. 

The points you decide to highlight should clearly demonstrate that you would make a great consultant.

Tip #3 Standard format and font

It's tempting to use an eye-catching font and format. But that's actually a bad idea. You only risk your interviewer thinking: "I've never seen this font, it looks really weird. Who is this person?" Your cover letter should stand out because of its content, NOT because of its format.

Tip #4 Not the time to be shy

Your cover letter is not the time to be shy. If you went to Harvard and have three Olympic medals, now is the time to say it! Most of us don't, and that's fine. But the point is that you should really push yourself to bring your most impressive accomplishments forward.

Tip #5 Network, network, network

This might sound surprising, but a big part of the cover letter is  how much networking you have done . Having networked with people from the firm you are applying for pays dividends for multiple reasons. 

First, they might recommend you to the HR team. But most importantly, these people will give you insight into what makes their firm UNIQUE. Then you can quote what you've heard in your cover letter (and name drop the person you heard it from) to show that you really understand the firm you are applying for.

Tip #6 Read, read, read

Unfortunately, networking is not always easy or possible. In these cases, your second best option is to read as much as you can on the firms you are applying for. You should read about the firm's projects, reports, and partners and find pieces of information you are really interested in. 

For instance, if you did your master thesis on electric vehicles, try to find who works in this area at the firm and what they have to say about it. And then mention what you have found in your cover letter.

Tip #7 One letter per firm

One question we often get is: "Should I write one letter per firm?" The answer is YES. But it's not as hard as it might sound. 

Every cover letter needs to answer three questions: Why you? Why consulting? And why this firm? The only paragraph you will need to change in every letter is the one about "Why this firm?" For each firm, you will have to do the networking and reading mentioned above.

Tip #8 Start writing early

Writing an outstanding cover letter is VERY HARD. Most candidates underestimate how much time it takes and start this process too late. You'll need to take a step back and reflect on everything you have done to date to highlight your most relevant experiences. 

This takes multiple iterations. Start early.

Tip #9 Get feedback

In our experience, great candidates all look for feedback and iterate on their cover letter until it's truly as good as it can get. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

It’s best to get feedback from peers or consultants. These people will be able to point out which parts of your letter they don't get or don't find impactful enough. If you’d like to have an expert review your cover letter, check out our team of  ex-consultant coaches .

Tip #10 Proofread multiple times

Finally, you should check and double check your letter for typos and grammar mistakes - multiple times. A cover letter is (not so secretly) a writing test and you should really treat it like one.

What consulting firms look for

To get multiple interviews at  top consulting firms , it’s extremely important to understand what those firms are actually looking for. 

The good news is that most of the leading consultancies are looking for basically the same skills. 

To illustrate this point, here’s what  McKinsey  and  Bain  say that they’re looking for in candidates, along with our own translation of what they mean:

There are also a few unofficial items that consulting firms will look for on your resume, and you can read about those in our  consulting resume guide .

Next, let’s talk about the typical cover letter screening process.

Screening process

Now let's talk about HOW your cover letter will be handled once you send it. Here's how it works.

Your application will be sent to a JUNIOR CONSULTANT who recently graduated from your University. They will score your documents based on a grid provided by the HR team. 

Consultants usually have to score 200 to 400 applications in about 2 weeks. And this is sometimes on TOP of their normal project. It's not uncommon for them to leave the job to the last minute and to have to do it on a Friday night just before the deadline.

Why is this important? The point we are trying to make is your application is part of 100 other applications. And the person who will review it will be tired by the time they get to your cover letter. If they don't understand something, they won't Google it. It's your job to make their job easy.

Why consultancies ask for a cover letter

There are two main reasons why consulting firms ask for cover letters.

First, partners bill several thousand dollars per day to their clients. The opportunity cost of interviewing you is HUGE for the firm. Put yourself in the shoes of a consultancy for a second. What are the top 3 questions you want to answer before investing money in interviewing a candidate?

• Have they demonstrated the skills needed to be a consultant?
• Do they know what consulting is and what they are getting into?
• Are they genuinely interested in working for our firm?

If you don't answer these three questions in a structured and impactful way, your chances of getting past the screening process are very low. This is why every cover letter should be structured as follows:

• Why consulting?
• Why this firm?

The second reason consulting firms ask for a cover letter is to test your writing skills. Consultants write all the time: emails, PowerPoints, Word documents, etc. They spend about 50% of their day writing. And a lot of the time their job is to summarise very large quantities of information in a succinct way.

This is exactly what you have to do in your cover letter. You have to a) look back on all your past experiences, b) select the relevant experiences to convince the reviewer that you are the right person for the job and c) summarise all these experiences in a way that's easy to read and digest.

Cover letters are a disguised writing test. Candidates who end up getting invited for interviews recognise this early on. Making a good impression on paper is way harder than making a good impression in person.

Are many candidates ready to invest HOURS in writing the perfect cover letter? No. That's the whole point. That's how you can set yourself apart. If you spend enough time making sure that your letter is as impactful as it can be, you stand very high chances of getting invited for interviews.

Another reason that it can help to have a cover letter is to explain anything on your resume that may look unusual to a reviewer, such as a time gap or a non-traditional background for consulting. 

Whatever your unique situation is, if you’re not confident in how your cover letter looks today, then we can help you. 

Get an Ex-MBB consultant to review your cover letter

The guide above, in addition to our guide on  consulting resumes , should go a long way in helping you craft documents that will get you interviews. 

But if you still feel you need additional help, we have a team of ex-MBB recruiters and interviewers who would be happy to provide feedback on your cover letter.

You’ll get feedback on how to immediately improve your cover letter, including what experience to focus on, how to optimise your phrasing, formatting, etc.

Start by browsing profiles for available coaches.

McKinsey Cover Letter Sample

Written by . Posted in Cover Letter

If you are applying for a position at McKinsey, you will be competing with a large number of graduates and working professionals who are also interested in breaking into the firm. Therefore, you must be able to convince recruiters to invite you to an interview. This includes submitting a McKinsey cover letter that tells the story that you are a highly motivated and ambitious applicant with a great potential.

Remember, a resume only summarizes your skills and experience, but a cover letter tells the story about you: your career plans and the fit of consulting in these plans, your personality and your key accomplishments. You need to devote ample time to crafting your letter as it can help you stand out from the pool of highly qualified candidates.

Before Writing Your McKinsey Cover Letter

Before writing your McKinsey cover letter, you need to make a list of your qualifications and accomplishments that match the skills McKinsey seek in candidates. This will help you determine which information to include in the document. Use the table below for ideas and suggestions:

McKinsey Cover Letter Structure

The cover letter should contain three to five paragraphs and the information you present should be comprehensively written. If this document exceeds one page, recruiters will doubt your written communication skills, something all management consultants should possess.

Contact Information and Salutation

There’s only one thing you need to remember in this section: accuracy. Double check your contact information as the recruiters will use it to notify you about tests and interviews. Also, don’t forget to address the letter to the correct person and his or her position at the firm. Applicants often overlook these basic facts when writing cover letters. Committing these types of mistakes will hurt your application; recruiters will be disappointed that you omitted critical details.

