Jarrell Mosley Certified Nursing Assistant, STNA Toledo, 43604, United States [email protected] · (419) 555-1198
16 September 2026
Ms. Adaeze Whitlock Director of Nursing Riverside Meadows Post-Acute and Rehabilitation Toledo, United States
Application for Night Shift CNA, Riverside Meadows Post-Acute and Rehabilitation
Dear Ms. Whitlock,
I am applying for the night shift CNA position at Riverside Meadows Post-Acute and Rehabilitation. I have been listed in good standing on the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry since 2019, registry #OH-NA-218446, with no lapse in status, and I currently carry an assignment of 12 to 14 patients on a 36 bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit.
Before the hospital I spent two and a half years in skilled nursing, carrying 10 to 12 residents on a 46 bed long-term care unit, including four on a restorative program. I transfer with gait belt, sit-to-stand and full mechanical lift, including two-person transfers, and I chart ADLs, intake and output, restorative entries and hourly rounding in the unit electronic health record every shift. On my current unit I precept new CNAs through their first four shifts; nine of the last eleven hires were oriented that way.
I noticed that Riverside Meadows runs a separate post-acute wing and that your night shift covers both wings. Post-acute pace is what I have been doing at the hospital, and long-term care is where I started, so covering both is a routine shift rather than a stretch for me. I would also be glad to take the restorative aide role if it is open, since I have run those programs before and I document them properly.
I am available for nights, weekends and holidays, and I can start with two weeks' notice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Jarrell Mosley, STNA
Summary
A CNA cover letter tells a unit manager that you are listed on the state nurse aide registry, how many residents or patients you carried, and which shifts you will take. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the openings that get a call the same day, and how the letter changes between skilled nursing, a hospital unit and assisted living.
CNA cover letter examples by experience level
A CNA cover letter is a short, one page letter telling a unit manager three things: that your state nurse aide registry lists you in good standing, how many residents or patients you carried on a normal shift, and which shifts you will take.
In practice, Certified Nursing Assistant hiring moves quickly, and the reader is usually a staffing coordinator or a director of nursing filling a specific hole in a rota. As a result, a letter that answers their three questions in the first paragraph is unusual enough to get a call the same day.
Guide to a CNA cover letter
Specifically, this guide and the corresponding CNA cover letter example will cover:
- First, how to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Then, why the registry line and the census belong in the opening
- What counts as evidence when you cannot describe a resident
- Finally, how the letter changes between skilled nursing, a hospital unit and assisted living
How to write a CNA cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, your registry listing, the census you carry | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | Setting, unit size, equipment, charting, one result | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something specific about their facility, and the shifts you will take | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Availability and start date, thank you | 2 sentences |
Lead with the registry line, because it is the first thing checked
Under 42 CFR 483.35(d), a facility "must not use any individual working in the facility as a nurse aide for more than 4 months, on a full-time basis" unless that person has been found competent through a state-approved training and competency evaluation program, and it must obtain registry verification before employing a nurse aide. Federal regulation at 42 CFR 483.156(a) requires each state to maintain that registry.
That verification happens whatever you write. Putting the state, the registry number and the words "in good standing" in your first sentence moves it to minute one.
Then add the census in the same paragraph: how many residents or patients you carry, on what size unit, on what shift. Those two sentences answer everything a coordinator needs before deciding whether to call.
A CNA cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Whitlock,
I am applying for the night shift CNA position at Riverside Meadows Post-Acute and Rehabilitation. I have been listed in good standing on the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry since 2019, registry #OH-NA-218446, with no lapse in status, and I currently carry an assignment of 12 to 14 patients on a 36 bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit.
Before the hospital I spent two and a half years in skilled nursing, carrying 10 to 12 residents on a 46 bed long-term care unit, including four on a restorative program. I transfer with gait belt, sit-to-stand and full mechanical lift, including two-person transfers, and I chart ADLs, intake and output, restorative entries and hourly rounding in the unit electronic health record every shift. On my current unit I precept new CNAs through their first four shifts; nine of the last eleven hires were oriented that way.
I noticed that Riverside Meadows runs a separate post-acute wing and that your night shift covers both wings. Post-acute pace is what I have been doing at the hospital, and long-term care is where I started, so covering both is a routine shift rather than a stretch for me. I would also be glad to take the restorative aide role if it is open, since I have run those programs before and I document them properly.
