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10 Steps to the Perfect Cover Letter
If you are interested in an advertisement for a vacant cooperative apartment in Zurich, you should apply as soon as possible. Make sure you submit all required documents (our checklist helps with preparation!). A letter of application is actually always a good idea, even if it is not always explicitly required. In it, you can introduce yourself and present your interests, values and personality. In this way, the cooperative can get a much better picture of you and decide whether you are a good fit for them.
If you need help writing an application letter for a vacant cooperative apartment, you've come to the right place! With our 10 tips, you can ensure that your cover letter is well received. This will improve your chances of getting the cooperative apartment in the end! You can also use such a cover letter for 'normal' apartments!
1. Preparation is important
Before you write your cover letter, you should also think about a few things. In particular, you should understand the cooperative. Study their website. Do you meet all their criteria? (Pay attention, for example, to children, pets, income, etc.). Does the cooperative have any special features (vegetable patch, playground, common room, summer party)? You can reference this in your letter and show why exactly you fit in! Also consider which of your features/hobbies/prospects you would like to highlight. Are you active in a club? Do you often organise events in your neighbourhood? Are you volunteering?
2. Put everything on an A4 page
The cooperative will certainly receive many applications. In our opinion, they doesn't have time for very long letters. Keep it short and crisp. Every sentence should convey important content. The application letter doesn't have to be long. It must have weight. Note that opinions differ in part on this point. We read that some applicants also submit. As a family, we currently have no time for this, but we do include how you could do this in point 8. You can decide for yourself whether to submit a crisp A4 letter or an entire folder...
3. Add photo (s)
A picture is worth a thousand words! A nice photo can convey your personality wonderfully. Maybe choose a picture that will help show a hobby you've mentioned? Or a dynamic family image? It is not about perfection, but about showing who you are.
4. Structure: I - you - we
This structure fits every type of application letter! I - you - we means: First write a part about yourself, then a paragraph about the cooperative (why it's so great) and conclude with it how you could get involved in the cooperative.
An example that leaves enough space for photo (s) on an A4 page can be found in Section 7.
5. Be authentic
Lies have short legs. It is very likely that you will have to meet a representative of the cooperative in person and submit various documents. It is not worthwhile to tell falsehoods in a cover letter.
6. Have the letter read back
Often, another pair of eyes recognizes small mistakes or stylistic imperfections. Friends could also provide interesting inputs to your application. “Hey but you could start a cooperative knitting club” or “What about your time with the volunteer fire department?” Such suggestions can be very valuable because cooperatives value committed people.
7. Sample application letter
This is rather short, but it meets all the points and leaves enough space for a great picture:
Dear ladies and gentlemen of the model cooperative,
We, Musterina (30), Mustermax (34) and Musterbaby (1) are the Muster family from Musterdorf. Musterina works in HR at Muster AG. She is a passionate track and field athlete and regularly competes. She also loves nature and gardening. Unfortunately, she is currently missing a garden. Mustermax is an electrician with passion at Muster GmbH. He has played football with his friends every weekend since he was a teenager. He also trains the kids team on a voluntary basis. We've known each other since secondary school, have been happily married for 4 years and are now three, with a model baby since last year. Since we want another child, we are now looking for a cooperative apartment. The model cooperative is our first choice. We appreciate the family atmosphere that it radiates. The playground looks really great — Musterbaby would certainly have a lot of fun there and could make new friends. And the advertised apartment is simply perfect in terms of size and layout. The community garden also appeals to us enormously.
We are very committed people and would love to get involved in the cooperative. Musterina would like to be active in the garden and share her botanical knowledge with the other cooperatives. Mustermax would love to kick a few balls with the children from the cooperative over the weekend. In short, it would simply be wonderful to become part of the model cooperative.
We would be delighted to arrange a viewing appointment!
Sincerely,
The Muster family
8. Multi-page dossier (Optional)
Some people prefer to submit an entire file instead of a short and concise application letter. This typically consists of the following pages:
1st cover page with your contact details (possibly photo)
2. Short portrait where you briefly introduce yourself - with photos and information about yourself, e.g. work, hobbies, interests
3. Letter of motivation - in principle, an extended version of our example. Here you describe why you are looking for an apartment, why the advertised apartment would be completely perfect and how you fit into the cooperative.
4. References - Current tenancy and your employers
We don't know whether cooperatives value such multi-page dossiers more than a single well-written letter with nice photos.
9. Software recommendations
You can easily write your letter in a word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word) and simply save it as a text file. For photos and an appealing layout with colors, frames and small icons, we would recommend Canva. The free version is also very extensive and allows great designs with a wide variety of graphic elements. It is best to save the finished document as a pdf - so recipients can open it securely. By the way: If you are a bit unsure of language, we recommend that you use grammar software or ChatGPT.
10. A few points at the end
Make sure that you meet the criteria for the apartment (number of people, pets, income, etc.) and submit your application in full and timely. Listings often go offline again after just 24 hours. It is worthwhile to have all documents ready and also to prepare a letter in which you only have to change a few things. In other words, you already have the text that always fits and can then only add a few things about the respective cooperative. Then copy the text into your layout (Canva, for example), where you already have the photos in it, and you're done! So you only have to do the big work with the photos, the great layout, etc. once. After that, you can simply adjust the text at a time.
Good luck!