Introduction

This section should be interesting enough to encourage the recruiters to read the rest of your McKinsey cover letter. It should contain your objectives, the specific job title you are interested in, and how you came across the opening. In order to convey your own voice, try the following strategies:

Here’s is an example of this section:

Here’s is another example:

Middle Paragraphs

Based on your list of qualifications, choose and highlight two or three skills or accomplishments that will push your application to the top of the pile. Select the ones that are most relevant to the position. If you are an experienced professional, focus on your quantitative achievements at your previous job. If you are a recent graduate, you can talk about your coursework, extracurricular activities, and internship program. The important thing is to establish a connection between the job and your competencies.

Here is an example of this section for experienced professionals:

My three-year experience as a director at an online marketing agency has prepared me for this client-oriented role. I have developed various digital marketing campaigns using a range of techniques such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), social media advertisements, and paid searches. I also served as a marketing partner of Bangles, a startup company that sells women’s clothing and apparel online. Two months after implementing our marketing proposal, their monthly revenue increased by 25%.

Apart from my experience, my marketing degree from the University of Colorado has also prepared me for advanced business writing, conducting market research, and analyzing consumer behavior. I believe that my technical know-how, coupled with my substantial experience, will be my key to generating marketing strategies based on the industry’s best practices and customer experience. I am confident McKinsey & Company will find my contribution to the organization’s growth valuable.

Here is an example of this section for recent graduates:

During my three-month internship at Fast Investment Bank, I helped my team in providing financial services to companies and organizations. I analyzed an investment opportunity for a private equity fund within the wind turbine sector, leading to a critical investment decision. I also developed an Excel model for the valuation using both multiple and discounted cash flow methods. This model was used by the entire team.

In addition to my internship experience, I am a Finance major from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. My college curriculum has readied me for any challenges in business analysis, quantitative methods, and organizational behavior. Despite my responsibilities as a soccer club vice-president, I graduated with a 3.9 GPA. As evidenced by my excellent educational performance, I believe I will be able to adapt to the challenging demands of your organization.

In this section, you can also talk about your motivation for applying with the firm and personal interests. Make sure to present them in a manner that’s relevant to the desired position.

Closing Paragraph

The closing paragraph revolves around you as a person. Write about what you can contribute to the organization, your passion, personal values and skills. Finally, add one more sentence that indicates your high value. Avoid writing “If you have any questions about my application, please do not hesitate to contact me” as this creates no value. If recruiters find you suitable for the job, they will find a way to contact you.

Here’s an example of the closing paragraph:

I take pride in my innate leadership potential. When I was still in university, I was an officer of the consulting club for two consecutive years.  Furthermore, my former colleagues can attest to how I motivate other people to do their tasks, and involve everyone in working towards the common goal.

Looking forward to discuss the opportunities with you.

It’s essential to close your McKinsey cover letter in a professional manner. You may use the following closing examples:

• Best regards
• Respectfully
• Yours truly
• Most sincerely

Also, don’t forget to attach your signature in order to add sincerity to your McKinsey cover letter. If you’re uploading your letter on the Internet, consider creating a digital signature. Just sign a piece of clean, white paper, scan it, and crop the image down to the ideal size of your signature. This will help you stand out as a professional and technically-competent applicant.

Review Your Cover Letter

Before sending out your McKinsey cover letter, review its content and structure. If you know someone who is qualified and willing to check it for you, ask for his or her objective feedback. After reviewing the document, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the content relevant and interesting enough to pique the interest of the recruiter?
• Does it convey the value I can contribute to the firm?
• Are my ideas or qualifications presented in a smooth and comprehensible manner?
• Does it look reader-friendly?
• Is it free from spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors?

If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, you can submit your McKinsey cover letter with your resume and other required documents.

You Might Also Like...

• Bain Cover Letter
• Bain Cover Letter Sample
• Consulting Cover Letter Examples
• Consulting Cover Letter Outline
• Consulting Cover Letter and Resume Tips
• Consulting Firm Profile: McKinsey & Company
• Consulting Resume and Cover Letter Guide

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How to write a great cover letter in 2024: tips and structure

A cover letter is a personalized letter that introduces you to a potential employer, highlights your qualifications, and explains why you're a strong fit for a specific job.

Hate or love them, these brief documents allow job seekers to make an impression and stand out from the pile of other applications. Penning a thoughtful cover letter shows the hiring team you care about earning the position.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to write a cover letter — and a great one, at that.

What is a cover letter and why does it matter?

A professional cover letter is a one-page document you submit alongside your CV or resume as part of a job application. Typically, they’re about half a page or around 150–300 words.

An effective cover letter doesn’t just rehash your CV; it’s your chance to highlight your proudest moments, explain why you want the job, and state plainly what you bring to the table.

Show the reviewer you’re likable, talented, and will add to the company’s culture . You can refer to previous jobs and other information from your CV, but only if it helps tell a story about you and your career choices .

What 3 things should you include in a cover letter?

A well-crafted cover letter can help you stand out to potential employers. To make your cover letter shine, here are three key elements to include:

1. Personalization

Address the hiring manager or recruiter by name whenever possible. If the job posting doesn't include a name, research to find out who will be reviewing applications. Personalizing your cover letter shows that you've taken the time to tailor your application to the specific company and role.

2. Highlight relevant achievements and skills

Emphasize your most relevant skills , experiences, and accomplishments that directly relate to the job you're applying for. Provide specific examples of how your skills have benefited previous employers and how they can contribute to the prospective employer's success. Use quantifiable achievements , such as improved efficiency, cost savings, or project success, to demonstrate your impact.

3. Show enthusiasm and fit

Express your enthusiasm for the company and the position you're applying for. Explain why you are interested in this role and believe you are a good fit for the organization. Mention how your values, goals, and skills align with the company's mission and culture. Demonstrating that you've done your research can make a significant impression.

What do hiring managers look for in a cover letter?

Employers look for several key elements in a cover letter. These include:

Employers want to see that your cover letter is specifically tailored to the position you are applying for. It should demonstrate how your skills, experiences, and qualifications align with the job requirements.

Clear and concise writing

A well-written cover letter is concise, easy to read, and error-free. Employers appreciate clear and effective communication skills , so make sure your cover letter showcases your ability to express yourself effectively.

Demonstrated knowledge of the company

Employers want to see that you are genuinely interested in their organization. Mention specific details about the company, such as recent achievements or projects, to show that you are enthusiastic about joining their team.

Achievements and accomplishments

Highlight your relevant achievements and accomplishments that demonstrate your qualifications for the position. Use specific examples to showcase your skills and show how they can benefit the employer.

Enthusiasm and motivation

Employers want to hire candidates who are excited about the opportunity and motivated to contribute to the company's success. Express your enthusiasm and passion for the role and explain why you are interested in working for the company.

Professionalism

A cover letter should be professional in tone and presentation. Use formal language, address the hiring manager appropriately, and follow standard business letter formatting.

How do you structure a cover letter?

A well-structured cover letter follows a specific format that makes it easy for the reader to understand your qualifications and enthusiasm for the position. Here's a typical structure for a cover letter:

Contact information

Include your name, address, phone number, and email address at the top of the letter. Place your contact information at the beginning so that it's easy for the employer to reach you.

Employer's contact information

Opening paragraph, middle paragraph(s), closing paragraph, complimentary close, additional contact information.

Repeat your contact information (name, phone number, and email) at the end of the letter, just in case the employer needs it for quick reference.

Remember to keep your cover letter concise and focused. It should typically be no more than one page in length. Proofread your letter carefully to ensure it is free from spelling and grammatical errors. Tailor each cover letter to the specific job application to make it as relevant and impactful as possible.