I am available for nights, weekends and holidays, and I can start with two weeks' notice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Jarrell Mosley, STNA
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| Caring for older adults has always been my calling | I have been listed in good standing on the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry since 2019, with no lapse in status |
| I am writing to express my interest in your CNA opening | I am applying for the night shift CNA position, and I currently carry 12 to 14 patients |
| I am a hard worker and a fast learner | I transfer with gait belt, sit-to-stand and full mechanical lift, including two-person transfers |
What counts as evidence on a CNA cover letter
However, you cannot describe a resident or a patient. Everything a manager needs is a number about the work rather than about a person.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Census | Carry 12 to 14 patients on a 36 bed medical-surgical and telemetry unit |
| Equipment | Gait belt, sit-to-stand, full mechanical lift, two-person transfers |
| Charting | ADLs, intake and output, restorative entries and hourly rounding in the unit EHR |
| People | Precept new CNAs through their first four shifts |
| A result | Unit call-light response fell from a 7 minute average to under 4 |
Openings are constant, so the letter competes on reliability
Employment of nursing assistants and orderlies is projected to grow 3 percent from 2025 to 2035, slower than average, adding 41,100 jobs, while BLS projects about 203,300 openings a year over the same decade (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections, last modified 27 August 2026). Nursing assistants held 1,505,900 of those jobs in 2025, with a median annual wage of $42,260, or $20.13 an hour, in May 2025.
Ten years of growth adds about 41,000 jobs; one year of openings is about 203,000. Nearly every opening is a replacement.
That tells you what the letter has to do. You are not competing to prove you are employable; a facility with continuous vacancies assumes that. You are competing to look like someone who will still be on the schedule in a year. Tenure in dated blocks, an unbroken registry listing, preceptor work and a plain statement of which shifts you will take are what a director of nursing reads for.
Skilled nursing, hospital and assisted living
For skilled nursing, lead with census, restorative documentation and dementia care. For a hospital, lead with acuity, pace and the electronic health record you already chart in. For assisted living, lead with independence support and long resident relationships. Name the shifts you will take in the closing line, because nights, weekends and holidays are hardest to fill. Read the facility's site first and name one real thing about it.
Do not name or describe a resident, a patient or a family, even indirectly. Do not say "compassionate and caring" in a letter that never gives a census. Do not leave your registry status to be guessed. Do not claim a task outside the nurse aide scope of practice in your state. Do not send a letter with no facility name in it.
What to write when you have just been certified
Write the training as a job, because that is what it is.
For example, federal regulation at 42 CFR 483.152(a) requires a nurse aide training and competency evaluation program to "consist of no less than 75 clock hours of training" including "at least 16 hours of supervised practical training". Therefore, say how many hours your program ran, that the state approved it, and where you completed the clinical hours. Then give the census you carried during clinicals, the care you provided and the equipment you used.
Finish with availability. In fact, a newly certified aide who can state a census and will take nights and weekends is a straightforward hire in a market with about 203,300 openings a year.
Length, format and sending it
In short, half a page to one page, four short paragraphs, 200 to 350 words. Shorter than most cover letters, because the reader is triaging.
PDF unless the facility's portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: jarrell-mosley-cna-cover-letter.pdf
Also, address a person where you can, because a facility's site or its posting often names directors of nursing and staffing coordinators.
Use the same numbers as your resume so the two agree. Our CNA resume example uses the figures here, and the ATS resume checker will tell you whether a facility portal can read the file.
Key takeaways
- First, put your state, registry number and "in good standing" in the first sentence.
- Then give the census: how many residents or patients, on what size unit, on what shift.
- Next, name the lift equipment and the electronic health record.
- In addition, say which shifts you will take, in the closing line.
- After that, name one real thing about the facility, taken from their own pages.
- Finally, show tenure and preceptor work, because the market runs on replacement hiring.
Write your CNA cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
CNA cover letter questions, answered
How long should a CNA cover letter be?
Half a page to one page, four short paragraphs, 200 to 350 words. A staffing coordinator is filling a shift, and a shorter letter with a census in it beats a longer one without.
Do I need a cover letter if the application is an online form?
Attach one wherever there is a field. The form collects the same structured data from every applicant. The letter is the only place you can say which shifts you will take, which units you have covered and what your census was, and those decide the call.
What do I write if my certification lapsed?
Say where you stand. Under 42 CFR 483.156(c)(2), a state registry must remove entries for people who have performed no nursing or nursing-related services for 24 consecutive months, which generally means retesting to be relisted. If you are inside the window, say when you last worked in a nursing-related role. If you are outside it, give a date for relisting.
Should I mention pay or shift differentials in the letter?
Not pay. Shifts, yes. Saying you will take nights, weekends, holidays or doubles is useful to the person building a rota, and those shifts carry differentials anyway. Leave the rate for the conversation.
How do I write to a facility I know nothing about?
Spend ten minutes on their site first: the number of beds, whether they have a memory care or post-acute wing, and what shifts are listed in the posting. One accurate sentence about what they actually run is worth more than a paragraph about your work ethic.