A cover letter has room for one example, sometimes two. Choosing which one is most of the work.
A specific example is usually more useful than several general claims. "I have strong policy skills" asks the reader to take your word for it. "In my current role I prepare briefing material used by senior staff to assess changes to a community services program" describes something real, and it gives the panel a clearer sense of what you actually do.
Match it to the work of the role
The useful question is not which achievement you are proudest of, but which one resembles the work this role exists to do. Read the position description for what the area is responsible for and what the role contributes, then choose accordingly.
If the role sits in a reporting team, an example about producing reliable reporting under deadline is a closer match than a larger achievement from an unrelated part of your history. Where the vacancy names its priorities, those are the shape to match.
Evidence does not have to be a number
A measurable result is useful where you genuinely have one, but plenty of good evidence is not numeric. Any of these can carry a letter:
- A measurable change, such as a reduction in processing time or error rates.
- A non-numeric contribution: a process you improved, advice that informed a decision, a system you helped introduce.
- Relevant scope or responsibility: the volume of work you handle, the areas you support, the seniority of the people relying on your work.
- Specialist knowledge: a system, dataset, legislative framework or method you know well.
- Transferable experience from a different field or sector.
Do not force a figure where none exists. An invented or inflated number is worse than a plain description of what you did.
Early-career and graduate applicants
If you do not have years of professional experience, use what you do have. A university project, an internship, a volunteer role, part-time work, or relevant coursework can all show something a panel cares about: that you can analyse, write, work with others, meet deadlines and handle responsibility.
As part of my honours project I analysed three years of survey data and presented the findings to staff at the participating service, which is the closest work I have done to the analysis and reporting this role involves.
That is a modest claim, and it is more useful than a paragraph of adjectives about being motivated and detail-oriented.
Career changers
If you are moving from another field, connect the transferable part rather than apologising for the change. Name what carries across, and be specific about it.
I am moving from clinical practice into policy work because most of my last four years has involved identifying where service processes were failing patients and putting proposals to management. This role covers the same problems at a program level rather than a service level.
Describing shared work accurately
Most work is shared, and describing your part honestly is more convincing than claiming the whole outcome. "Contributed to", "provided the analysis for", "developed the tool used to", "supported" and "coordinated" are all perfectly good in a cover letter, and they hold up if you are asked about them later.
Keeping the application consistent
Important claims should be consistent across your application, and the resume or pitch should usually carry the fuller evidence. Figures, timeframes and your described role in the work should match across documents.
Not everything in the letter needs to appear in the resume word for word. A short piece of context, such as why you are applying for this particular work, may sit only in the letter. What matters is that nothing contradicts anything else.