How to write a good cover letter (with examples)

The best letters are unique, tailored to the job description, and written in your voice — but that doesn’t mean you can’t use a job cover letter template.

Great cover letters contain the same basic elements and flow a certain way. Take a look at this cover letter structure for ref erence while you construct your own.

1. Add a header and contact information

While reading your cover letter, the recruiter shouldn’t have to look far to find who wrote it. Your document should include a basic heading with the following information:

• Pronouns (optional)
• Location (optional)
• Email address
• Phone number (optional)
• Relevant links, such as your LinkedIn profile , portfolio, or personal website (optional)

You can pull this information directly from your CV. Put it together, and it will look something like this:

Christopher Pike

San Francisco, California

[email protected]

Alternatively, if the posting asks you to submit your cover letter in the body of an email, you can include this information in your signature. For example:

Warm regards,

Catherine Janeway

Bloomington, Indiana

[email protected]

(555) 999 - 2222

2. Include a personal greeting

Always begin your cover letter by addressing the hiring manager — preferably by name. You can use the person’s first and last name. Make sure to include a relevant title, like Dr., Mr., or Ms. For example, “Dear Mr. John Doe.”

Avoid generic openings like “To whom it may concern,” “Dear sir or madam,” or “Dear hiring manager.” These introductions sound impersonal — like you’re copy-pasting cover letters — and can work against you in the hiring process.

Be careful, though. When using someone’s name, you don’t want to use the wrong title or accidentally misgender someone. If in doubt, using only their name is enough. You could also opt for a gender-neutral title, like Mx.

Make sure you’re addressing the right person in your letter — ideally, the person who’s making the final hiring decision. This isn’t always specified in the job posting, so you may have to do some research to learn the name of the hiring manager.

3. Draw them in with an opening story

The opening paragraph of your cover letter should hook the reader. You want it to be memorable, conversational, and extremely relevant to the job you’re pursuing. 

There’s no need for a personal introduction — you’ve already included your name in the heading. But you should make reference to the job you’re applying for. A simple “Thank you for considering my application for the role of [job title] at [company],” will suffice.

Then you can get into the “Why” of your job application. Drive home what makes this specific job and this company so appealing to you. Perhaps you’re a fan of their products, you’re passionate about their mission, or you love their brand voice. Whatever the case, this section is where you share your enthusiasm for the role.

Here’s an example opening paragraph. In this scenario, you’re applying for a digital marketing role at a bicycle company:

“Dear Mr. John Doe,

Thank you for considering my application for the role of Marketing Coordinator at Bits n’ Bikes.

My parents bought my first bike at one of your stores. I’ll never forget the freedom I felt when I learned to ride it. My father removed my training wheels, and my mom sent me barrelling down the street. You provide joy to families across the country — and I want to be part of that.”

4. Emphasize why you’re best for the job

Your next paragraphs should be focused on the role you’re applying to. Highlight your skill set and why you’re a good fit for the needs and expectations associated with the position. Hiring managers want to know what you’ll bring to the job, not just any role.

Start by studying the job description for hints. What problem are they trying to solve with this hire? What skills and qualifications do they mention first or more than once? These are indicators of what’s important to the hiring manager.

Search for details that match your experience and interests. For example, if you’re excited about a fast-paced job in public relations, you might look for these elements in a posting:

• They want someone who can write social media posts and blog content on tight deadlines
• They value collaboration and input from every team member
• They need a planner who can come up with strong PR strategies

Highlight how you fulfill these requirements:

“I’ve always been a strong writer. From blog posts to social media, my content pulls in readers and drives traffic to product pages. For example, when I worked at Bits n’ Bikes, I developed a strategic blog series about bike maintenance that increased our sales of spare parts and tools by 50% — we could see it in our web metrics.

Thanks to the input of all of our team members, including our bike mechanics, my content delivered results.”

5. End with a strong closing paragraph and sign off gracefully

Your closing paragraph is your final chance to hammer home your enthusiasm about the role and your unique ability to fill it. Reiterate the main points you explained in the body paragraphs and remind the reader of what you bring to the table.

You can also use the end of your letter to relay other important details, like whether you’re willing to relocate for the job.

When choosing a sign-off, opt for a phrase that sounds professional and genuine. Reliable options include “Sincerely” and “Kind regards.”

Here’s a strong closing statement for you to consider:

“I believe my enthusiasm, skills, and work experience as a PR professional will serve Bits n’ Bikes very well. I would love to meet to further discuss my value-add as your next Director of Public Relations. Thank you for your consideration. I hope we speak soon.

Tips to write a great cover letter that compliments your resume

When writing your own letter, try not to copy the example excerpts word-for-word. Instead, use this cover letter structure as a baseline to organize your ideas. Then, as you’re writing, use these extra cover letter tips to add your personal touch:

• Keep your cover letter different from your resume : Your cover letter should not duplicate the information on your resume. Instead, it should provide context and explanations for key points in your resume, emphasizing how your qualifications match the specific job you're applying for.
• Customize your cover letter . Tailor your cover letter for each job application. Address the specific needs of the company and the job posting, demonstrating that you've done your homework and understand their requirements.
• Show enthusiasm and fit . Express your enthusiasm for the company and position in the cover letter. Explain why you are interested in working for this company and how your values, goals, and skills align with their mission and culture.
• Use keywords . Incorporate keywords from the job description and industry terms in your cover letter. This can help your application pass through applicant tracking systems (ATS) and demonstrate that you're well-versed in the field.
• Keep it concise . Your cover letter should be succinct and to the point, typically no more than one page. Focus on the most compelling qualifications and experiences that directly support your application.
• Be professional . Maintain a professional tone and structure in your cover letter. Proofread it carefully to ensure there are no errors.
• Address any gaps or concerns . If there are gaps or concerns in your resume, such as employment gaps or a change in career direction, briefly address them in your cover letter. Explain any relevant circumstances and how they have shaped your qualifications and determination.
• Provide a call to action . Conclude your cover letter with a call to action, inviting the employer to contact you for further discussion. Mention that you've attached your resume for their reference.
• Follow the correct format . Use a standard cover letter format like the one above, including your contact information, a formal salutation, introductory and closing paragraphs, and your signature. Ensure that it complements your resume without redundancy.
• Pick the right voice and tone . Try to write like yourself, but adapt to the tone and voice of the company. Look at the job listing, company website, and social media posts. Do they sound fun and quirky, stoic and professional, or somewhere in-between? This guides your writing style.
• Tell your story . You’re an individual with unique expertise, motivators, and years of experience. Tie the pieces together with a great story. Introduce how you arrived at this point in your career, where you hope to go , and how this prospective company fits in your journey. You can also explain any career changes in your resume.
• Show, don’t tell . Anyone can say they’re a problem solver. Why should a recruiter take their word for it if they don’t back it up with examples? Instead of naming your skills, show them in action. Describe situations where you rose to the task, and quantify your success when you can.
• Be honest . Avoid highlighting skills you don’t have. This will backfire if they ask you about them in an interview. Instead, shift focus to the ways in which you stand out.
• Avoid clichés and bullet points . These are signs of lazy writing. Do your best to be original from the first paragraph to the final one. This highlights your individuality and demonstrates the care you put into the letter.
• Proofread . Always spellcheck your cover letter. Look for typos, grammatical errors, and proper flow. We suggest reading it out loud. If it sounds natural rolling off the tongue, it will read naturally as well.

Common cover letter writing FAQs

How long should a cover letter be.

