Should my cover letter include bullet points for my skills or should I tell a story with paragraphs?

XX January 2021

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am excited to apply for the Junior Business Analyst at XX office.

Paragraph with "WHY this Company"

I am a bilingual MBA Graduate from Tel Aviv University, where I completed an exchange semester with ESCP Europe Business School, leading a consultancy project to define financial services industry intellectual property trends. In addition as someone who has lived and studied in multiple countries (studying in Cyprus, Tel Aviv and London) I understand the commitment required to live and work away from home.

Throughout my academic studies and professional experience, I have developed key skills in these areas:

• Achieving results - I led a team of five for a consultancy project where we developed a go-to-market strategy for a US-based global patent database provider seeking to penetrate the financial industry. Our recommendations were well-received by the client, having conducted extensive market research, analysed and identified intellectual property trends and gained stakeholder validation.

• Problem-Solving - While working at Pishiris Farm, we wanted to establish a brand and create a direct point of sales just outside the operations. To understand if this was a good idea I first did a focus group to identify if there is a market gap and what the market value and the challenges were. Secondly, I did on the ground research and I was analysing the traffic flow to estimate the demand/potential buyers. My last initiative was to create a financial model in excel to understand if it was financially feasible. Having identified the market gap and by providing the financial model, we were able to disrupt the market with a farm to fork shop and increase the sales of the business by 100%.

• Leadership and teamwork - The time I spent as a Special Forces Sergeant in the Cypriot National Guard enabled me to develop both leadership and team working qualities to succeed in challenging environments and respond well under pressure. The experience taught me that collaboration, deliberate communication and leveraging peoples’ potential can lead to positive and effective results. Having lived and studied in multiple countries, I have also developed an ability to quickly adapt to environmental and cultural differences.

I look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your consideration.

Yours faithfully,