Sione Tuiasosopo Certified Nursing Assistant Salt Lake City, 84116, United States [email protected] · (385) 555-1492
11 September 2026
Ms. Merete Sundquist Medical-Surgical and Telemetry Granite Ridge Medical Center Salt Lake City, United States
Application for Certified Nursing Assistant, Granite Ridge Medical Center
Dear Ms. Sundquist,
I am applying for the Certified Nursing Assistant post on the medical-surgical and telemetry unit at Granite Ridge Medical Center. I am listed in good standing on the Utah Nursing Assistant Registry, #UT-CNA-114208, with no lapse in status since 2021, and I am available for nights and every other weekend.
At Jordan Bluff Rehabilitation and Nursing I carry an assignment of 11 to 13 residents a night on a 48 bed post-acute unit, 5 of them total care and 3 requiring two-person mechanical lift transfers. I complete around 30 transfers a shift across gait belt, sit-to-stand, full mechanical lift and slide board, and there has been no reportable transfer injury on my assignment in four years. I chart activities of daily living, intake and output, blood glucose and restorative entries every shift, and our MDS coordinator uses those entries for Section GG coding, so I am used to charting that gets read closely rather than filed.
The reason I am applying to a hospital unit is the post-acute work itself. Most of my residents arrive from a hospital on about day three of a recovery, and I would rather be part of the first three days. I saw that Granite Ridge is opening 12 telemetry beds this autumn. I have not worked with cardiac monitors and would want the monitor technician training if it is offered; the rest of the assignment, including the pace and the total care counts, is what I do now.
I have also precepted new aides for the last two years, 23 of them, and 19 are still working. If you are staffing a new unit, that may be worth as much as the assignment I carry. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Sione Tuiasosopo, CNA
Summary
A nursing assistant cover letter names your state registry status, the assignment you carry on a shift, the transfer equipment you use and the shifts you are available for. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, what changes between skilled nursing, a hospital unit and assisted living, and the openings that get a strong application answered the same week.
Nursing Assistant cover letter examples by experience level
A nursing assistant cover letter is a one page letter telling a nurse manager your registry status, the assignment you carry on a normal shift, and the shifts you will work.
Nurse managers hire under pressure, against a board with holes in it, and the shifts that stay unfilled are nights, weekends and holidays. A letter that answers who you are, what you can carry and when you are free stands out in a folder where most letters describe a personality.
Guide to a nursing assistant cover letter
This guide and the corresponding nursing assistant cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why your registry line and availability belong in the first paragraph
- What counts as evidence in a job with no test scores
- How the letter changes between skilled nursing, a hospital unit and assisted living
How to write a nursing assistant cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, your registry status, and the shifts you will take | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | The assignment you carry, the equipment, and one number over time | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Why this setting, and what you would need to learn | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Something you bring beyond the assignment, thank you | 2 sentences |
Write the registry line and the shift you will take into the first paragraph
A coordinator reading applications on a Tuesday is not weighing philosophies of care. They are looking at an open night rotation, wondering whether this person will verify and will stay.
So open with the two facts that answer both: "listed in good standing on the Utah Nursing Assistant Registry, #UT-CNA-114208, no lapse since 2021, available nights and every other weekend."
That sentence gives the number a verifier needs, removes the lapse question that stalls applications after an offer, and names the shift that is actually open. Almost no other letter in the folder will do all three.
A nursing assistant cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Sundquist,
I am applying for the Certified Nursing Assistant post on the medical-surgical and telemetry unit at Granite Ridge Medical Center. I am listed in good standing on the Utah Nursing Assistant Registry, #UT-CNA-114208, with no lapse in status since 2021, and I am available for nights and every other weekend.
At Jordan Bluff Rehabilitation and Nursing I carry an assignment of 11 to 13 residents a night on a 48 bed post-acute unit, 5 of them total care and 3 requiring two-person mechanical lift transfers. I complete around 30 transfers a shift across gait belt, sit-to-stand, full mechanical lift and slide board, and there has been no reportable transfer injury on my assignment in four years. I chart activities of daily living, intake and output, blood glucose and restorative entries every shift, and our MDS coordinator uses those entries for Section GG coding, so I am used to charting that gets read closely rather than filed.
The reason I am applying to a hospital unit is the post-acute work itself. Most of my residents arrive from a hospital on about day three of a recovery, and I would rather be part of the first three days. I saw that Granite Ridge is opening 12 telemetry beds this autumn. I have not worked with cardiac monitors and would want the monitor technician training if it is offered; the rest of the assignment, including the pace and the total care counts, is what I do now.