A cover letter should generally be concise and to the point. It is recommended to keep it to one page or less, focusing on the most relevant information that highlights your qualifications and fits the job requirements.

Should I include personal information in a cover letter?

While it's important to introduce yourself and provide your contact information, avoid including personal details such as your age, marital status, or unrelated hobbies. Instead, focus on presenting your professional qualifications and aligning them with the job requirements.

Can I use the same cover letter for multiple job applications?

While it may be tempting to reuse a cover letter, it is best to tailor each cover letter to the specific job you are applying for. This allows you to highlight why you are a good fit for that particular role and show genuine interest in the company.

Do I need to address my cover letter to a specific person?

Whenever possible, it is advisable to address your cover letter to a specific person, such as the hiring manager or recruiter. If the job posting does not provide this information, try to research and find the appropriate contact. If all else fails, you can use a generic salutation such as "Dear Hiring Manager."

Should I include references in my cover letter?

It is generally not necessary to include references in your cover letter. Save this information for when the employer explicitly requests it. Instead, focus on showcasing your qualifications and achievements that make you a strong candidate for the position.

It’s time to start writing your stand-out cover letter

The hardest part of writing is getting started. 

Hopefully, our tips gave you some jumping-off points and confidence . But if you’re really stuck, looking at cover letter examples and resume templates will help you decide where to get started. 

There are numerous sample cover letters available online. Just remember that you’re a unique, well-rounded person, and your cover letter should reflect that. Using our structure, you can tell your story while highlighting your passion for the role. 

Doing your research, including strong examples of your skills, and being courteous is how to write a strong cover letter. Take a breath , flex your fingers, and get typing. Before you know it, your job search will lead to a job interview.

If you want more personalized guidance, a specialized career coach can help review, edit, and guide you through creating a great cover letter that sticks.

Ace your job search

Explore effective job search techniques, interview strategies, and ways to overcome job-related challenges. Our coaches specialize in helping you land your dream job.

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3 cover letter examples to help you catch a hiring manager’s attention

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What (not) to do: your resume when applying for McKinsey

September 3, 2021 What does McKinsey look for in a resume? What information should you include—and what don’t we need? We sat down with Amy, a senior expert in recruiting assessment, to learn her tips and tricks.

Is there a specific type of candidate you’re looking for?

Not at all! We are excited about all sorts of experiences, and we are not looking for one, particular candidate profile. We encourage you to think broadly about what makes you special and present yourself as holistically as possible. We do look for skills and strengths in areas like problem solving, inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial drive so think about how you can demonstrate those aspects.

How should I describe my responsibilities under the work experience section of my resume?

We want to hear what you did in your role and why your work mattered. What problems did you solve? How did your work stand out? What skills did you learn or master? Include teamwork and leadership experiences—these are particularly interesting to us, given the nature of our work.

What should I include when I describe extracurricular activities?

In addition to listing them, tell us about any leadership positions you’ve held, how much responsibility you had, and how your role grew and evolved over time. Try to quantify the results you created or helped a team create. Also, include entrepreneurship examples, even if they are not part of formal organizations. We love hearing when candidates have founded, started or created something new, whether it’s an organization, an initiative or a team.

Should I include my part-time job even though it is not in a corporate setting?

Absolutely. We’re interested in hearing about everything from retail work to research to work on campus—not just experience related to business. This includes internships, volunteer work, part-time jobs, and military service. If you have done part-time work (especially while studying for a degree), include your average hours worked per week. This helps us gain a fuller picture of your time commitments and achievements.

Do I need a ‘skills and interests’ section?

Including a skills and interests section is completely up to you. This section won’t help or hurt your application, but adding your interests and hobbies may help spark conversations with your interviewers. If you include a skills section, you don’t need to include fairly common skills such as Microsoft Word.

Any final advice?

Generally, keep your resume concise, clear, consistent, and clean—it should be easy to read and digest. Be honest – tell us what you led, what you created, what you contributed to and make sure you honestly let us know about your great skills and achievements. Make sure you highlight awards, honors, fellowships, or other recognitions. Finally, please note that for most positions and programs, we do not require cover letters.

Find a role at McKinsey today

I work as an expert with McKinsey’s recruiting function, designing and developing assessments and processes for all client-service roles globally. Before joining recruiting, I came to the talent acquisition space after six years as a McKinsey consultant. I live in New York with my husband and two daughters.

Learn more about working at McKinsey by listening to our podcast .

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10 Customer Success Manager Cover Letter Examples

Customer Success Managers excel at building relationships, ensuring client satisfaction, and driving product adoption to foster business growth. Similarly, your cover letter is your chance to build a connection with potential employers, showcasing your dedication to customer satisfaction and your ability to drive success. In this guide, we'll delve into the best cover letter examples for Customer Success Managers to help you to craft a narrative that resonates with recruiters.

Cover Letter Examples

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The best way to start a Customer Success Manager cover letter is by grabbing the reader's attention with a strong opening line. This could be a brief highlight of your experience, a notable accomplishment, or a statement about your passion for customer success. For example, "As a Customer Success Manager with over 5 years of experience in driving customer satisfaction and retention, I have consistently exceeded targets in my current role." This not only shows your relevant experience but also your commitment to customer success. It's also important to personalize the letter by addressing it to the hiring manager, if their name is known.

Customer Success Managers should end a cover letter by summarizing their interest in the role and their belief in their ability to contribute to the company's success. They should reiterate their key skills and experiences that align with the job description. It's also important to express enthusiasm for the opportunity to contribute to the company's customer success initiatives. For example: "I am excited about the opportunity to bring my experience in customer relationship management and my passion for customer success to your team. I am confident that my skills and experiences make me a strong candidate for this role. Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing my application with you further." Remember to end with a professional closing such as "Sincerely" or "Best regards," followed by your name. This ending is both professional and shows your enthusiasm for the role.

A cover letter for a Customer Success Manager should ideally be about one page long, or around 300-500 words. This length is sufficient to clearly and succinctly present your qualifications, experience, and interest in the role without overwhelming the reader with too much information. As a Customer Success Manager, your cover letter should focus on your ability to build strong relationships with customers, solve problems, and contribute to the company's growth. It's important to be concise and to the point, highlighting your most relevant achievements and skills. Remember, hiring managers often have to go through hundreds of applications, so a shorter, well-crafted cover letter will be more effective and appreciated.

Writing a cover letter with no experience as a Customer Success Manager can seem challenging, but it's definitely possible. Here's how you can approach it: 1. Understand the Role: Start by understanding what a Customer Success Manager does. They are primarily responsible for building customer relationships, guiding customers to success with a product or service, and driving customer loyalty. 2. Highlight Transferable Skills: Even if you don't have direct experience, you likely have transferable skills that can be applied to the role. These could include communication skills, problem-solving abilities, empathy, and a customer-first mindset. Highlight these skills in your cover letter. 3. Show Your Passion: Show your passion for customer service and success. This could be through past experiences in other roles or even personal experiences where you've helped others succeed. 4. Use Examples: Use specific examples to demonstrate your skills and passion. For instance, if you've worked in a retail job, you might talk about a time you went above and beyond to ensure a customer was satisfied. 5. Research the Company: Show that you've done your homework about the company and its products or services. This will show your interest in the role and your initiative. 6. Show Willingness to Learn: Express your eagerness to learn and grow in the role. This can make up for a lack of direct experience. 7. Keep it Professional: Ensure your cover letter is well-structured, free of errors, and professional. This will give a good first impression. Remember, everyone starts somewhere. What you lack in direct experience, you can make up for with transferable skills, passion, and a willingness to learn.

