Cover letter

The cover letter (letter of motivation) is the heart of your application. It takes time to write an interesting letter that puts the right message across. After all, the aim is to show our recruiters in just a few minutes that you are the ideal candidate for a specific vacancy at Bayer.

Normally, you will find many indications of “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” in the vacancy notice. You should refer specifically to these points and link them to yourself and your experience, skills, competencies and personality. However, you should avoid repeating the information contained in your resume.

Don’t be discouraged if you don't meet all the requirements for the job – not many people do. Your reason for applying may be the key to whether you might be considered for a position - and perhaps eventually hired for it.

What do you stand for?

The golden rule is: show us what you stand for. Only include activities and experience in your letter if it is relevant to the job you are applying for. If you want to attract the attention of one of our recruiters, you should provide a few specific examples of the skills or core competencies you have acquired. Ideally, you should also show the specific benefits for a position, a particular area of activity, the company or the team. But please remember to be concise, focused and, above all, sincere.

An individual letter: helpful hints on structuring your letter

As you can see, it is rarely possible to write a standard letter that can be used for several applications. Normally, only certain aspects fit a specific vacancy. For every position you apply for, you should therefore try to think which aspects of your personality could benefit the company in that specific role.

Convincing content also has to be presented attractively. You should therefore stick to the basic rules for letter-writing and make sure there are not spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in your letter. Since applications always pass through several hands at Bayer, we suggest you start your letter with “Ladies and gentlemen” unless the vacancy notice states that you should address your application to a specific person. Even if you have extensive experience and wide-ranging competencies, the art is to be as concise as possible. A letter should not be more than one page.

You can find further information on the appearance and content of letters of motivation in the internet.

Checklist for cover letters

DOs

One-page DIN A4 document
Contact details should be on the top left: please give your full address and current date
Make sure the style is appropriate
No errors
Details of your present job
Present your professional suitability for the vacancy
Why Bayer? Your personal motivation for applying
Name & signature
Present yourself professionally and seriously