Cover letter for a career change, from teaching to learning design
Who wrote it
Ruba Hamdan has taught English in Ramallah for seven years and rebuilt her course online. She applies for a learning experience designer role at an ed-tech company.
The writer and every detail about them are fictional.
What went into the template
- Role
- Learning Experience Designer
- Company
- Darsy Learning
- Your experience highlights
- 7 years English teacher, secondary school in Ramallah
2023: school mostly online; rebuilt the grade 9 English course for 140 students as a blended Moodle course; weekly task completion from 52% (first term) to 81% (end of year) after cutting videos to 5 minutes or less, adding a weekly check-in and moving the hardest task to midweek
UX design certificate, 2025; 30 interactive lessons in Articulate Rise
Trained 22 colleagues on Moodle - Why this company?
- Arabic-first courses for adults learning job skills; many of my students’ parents study at night after work, on a phone, and I want to design for them
The writer’s facts, as typed into the template’s form. The example uses nothing else.
The example
Cover letter: Career change
Numbered notes in the margin explain each choice.
Dear Hiring Manager,
Greeting
For seven years I have designed lessons for teenagers who would often rather be anywhere else, and for the last three I have done it mostly online. That is the experience I would bring to Darsy Learning as a Learning Experience Designer: I know what makes a learner close the tab1, and I have measured what brings them back.
Opening: reframing
Note 1: Teaching is reframed as design for a hard audience. She never apologises for not having the job title yet.
In 2023, when our school moved online for most of the year, I rebuilt our grade 9 English course for 140 students as a blended course on Moodle. In the first term only 52% of students completed the weekly tasks. I cut every video to five minutes or less, added a short weekly check-in and moved the hardest task to the middle of the week. By the end of the year, completion had risen to 81%.2
Evidence: a redesign
Note 2: A before and after, caused by three specific design decisions. This is a portfolio piece in four sentences.
I know that a classroom is not a product team.3 To close that gap, I completed a UX design certificate in 2025, built 30 interactive lessons in Articulate Rise and trained 22 colleagues to use Moodle. I am used to working from evidence, to writing for learners whose first language is not English, and to honest feedback from my toughest users.
Facing the doubt
Note 3: She names the hiring manager’s doubt before they can, then answers it with what she did.
Darsy’s Arabic-first courses for adults learning job skills are the reason I am applying, rather than simply looking for a change4. Many of my students’ parents study at night after work, on a phone, and designing for them is the work I want to do.
Why this company
Note 4: The move is towards something specific, not away from teaching. That reassures an employer.
I would welcome an interview, and I would be glad to walk you through two of the courses I have built5. Thank you for your time.
Closing
Note 5: An interview request with something concrete to show makes it easy to say yes.
Kind regards,
Ruba Hamdan
Structure
How it is built
Each part in order, with its share of the words.
Checklist
Before you send
Go through your own draft line by line.
Before and after
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Lines like these turn up in many drafts by Arabic speakers. Each fix keeps the meaning and changes only the English.
Although I have no experience in instructional design, I hope you will give me a chance.
For seven years I have designed lessons for teenagers who would often rather be anywhere else.
I am responsible for teaching English for grade 9.
I rebuilt our grade 9 English course for 140 students as a blended course on Moodle.
I want to change my career because teaching is very tiring.
Many of my students’ parents study at night after work, on a phone, and designing for them is the work I want to do.
Questions people ask
How do I write a cover letter for a career change?
Describe your experience in the language of the new field, give one result that proves the skill, name the gap yourself and say what you did about it, then explain why this company. Do not apologise for your past job.
Should I explain why I am leaving my current job?
Only as a move towards something, and briefly. Complaints about your current job make the reader wonder what you will say about theirs.
Should I attach a portfolio?
For design, writing or data roles, yes: a link to two or three pieces with a line on what each shows. Mention it in the closing, as this letter does, so the reader knows it exists.
Every writer in this library is fictional, and so is every detail about them. Universities and companies appear only as places someone applies to; the professors, papers and facts mentioned around them are invented for teaching. Use the examples to learn the moves, never as text to copy: committees notice, and your own facts are stronger.