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Farewell, Chrysler 300, and Thanks to the Man Who Designed It

Former chrysler design and product chief tom gale talks with us about the car he rates as his greatest achievement..

"With the product cycles at Chrysler, I should have guessed," said Tom Gale jokingly, when asked whether he ever imagined that the Chrysler 300 would finally end production this month, almost 20 years after its February 2004 launch. He paused a moment, then continued. "You don't normally think something would go that long," he said quietly, "but it was really gratifying. And maybe it's just me being partial, but the car still looks good."

Well known to longtime MotorTrend readers as a frequent guest judge for our Car of the Year programs , Tom Gale graduated from Michigan State University in 1966 with a degree in industrial design and joined Chrysler in 1967, working in the company's newly formed advanced body engineering group. He was later moved to design, where he worked on Chrysler's K-Cars and was ultimately appointed head of Chrysler design in 1985.

As design chief, Gale was thrust into the public eye and was widely credited with leading the transformation of Chrysler's styling away from the boxy K-Cars to the swoopy, "cab-forward" LH sedans. That Gale also oversaw the creation of show-stopping concept cars—two of which, the muscular Dodge Viper and the wildly improbably Plymouth Prowler , were put into production—made him arguably Chrysler's most influential design boss since Virgil Exner.

Enthusiasts invariably namecheck the Viper and Prowler, but the car Gale is proudest of is the Chrysler 300. And with good reason. Click-bait cars like the Viper and Prowler are relatively straightforward to design and engineer. Creating a mainstream car—a four-door family sedan, no less—that cuts through in the same way is a much, much harder task. And the 300 did cut through. It changed the way Americans thought about American cars. What made the Chrysler 300 special was not merely the expressive and expansive American swagger of its styling, something that we hadn't seen from a Detroit automaker in decades; it was also the platform underneath, which came to power the 21st century rebirth of the American muscle car.

And Tom Gale is the man who made it happen .

Chrysler's Rear-Drive Revolution Almost Never Happened

It's widely assumed that the rear-drive LX platform underpinning the 300 was the result of the 1998 DaimlerChrysler merger, which gave Chrysler access to, among other things, hardware used in the rear-drive W210 Mercedes-Benz E-Class . But Gale said he started working on the idea of a rear-drive car to succeed the front-drive LH sedans as early as 1997.

Gale wanted the LH replacement to be rear drive for one key reason: He believed rear drive would enable Chrysler to create a car with the packaging and proportions buyers normally associated with more expensive vehicles. Also, he believed rear drive would make Chrysler's sedan stand out in a market segment where competition was cutthroat and profit margins were razor thin: "One way to be meaningfully differentiated was to move to a rear-drive car," he said.

Chrysler's engineers, however, wanted to stick with front drive, because it was what they knew how to do, and because they believed it was cheaper. Then there was the old Motown canard that front drive was better in the snow. A BMW with good tires would do anything and everything a front-wheel-drive car would do in the snow, Gale countered. On top of that, he proposed the LX platform would be designed to accept all-wheel drive.

To tackle the fundamental cost argument, Gale, who had insisted he be given control of an advanced engineering group in addition to his design role so work could be started on the rear drive project, got engineers to create a bill of goods, costing all the parts and processes needed to build both a front-drive and a rear-drive car. "Nobody wanted to do it because at the time they weren't trying to prove that rear wheel drive was going to work," he said.

When that project was completed, the engineers suggested the rear-drive car would probably cost $200 more to make. "I don't think that number was real," Gale said. He knew, for example, that when decisions had been made to carry over parts from a previous-generation model, the putative cost savings often tended to be spent retooling machinery to make new versions of the old parts. "It wasn't anything malicious," he said of the engineers' resistance to front drive. "It was about just making their job easier."

Ironically, it was money that won the argument between front and rear drive. Just not in the way the engineers expected.

Customers Help Make Rear Drive a Reality

"The fact many of the premium European sedans were rear drive lent an upscale aura to what we wanted to do," Gale said, "and the research supported that." The design team had built models of front- and rear-drive replacements for the LH and then conducted customer clinics to test their reactions. One result stood out: Customers invariably indicated they believed the rear drive-car to be priced $5,000 to $6,000 more than the front-drive version. That meant Chrysler could price a rear-drive car at a premium and easily cover the alleged higher cost of the hardware. The results made the decision to go rear drive a no-brainer.

The so-called merger between Daimler and Chrysler in 1998 made things easier as Gale, now head of product development and advanced product strategy for both companies, was able access the Daimler parts bin. "That's where we got the five-speed transmission, and of course the E-Class suspension. That was one of the good things to come out of the merger," he said. Apart from the transmission and the suspension parts, both of which were modified by Chrysler, the rear-drive platform, codenamed LX, was otherwise done entirely in-house at Auburn Hills, according to Gale.

One of the criteria was to get a 29-inch-tall tire on base cars; packaging the suspension and drive shafts on a front-drive car at the time limited the overall tire diameter to 27 inches. "It just made a world of difference," Gale said. "The 300 is deceptively tall, and we disguised that with larger wheel openings and larger tires. But we also raised the beltline so that the roof looked chopped. The cars always looked relatively low even though they were deceptively tall."

Rear drive also allowed for shorter overhangs, especially at the front of the car. Chrysler had made a big deal out of the cab-forward look with the front-drive LH platform, mostly to disguise the fact the cars had longitudinally mounted engines driving the front wheels, rather than more space-efficient transverse-mounted engines. "The rear drive platform just gave so much more noble appearance," Gale said. "You didn't have to contend with the long front overhang."

A Car With Panache and Hemi Power to Match

In terms of its overall form and graphics and surfacing, the Chrysler Nassau sedan concept from 2000 closely previewed what would become the production 300. One of the touchstone cars used for the development of the Nassau was the 1955 Chrysler C-300, the first of Mopar's legendary letter series cars, and, with a 300-hp Hemi V-8 under the hood, one of Detroit's original muscle cars. It wasn't about copying the C-300, Gale recalled, but understanding what made it a quintessentially American car and distilling that sensibility into something that would look relevant in the 21st century. "When you look at proportion, when you look at the windshield placement relative to the rest of the body," Gale said, "those were things that we were talking about and looking at and showing management. Nobody was bringing in a BMW or a Mercedes to look at."

When it launched in 2004, the Chrysler 300 instantly made its rivals from GM and Ford look stodgy and straightlaced. The 300 bought a splash of righteous glamor to the suburbs, with styling that turned heads on Rodeo Drive and, for the first time in years, the availability of a V-8—badged a Hemi no less—under the hood of a four-door family sedan. The 300 easily claimed the Golden Calipers as the 2005 MotorTrend Car of the Year . "Bold. Brash. Beautiful," we declared. "Bentley meets Boyd Coddington. The rejuvenation of the great American full-size sedan."

The Chrysler 300 was a standout car. But what none of us realized at the time was just how significant the LX platform Tom Gale had fought so hard to create would become in reinventing not just Chrysler, but the American auto industry. "The thing that I'm most proud of is the LX platform," Gale said, "because that platform is what led to being able to do things like Dodge Charger and Challenger, and all the Hellcat stuff. That was that enabler."

