Bao-Tran Pham Licensed Vocational Nurse, California BVNPT Bakersfield, 93309, United States [email protected] · (661) 555-1432
11 September 2026
Ms. Marisol Alvarado Director of Nursing Sequoia Meadows Health Center Visalia, United States
Application for Licensed Vocational Nurse, Sequoia Meadows Health Center
Dear Ms. Alvarado,
I am applying for the Licensed Vocational Nurse post at Sequoia Meadows Health Center. I am licensed by the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, license #VN-716284, current through 2027, and certified by the board for intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal under the 36-hour combined course. I also hold a Texas vocational nurse license.
For the past seven years I have run a 26-patient clinic day for two providers at a four-site federally qualified health center: rooming, vitals, medication reconciliation, injections, venipuncture and point of care testing. The work I would most want to bring with me is the diabetes recall program. I rebuilt the overdue list and the outreach script, we began calling in Spanish and Vietnamese rather than mailing letters, and patients overdue for an A1c fell from 214 to 63 in eight months. Before that I carried a 32-resident evening assignment on a 96-bed skilled nursing unit, so I am not new to a medication pass.
I saw that Sequoia Meadows opened the Wednesday evening clinic this year and that your service area covers the same agricultural communities I work in now. I would be glad to take the evening rotation, and I currently own the intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal competency file for eleven nurses, which is work I would keep doing.
I can start on four weeks of notice, and I am available for evenings and one weekend a month. Thank you for reading this.
Sincerely, Bao-Tran Pham, LVN
Summary
A licensed vocational nurse cover letter names the board that issued your license, the post-licensure certifications you carry, the setting you have worked in, and the date you can start. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, what changes when the posting says LPN instead of LVN, and the openings that get a good file read rather than skimmed.
LVN cover letter examples by experience level
A licensed vocational nurse cover letter is a one-page letter saying which board licensed you, what that license and your certifications let you do on the floor, and when you can start.
Nursing managers hire against a hole in a schedule. A letter answering the schedule question in its first three lines gets read; one opening on a philosophy of caring gets skimmed.
Guide to an LVN cover letter
This guide and the LVN cover letter example below will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why the board and the certifications belong in the opening line
- What a measured result looks like for a vocational nurse
- How the letter changes when the posting says LPN instead of LVN
How to write an LVN cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, the board, the license number, the certifications | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One assignment, one number, one period of time | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something real about their facility, and what you would take on | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Shift, availability, thank you | 2 sentences |
Open with the board, the number and the certification
A nursing director reading applications holds two questions: is this license real and current, and what can this person be assigned to?
One sentence answers both. "I am licensed by the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, license #VN-716284, and certified for intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal." The reader can verify that in a browser tab before paragraph two.
California treats both as post-licensure certifications with minimum course hours set in regulation, and a vocational nurse must be certified by the board to perform either (California BVNPT, checked September 2026). Naming them is a fact, not a claim.
An LVN cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Alvarado,
I am applying for the Licensed Vocational Nurse post at Sequoia Meadows Health Center. I am licensed by the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, license #VN-716284, current through 2027, and certified by the board for intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal under the 36-hour combined course. I also hold a Texas vocational nurse license.
For the past seven years I have run a 26-patient clinic day for two providers at a four-site federally qualified health center: rooming, vitals, medication reconciliation, injections, venipuncture and point of care testing. The work I would most want to bring with me is the diabetes recall program. I rebuilt the overdue list and the outreach script, we began calling in Spanish and Vietnamese rather than mailing letters, and patients overdue for an A1c fell from 214 to 63 in eight months. Before that I carried a 32-resident evening assignment on a 96-bed skilled nursing unit, so I am not new to a medication pass.
I saw that Sequoia Meadows opened the Wednesday evening clinic this year and that your service area covers the same agricultural communities I work in now. I would be glad to take the evening rotation, and I currently own the intravenous therapy and blood withdrawal competency file for eleven nurses, which is work I would keep doing.
I can start on four weeks of notice, and I am available for evenings and one weekend a month. Thank you for reading this.