I have also precepted new aides for the last two years, 23 of them, and 19 are still working. If you are staffing a new unit, that may be worth as much as the assignment I carry. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Sione Tuiasosopo, CNA
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am a caring and compassionate person who loves helping others | I am listed in good standing on the Utah Nursing Assistant Registry, no lapse since 2021, available nights |
| I am writing to express my interest in the CNA position | I am applying for the CNA post on your medical-surgical and telemetry unit |
| I have experience providing excellent resident care | I carry 11 to 13 residents a night, 5 of them total care and 3 on two-person mechanical lifts |
What counts as evidence in this job
Nothing here comes with a test score, so use what your unit counts.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Assignment | Carry 11 to 13 residents a night, 5 of them total care |
| Equipment and safety | About 30 transfers a shift, no reportable transfer injury in four years |
| Documentation | Chart activities of daily living, intake and output and restorative entries used for Section GG |
| Retention | Precepted 23 aides, 19 still employed |
One or two is enough for a one page letter. Pick what matches the unit you are writing to.
How the letter changes by setting
For a skilled nursing facility, lead with the assignment and the total care count, then restorative work and charting, because those are what the building is assessed and paid on. For a hospital unit, lead with pace and acuity, name the electronic record you chart in, and say plainly what you have not done yet. For assisted living, lead with independence support and tenure. For a float pool or agency, lead with the registry states you hold and the shifts you will take, because that is the whole screen.
Do not open with how caring you are; every letter in the folder does. Do not describe a resident by name, initial, room number or diagnosis. Do not claim a task your state does not permit aides to perform. Do not leave the registry number out. Do not send a letter with no unit named in it. Do not hide a gap when renewal depends on paid hours; name it in four words.
The median nursing home replaces its aides in about a year
PHI reports that nursing assistants provide 60 percent of all nursing hours in nursing homes, that more than 492,000 worked in nursing homes as of May 2024, and that "the median turnover rate among nursing assistants in nursing homes is nearly 100 percent" (PHI, Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts 2025, published September 2025).
BLS projects about 203,300 openings a year for nursing assistants and orderlies against 3 percent growth to 2035 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wages and 2025-35 projections, published 27 August 2026), so nearly every opening is a replacement.
That is the letter's real target. The reader is not short of applicants; they are short of applicants still there in six months. Tenure, preceptor work and a clean registry history therefore do more here than any adjective, and naming the shift you will take is the most persuasive sentence you have.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 350 words. PDF unless the portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: sione-tuiasosopo-cna-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Unit managers and directors of nursing are usually named on a facility's own site or in the posting, and "Dear Hiring Manager" on an otherwise specific letter reads as a letter sent to nine facilities.
Keep the numbers identical to your resume. Our nursing assistant resume example uses the figures written here.
Key takeaways
- Put the registry state, number and status in the first paragraph.
- Name the shifts you will take; the open ones are nights and weekends.
- Give the assignment you carry, with the total care count.
- Name the transfer equipment by type, not "assisted with mobility".
- Say what you chart and who uses it; it is invisible work made visible.
- Give one number over a period: injuries, response time, aides retained.
- Say plainly what you have not done yet, then ask for the training.
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Nursing assistant cover letter questions, answered
How long should a nursing assistant cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 350 words. Coordinators read these in batches against open shifts, and length does not read as effort. What does not fit belongs on the resume, where the assignment numbers live.
Do I need a cover letter if the facility just has an online application?
Attach one wherever there is a field. The application collects the same structured data from everybody: certificate, dates, availability checkboxes. The letter is the only place you can say what you carry on a real shift and which open shift you want.
What do I write with no paid experience yet?
Write your clinical hours as a job: the facility, the unit, the assignment you were given, the equipment you were signed off on, and what you charted. A Utah program requires at least 24 of its 100 hours to be supervised practical training in a nursing care facility (Utah Administrative Code R432-45-5), and that is real supervised work. Then give your registry entry with its number and date, and the shifts you will take.
Should I mention my registry number in the letter?
Yes. Public verification of status is the whole point of a nurse aide registry. Putting the state, the number and "in good standing, no lapse" in the first paragraph saves the reader a search and answers the question that most often delays an offer.
How do I write to a hospital when all my experience is long-term care?
Name the overlap first, because it is larger than people assume: total care, transfers, charting, feeding assistance, pace. Then be straight about the gap, whether that is telemetry, monitor watching or a different electronic record, and ask for the training. A manager would rather read one honest sentence about what you have not done than discover it in week two.