The 300C put performance and fun firmly back on the agenda in Motown. Within a year of its launch, MotorTrend would run a cover story pitting the SRT8 version of the 300C against the Cadillac CTS-V sedan and the Pontiac GTO ; all rear drive and all packing 400 horsepower or more. "We were going deep under brakes and getting on the gas early, feeling the tires load up as we caressed the edge of the handling envelope," I wrote after hustling all three along Californian mountain roads. "A drive this energetic, this sustained, this neat and quick couldn't have been possible in any American car except, possibly, a C5 Corvette, even three years ago."

So, farewell Chrysler 300. It's been one helluva ride. And thanks, Tom Gale.

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California’s budget deficit has grown. Here’s how Gov. Newsom is responding

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Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised $288-billion budget proposal last week, which included a bleak update on the state’s deficit: It has grown from earlier projections.

Back in January, state officials announced they were bracing for a $37.9-billion shortfall. Now that expected deficit stands just shy of $45 billion.

To address the gap, state officials aim to shrink California’s government. That includes “significant spending cuts” through reduced programs, a pause on many new investments and permanently eliminating about 10,000 vacant state jobs.

The cuts hamper Newsom’s progressive policy agenda, The Times’ Taryn Luna, Mackenzie Mays and Anabel Sosa reported, in part by “pausing an expansion of subsidized childcare and cutting billions in funding for climate change programs.”

“The grim forecast was driven by lower than projected state revenues, continuing a pendulum swing from the fiscal boom of the COVID-19 pandemic,” they explained last week .

Which programs are facing cuts?

Newsom is proposing one-time or ongoing reductions for 260 different government programs. This chart of proposed general fund expenditures shows deep cuts in almost every category. That includes:

• Slashing $3.6 billion from programs related to fighting climate change
• Cutting $2 billion over two years from a program to expand internet connectivity in underserved communities
• Terminating the Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program by eliminating nearly $475 million in current and earlier proposed funding
• Cutting $260 million from a round of Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant program funds, plus eliminating $325 million in current and earlier proposed funding for the Multifamily Housing Program
• Eliminating $52.5 million in 2023-24 and $300 million in ongoing funding for state and local public health programs
• Reducing $268.5 million over four years from the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s Cleanup in Vulnerable Communities Initiative Program
• Cutting $399 million in Active Transportation funding through 2026-27

That totals $19.1 billion in cuts for one-time spending and $13.7 billion in cuts or for ongoing spending over the next two fiscal years (2024-25 and 2025-26).

“None of this is the kind of work you enjoy doing, but you’ve got to do it,” Newsom said Friday. “We have to be responsible. We have to be accountable.”

Newsom’s “unusual maneuver” for education funding could be a point of contention as the Legislature negotiates with him this summer.

Taryn, Mackenzie and Anabel report that the governor is proposing a move to lower funding minimums for 2022-23 “to reflect the lower-than-expected state revenues that came in late last year.”

“The change could ultimately reduce funding for schools by tens of billions of dollars in future years and launch a monumental fight over education funding at the state Capitol,” my colleagues wrote.

An ‘incomplete’ plan and a Roman holiday

Back in January, Newsom said the “prime-time” event would come when he released his May revision. But Times reporters noted that the plan was “incomplete” when compared to revisions in prior years.

“The administration provided only a 50-page summary of his proposal, compared to the more detailed, 260-page document Newsom released in January,” they wrote.

Newsom was initially scheduled to present the revision today, but moved the event up to Friday so he could travel to Rome today, where he’s set to speak during a climate conference at the Vatican .

Go here to read through Newsom’s thinner-than-usual May budget revision . More details on the revised budget are supposed to be available to the public today.

Today’s top stories

California Exodus

• California exodus left a gaping population hole that will take years to reverse.
• Why Californians are fleeing this once-Golden State .

Rebecca Grossman

• D.A. removes Rebecca Grossman’s prosecutors , outraging parents of murdered boys.
• Rebecca Grossman was found guilty of murder in the killing of two young brothers. She vows to appeal.
• Biden, Trump head to Southern California in June for big-dollar fundraisers.
• Planned Parenthood announces latest outside spending plan in California congressional races .
• Can Nevada voters overturn public funding for A’s ballpark? Not this year, maybe not ever.

Climate and environment

• Revelations of possible radioactive dumping around the Bay Area trigger new testing at parks.
• Flu season is over, but there is a viral surge in California wastewater . Is it avian flu?
• Series of earthquakes rattle south of U.S.-Mexico border . Shaking felt across San Diego.

Bronny James headed to NBA?

• Bronny James has been medically cleared for combine , paving way for possible NBA draft entry.
• USC players recount harrowing moments from Bronny James’ cardiac arrest .

More big stories

• The Supreme Court denies California’s plea for immunity for COVID-19 deaths at San Quentin.
• Doctors saw younger men seeking vasectomies after Roe vs. Wade was overturned.
• Sheriff’s Department official on decision to cover alleged deputy gang tattoo : ‘Embarrassed.’
• $3.3 billion available for mental health beds as Newsom kick-starts Prop. 1 spending.
• Gov. Newsom seeks faster review of insurance rate hikes . What to know.
• Where every cent of $1 goes at one L.A. restaurant, explained.
• In Acton, rural serenity is threatened by proposed battery facilities, spiking fire insurance premiums .
• What’s the deal with Jerry Seinfeld? His Duke University address sparks student walkout.
• Erewhon sues city to stop Sportsmen’s Lodge development in Studio City.
• These yogurt-covered pretzels might make you sick, FDA warns. Here’s what you need to know .
• LAUSD parents and teachers are in an uproar over timed academic testing for 4-year-olds.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here .

Commentary and opinions

• LZ Granderson : The NCAA’s dilemma about trans athletes shouldn’t be that hard of a call .
• Anita Chabria: Michael Cohen is boring, and that’s trouble for Trump .
• Harry Litman: Michael Cohen started testifying against Trump. Here’s what prosecutors need from him .
• Dylan Hernández: The Dodgers have good reasons to be patient , believe Walker Buehler can still dominate.
• Jonah Goldberg: Biden still trails Trump in the polls . His problem goes beyond inflation, Gaza and age.

Today’s great reads

They spent $354,000 to build a modern ADU. Now they rent it out for $4,500 a month . Building a stunning accessory dwelling unit out of a two-car garage takes ingenuity, time and money. But for these architect-owners, there were also big gains to be had.

Other great reads

• Netflix Is a Joke made L.A. laugh for 2 weeks straight. Here’s the funniest stuff we saw .
• A lonely desert fire station , the only lifeline for millions of travelers going to Vegas.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected] .

For your downtime

• 🥗🍕 15 L.A. restaurants and chains where a $15 budget goes far .
• 🎤Childish Gambino drops ‘Atavista,’ the ‘finished version’ of ‘3.15.20,’ and announces tour, including stops in L.A. on Sept. 18 and 19 .
• 🍽️ Gudetama Cafe , devoted to Sanrio’s lazy egg, is open in Buena Park.
• 🎭 Meow Wolf, whose multiple locations of floor-to-ceiling psychedelic-leaning art have attracted about 10 million visitors across its four venues since 2016, announces its Los Angeles venue .
• 📺 The free jazz ensemble known as Black Twitter, and how it became the subject of a new docuseries .
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for Kaeng Lieng (Thai vegetable soup with shrimp.)
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games .