Sincerely, Bao-Tran Pham, LVN
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am passionate about caring for patients | I am licensed by the California BVNPT, #VN-716284, and certified for IV therapy and blood withdrawal |
| I am writing to express my interest in your nursing position | I am applying for the Licensed Vocational Nurse post and can take the evening rotation |
| I have a proven track record of patient care | Patients overdue for an A1c fell from 214 to 63 after we rebuilt the recall list |
What counts as evidence for a vocational nurse
They expect one number, attached to something you were responsible for, with a period of time around it.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Assignment size | Carried a 32-resident medication and treatment assignment on the evening tour of a 96-bed unit |
| Procedure volume | Drew roughly 40 specimens a week, including difficult-access draws referred by both providers |
| A population you moved | Patients overdue for an A1c fell from 214 to 63 in eight months |
| People you brought in | Built the onboarding that took first-year turnover from 41 percent to 17 percent |
When the posting says LPN and your license says LVN
This is specific to the title, and it deserves one clean sentence, not an apologetic paragraph.
The two titles are the same license. California and Texas license vocational nurses; every other state licenses practical nurses, and both are reached through the same national examination, whose test plan is published by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing for practical and vocational nurses as one candidate group (NCSBN, 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan). So write it as a fact and move on:
- In California or Texas: use the LVN title and give the board.
- Elsewhere: "I hold a California vocational nurse license, the equivalent of the Licensed Practical Nurse license in your state, and I have applied for licensure by endorsement with the Nevada State Board of Nursing as of June 2026."
- To a national employer or agency: both titles, and the status of each state license with dates.
What a recruiter cannot plan around is "willing to obtain licensure".
Name the board, the license number and the expiry in the first sentence. Say what your certifications let you do, and under which rule. Give one number with a period of time around it. Name one real thing about the facility from their own pages. Say your shift availability and notice period. Match every figure to your resume.
Do not open on a philosophy of caring; it delays the two facts the reader wants. Do not write "IV certified" with nothing attached, since the standard behind that phrase differs in every state. Do not claim a certification the board has no record of. Do not describe a patient or resident in a way that could identify them. Do not send the same letter to a skilled nursing facility and a clinic.
Almost every opening is a replacement, not a new job
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses held 666,900 jobs in 2025, and the occupation is projected to grow 3 percent through 2035, adding 19,700 jobs while producing about 51,800 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections). Over the decade that is roughly 518,000 openings against 19,700 of net growth.
Nearly every post you write to therefore exists because someone left it. You are not persuading a manager to invest in potential; you are showing them the shift they are short on is covered. Assignment size, certifications, availability and notice period do that work, and three of the four fit in the first paragraph.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal asks otherwise, named for yourself and the post: bao-tran-pham-lvn-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Nursing leadership is usually named on the facility's own site, and "Dear Hiring Manager" on an otherwise specific letter reads as a template.
Keep the numbers identical to your resume. Our LVN resume example uses the same figures as the letter above, which is what a reader checks when both files are open side by side.
Key takeaways
- Name the board, the license number and the expiry in the first sentence.
- Say which post-licensure certifications you carry and what rule sets them.
- Give one number, from your own assignment, with a period of time around it.
- Handle the LVN and LPN title difference in one factual sentence.
- Name one real thing about the facility, taken from their own pages.
- State your shift availability and notice period before the sign-off.
Write your LVN cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
LVN cover letter questions, answered
How long should an LVN cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Directors read these in batches against an open shift, and length does not read as effort.
Do I need a cover letter if I am applying through a portal?
Attach one wherever there is a field for it. The portal collects the same structured fields from everyone. The letter is the only place to say which certifications you hold, which shift you want, and how much notice you owe.
Should I mention my IV certification in the letter?
Yes, in the first paragraph, with the standard attached. In California a vocational nurse must be certified by the board to perform intravenous therapy or blood withdrawal, and certification comes either through a board-approved course or by verification of competency from a California licensed physician or registered nurse (California BVNPT, checked September 2026). One sentence covers it, and it is verifiable.
What if the job is in a state where the title is LPN?
Say so plainly and move on. Both titles are the same license reached through the same national examination, published by NCSBN for practical and vocational nurses as one candidate group (NCSBN, 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan). Then give the board you have applied to for licensure by endorsement and the month you filed, so the reader can plan a start date.
What do I write with no experience yet as a licensed nurse?
Write the clinical rotations as work: the site, the weeks, the unit type, the medication routes you gave under supervision, the supervised venipunctures, and the charting system. Then the board, the license number, the NCLEX-PN date, and any certification finished alongside the program. With about 51,800 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections), a newly licensed nurse who can take the evening tour is a straightforward hire.