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

Today’s great photo is from Tayfun Coskun of the news agency Anadolu. Coskun caught this photo of the northern lights illuminating the sky of San Francisco‘s North Bay at China Camp Beach in San Rafael on May 11.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor and Saturday reporter Christian Orozco, assistant editor Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

Check our top stories , topics and the latest articles on latimes.com .

Start your day right

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Ryan Fonseca writes the Los Angeles Times’ Essential California newsletter. A lifelong SoCal native, he has worked in a diverse mix of newsrooms across L.A. County, including radio, documentary, print and television outlets. Most recently, he was an associate editor for LAist.com and KPCC-FM (89.3) public radio, covering transportation and mobility. He returns to The Times after previously working as an assistant web editor for Times Community News, where he helped manage the websites and social media presence of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun. Fonseca studied journalism at Cal State Northridge, where he now teaches the next generation of journalists to develop their voice and digital skills.

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The Great Read Critic’s Notebook

Cass Elliot’s Death Spawned a Horrible Myth. She Deserves Better.

The Mamas & the Papas singer was known for her wit, her voice and her skill as a connector. For 50 years, a rumor has overshadowed her legacy.

Credit... Michael Putland/Getty Images

Supported by

By Lindsay Zoladz

• May 9, 2024

Onstage with her group the Mamas & the Papas at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967, Cass Elliot, the grand doyenne of the Laurel Canyon scene, bantered with the timing of a vaudeville comedian. “Somebody asked me today when I was going to have the baby, that’s funny ,” she said , rolling her eyes. The unspoken punchline — if you could call it that — was that she had already given birth to a daughter six weeks earlier.

“One of the things that appeals to so many people about my mom is that there’s a certain level of triumph over adversity,” that daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, said over lunch at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles on a recent afternoon. “She had to prove herself over and over again.”

Elliot was a charismatic performer who exuded infectious joy and a magnificent vocalist with acting chops she did not live to fully explore. July 29 is the 50th anniversary of her untimely death at 32, a tragedy that still spurs unanswerable questions. Might Elliot, who was one of Johnny Carson’s most beloved substitutes, have become the first female late-night talk show host? Would she have achieved EGOT status?

Half a century after her death, her underdog appeal continues to inspire. Last year, “Make Your Own Kind of Music” — a relatively minor 1969 solo hit that has nonetheless had cultural staying power — became such a sensation on TikTok that “Saturday Night Live” spoofed it, in a hilariously over-the-top sketch in which the host Emma Stone plays a strangely clairvoyant record producer. “This song is gonna be everywhere, Mama,” she tells Elliot, played by Chloe Troast. “Then everybody’s gonna forget about it for a long, long time, but in about 40, 50 years, I think it’s gonna start showing up in a bunch of movies, because it’s a perfect song to go under a slow-mo montage where the main character snaps and goes on a rampage.”

“S.N.L.” didn’t make a single joke about Elliot’s weight — something that was unthinkable half a century ago. During the height of her fame, Elliot seemed to co-sign some of the jabs at her expense with a shrugging grin.

“No one’s getting fat except Mama Cass,” the Mamas & the Papas sang in tight harmony on the self-mythologizing 1967 hit “Creeque Alley.” After the infamously tumultuous group broke up a year later, Elliot was a frequent guest on “The Carol Burnett Show,” where she occasionally went for the cheap laugh. In an otherwise uproarious sketch about two prudish women browsing a store’s “dirty books” section, Elliot holds up a book titled “Eat and Lose Weight” and says, “I got as far as ‘Eat’ and then I didn’t understand the rest.”

“As she had learned early on, the best way to deal with an uncomfortable situation is with humor,” Elliot-Kugell, who has her mother’s cascading hair and dry wit, writes in her new memoir, “My Mama, Cass.” But, as she said over lunch, that doesn’t mean her mother was always laughing on the inside. “That pain had to go somewhere,” Elliot-Kugell told me. “When I think about some of the things that had allegedly been said to her during her lifetime, you can’t hear that over and over and not let it hurt.”

But of course, the most enduring joke at her expense was the one she didn’t live to tell, or to rebut. Have you heard the one about the ham sandwich?

For years, the origin of the story that Elliot died from choking on a ham sandwich — one of the cruelest and most persistent myths in rock ’n’ roll history — was largely unknown. Then in 2020, Elliot’s friend Sue Cameron, an entertainment journalist, admitted to publicizing it in her Hollywood Reporter obituary at the behest of Elliot’s manager Allan Carr, who did not want his client associated with drug use. (Elliot died of a heart attack, likely brought on by years of substance abuse and crash dieting.) But that cartoonish rumor — propagated in endless pop culture references, from “Austin Powers” to “Lost” — cast a tawdry light over Elliot’s legacy and still threatens to overshadow her mighty, underappreciated talent.

ELLIOT’S SISTER, LEAH , coined a phrase for the strong, brassy way everyone in their family sang: “the Cohen Honk.”

Cass was born Ellen Naomi Cohen into a music-loving household in suburban Baltimore. Her stage name partly came from her father’s penchant for calling his spirited daughter “the mad Cassandra.” She was a precocious, uncommonly bright child who, in the years after World War II, liked to ask dinner guests what they thought about the “world situation.” In high school she was known for her bold, slightly unkempt personal style that flew in the face of 1950s decorum. According to her biographer Eddi Fiegel, Elliot sometimes wore “wild combinations of Bermuda shorts and high heels, with white gloves to cover her bitten-down nails.”

Many people in Elliot’s life trace her struggles with her weight to when she was 6 and went to stay with her grandparents while recovering from ringworm. They fed her well, as grandparents sometimes do, and she quickly became self-conscious about her size. By high school, she had been prescribed Dexedrine, an amphetamine then used as an appetite suppressant. “The thought that something is wrong with you is bad enough,” Elliot-Kugell writes, “but the idea that a pill or a drug might fix you can be even more dangerous.”

Still, Elliot showed remarkable self-belief. The book recounts her telling anyone who would listen “that one day she was going to become the most famous fat girl that ever lived.”

She struck a deal with her parents: If she moved to New York and didn’t find musical success in five years, she would come home and study a more respectable field, like medicine. She left home in late 1960; “California Dreamin’” was released in December 1965. She later told an interviewer: “I really just made it under the wire!”

Broadway was Elliot’s first love, but folk music was the style of the day. She brought her own distinctive flair to it in her early groups, the Big 3 and then the Mugwumps, which featured a Canadian tenor named Denny Doherty. After the Mugwumps’ split, Doherty fled to the Virgin Islands with his new friends John and Michelle Phillips to work on material for a yet-unnamed group. Elliot had sung with them casually while they were all hanging out — at least once when they were all on LSD — and she knew her voice was the missing piece in their sound.

But John, the bandleader, was brutishly reluctant. According to Scott G. Shea, a biographer of the Mamas & the Papas, Phillips “had a vision in his head” of “a group that not only sounded like an electrified Peter, Paul and Mary, but also looked like them.” Shea puts it bluntly: “Michelle was to be the centerpiece, and, in his mind, Cass was too fat to even be considered.”

The group projected a chumminess that was central to their appeal, but few people know how hard Elliot had to push to become part of the band. She showed up unannounced in the Virgin Islands hoping to ingratiate herself, but Phillips wouldn’t budge until an act of fate intervened. While walking down the St. Thomas alley that the Mamas & the Papas would later immortalize in song, debris from a construction site hit Elliot on the head and knocked her unconscious. John Phillips would later claim that Elliot’s concussion caused her vocal register to change, and it was another of those stories Elliot learned to repeat with a self-deprecating joke.

“The real story is that John didn’t like my mother’s look,” Elliot-Kugell writes. She believes “he made up the story about a fake increase in vocal range to justify his choice to finally add my mom to the band months later.”

Elliot went solo after the short-lived group’s demise, buoyed by the success of “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” a Mamas & the Papas single on which she sang lead. The final solo album she released, in 1973, had a pointed title: “Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore.” “The moniker of ‘Mama’ had always felt like a reference to her size — that is, ‘Big Mama’ — and she hated that,” Elliot-Kugell writes.

Elliot remains an underrated heroine in the story of the Laurel Canyon scene, not only as a musician but also as an amiable hostess who knew how to link up like-minded people. Doherty liked to call her “the Puppeteer.”

In 1964, she introduced her friends John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky; they became the Lovin’ Spoonful. When she heard that David Crosby and Stephen Stills had begun making music together, she suggested they add a high voice to the mix, and brought them Graham Nash. “I will give you a hundred dollars,” David Crosby told Elliot’s biographer, “if you can find a single person who says they hated Cass.”

But there was also something bittersweet about Elliot’s kinship with all these men. “I think part of the reason they all adored her is they weren’t threatened by her,” Elliot-Kugell said. “She knew more about these guys and had a relationship on a deeper level than some of their own wives or girlfriends had.” She added with a wry chuckle, “Did that mean she didn’t want to jump into bed with half of them? She probably did!”

Elliot’s unrequited love for her bandmate Doherty was perhaps the hardest to bear, especially after he and Michelle Phillips had an affair that nearly broke up the band before their first album was even released. Elliot had been smitten since the night they met, at a Greenwich Village bar where they each threatened to drink the other under the table, and eventually decided to drink … under the table. As he put it in his one-man show about the group’s history, “I knew she loved me, and I loved her too, but not like she wanted me to. She did weigh 300 pounds, and I wasn’t man enough to deal with that.”

The most difficult passages of “My Mama, Cass” are those in which Elliot-Kugell reckons with her mother’s persistent loneliness. “After the shows, when they’re screaming her name onstage and she’s bowing, she was the only one going back to the hotel by herself,” she said. “Everybody else had someone, and she didn’t.”

Elliot’s need for love and companionship is what drove her to the decision — relatively radical for a famous woman in the late 1960s — to become a single mother. When she learned she was pregnant at the height of the group’s success, after a brief fling with its touring bassist, she was defiant in her decision to raise the child on her own. “As it turned out,” Elliot-Kugell writes, wrenchingly, “my mom’s desire to have someone in her life who wasn’t going to up and leave her was what led to her desire for a child. It’s how I came to be.”

WHEN I FINALLY got Sue Cameron on the phone, she was calling from the Atlantic Ocean, “somewhere between Bermuda and Portugal.” A journalist for more than 50 years who has published a book titled “Hollywood Secrets and Scandals,” she sometimes gives lectures on cruise ships. She was happy to reminisce about her old pal. “She had a big smile and this wide open face, very happy to see people,” Cameron said. “You just would immediately love her and want her to be your best friend.”

Cameron met Elliot when she interviewed the Mamas & the Papas in 1966; they realized they were neighbors and quickly became “sit-by-each-other’s-pool kind of friends.” Cameron has stories, like the one about the night they ran into Ann-Margret and Elliot delivered the perfect one-liner about her massive engagement ring (“I could skate on that”); or all the times Elliot would walk around with a credit card in her shoe because she didn’t like to carry a purse.

Her most painful memory is her final dinner with Elliot at Mr. Chow in the summer of 1974, before Elliot left for London. She’d never seen her friend so happy. “It was just a magical moment,” Cameron recalled. “It was just, like, the crescendo of her being. She’d had some TV specials, she was now going to go do a big nightclub act. Everything was fabulous.”

After a two-day stint of partying in London, Elliot told her friend Joe Croyle — a dancer in her show who was crashing with her at Harry Nilsson’s pad — that she was going to take a bath and turn in early because she was exhausted. Croyle figured she would be hungry too, so he fixed her a sandwich with ham, the only thing he could find in the fridge, along with some Coca-Cola. The ham sandwich, the cruelly cartoonish symbol that would come to define Elliot, was actually a gesture of care: a friend making her a meal she never got to enjoy.

Cameron heard about Elliot’s death in the newsroom of The Hollywood Reporter, where she was working at the time: “I kicked into professional mode and said, no one else is going to write that obit. I’m going to do it.” She tracked down Carr by phone in Nilsson’s apartment. “He could barely speak,” Cameron recalled. She asked what happened, and he said he didn’t know. “‘Oh, wait,’” she recalled him saying. “‘I see a half-eaten ham sandwich on the night stand. That’s good. You tell everybody that she choked on a ham sandwich, do you understand me?’”

“And I did it,” she added, “because I wanted to protect Cass.”

What was she protecting her from? “I was not aware of a lot of drugs,” she said. “I just wasn’t one of those people. And I had some suspicion around the time that she was going to London that she was on some sort of pills, but I didn’t really know anything.” In a split second, Carr and Cameron decided there was less shame in a woman ridiculed for her weight choking to death than there was in her having a drug problem. “What a terrible thing,” Cameron said, “but I was in too much of a state of shock to clean it up.”

She, too, is confounded by the story’s persistence. “Of all of the things I’ve done,” she said, “this ham sandwich has followed me my entire life.”

That story had long haunted Elliot-Kugell, too, though she felt some closure after Cameron privately divulged its origins to her when they met for lunch in 2000. Elliot-Kugell is cleareyed about what probably caused her mother’s death: “I mean, look. She was up for 48 hours, and she was at a party. Do the math.” But she doesn’t want to dwell on that. “The thing that was really important for me was that I didn’t want to write a salacious book,” she said.

In some sense, any memoir by a child of the Mamas & the Papas exists in the shadow of Mackenzie Phillips’s 2009 bombshell, “High on Arrival,” in which she accused her father John Phillips of sexual assault. But Elliot-Kugell’s memoir belongs on a different shelf entirely. It is a humanizing portrait of a woman whose legacy has, for far too long, been reduced to an outdated urban legend.

And it is a tale of an imperfect mother and a grieving daughter, of loss and long delayed catharsis. A few weeks before we spoke, Elliot-Kugell went to visit her mother’s grave. “It’s always weird when I go there, because I never know what to say,” she said. “But that day felt a little different because when I went up to the grave, I just said, ‘Hi.’ Like the way I would greet one of my cousins, or somebody who I know really well who I haven’t seen in a while.”

“I thought to myself, ‘Why, why why does it feel like this?’” she said.” All at once it dawned on her: “After going through this experience, I feel closer to her.”

The Great Read

Here are more fascinating tales you can’t help reading all the way to the end..

Two ​​close friends had run side by side for more than 10,000 miles. Both vied for a place in the marathon at the Paris Olympics .

Responding to fears of a “honeybee collapse,” 30 states have passed laws to protect the pollinators. But when they invaded our reporter’s house, she learned that the honeybees didn’t need saving .

In Littleton, N.H., one reaction to a piece of public art prompted a community-wide uproar  about gay rights, free speech and the separation of church and state.

After two decades, Shelley Duvall, known for her roles in era defining films like “The Shining” and “Nashville,” has returned to acting. But what happened to her ?

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