On this page
- Guide to an occupational therapist cover letter
- How to write an occupational therapist cover letter
- An occupational therapist cover letter example you can adapt
- Openings that work
- What counts as evidence in a clinical letter
- How the letter changes between settings
- Length, format and sending it
- Key takeaways
- FAQ
An occupational therapist cover letter is a one-page letter telling a rehabilitation manager which setting you can step into, what caseload you carry there, and what happened for the people you treated.
The manager reading it has an unfilled line on a schedule. They are not comparing philosophies of practice; they are working out whether you could cover that line next month without being oriented from scratch.
Guide to an occupational therapist cover letter
This guide and the corresponding occupational therapist cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why the setting belongs in the first sentence
- What counts as evidence when your outcomes are clinical
- How the letter changes between settings
- The openings that get a strong file set aside
How to write an occupational therapist cover letter
ParagraphIts jobLength
- OpeningThe post, your credentials, the setting you can cover2 to 3 sentences
- EvidenceOne caseload, one population, one number, one period4 to 5 sentences
- FitSomething specific about their department, and what you would take on3 to 4 sentences
- CloseLicense currency, availability, thank you2 sentences
Name the setting in the first sentence
Occupational therapy is eight jobs inside one license. Acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, outpatient, school-based, home health, hand therapy and pediatrics carry different documentation, different payers and different productivity expectations.
So write it: "I am an OTR/L with six years in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation, currently carrying 7 to 9 patients a day on a 32-bed neurological and orthopedic unit." That sentence answers the question the manager actually has.
Then add the credential string, because it is a screening field: license number, NBCOT number, and any specialty certification.
An occupational therapist cover letter example you can adapt
Adaptable occupational therapist cover letter example
Dear Ms. Terrazas,
I am applying for the Occupational Therapist post on the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Sandia Crest Rehabilitation Hospital. I am an OTR/L licensed in New Mexico, and I currently carry 7 to 9 patients a day on a 32-bed neurological and orthopedic rehabilitation unit with rotating acute coverage on two medical floors, so the caseload you are describing is the one I work now.
The work I would most want to bring is the low vision protocol. We were discharging stroke patients who could dress and transfer safely in the gym and then could not find their own clothing at home, because nobody was screening visual field routinely. I built an ADL screening and adaptation protocol for every stroke admission with a documented field deficit, trained the two certified occupational therapy assistants on it, and it is now standard on the unit. Over the same period I completed 214 evaluations in a year, roughly 60% of them at moderate and high complexity, and held an 88% productivity standard at 89% across four quarters without documenting outside paid hours.
I noticed Sandia Crest has added a spinal cord service this year and that your inpatient census has grown since 2024. I would want to work on the self-care and equipment side of that program, and I am glad to take Level II fieldwork students; I have supervised two a year for the last three years.
My New Mexico license is current through 2027 and my NBCOT certification was renewed in 2025. I could start with four weeks' notice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Lucia Abeyta, OTR/L
Openings that work
- Instead of
I am a compassionate occupational therapist dedicated to patient-centered care
UseI am an OTR/L with six years in acute care and inpatient rehabilitation
- Instead of
I am writing to express my interest in the occupational therapy position
UseI am applying for the Occupational Therapist post on your inpatient rehabilitation unit
- Instead of
I have experience treating a wide variety of patient populations
UseI carry 7 to 9 patients a day on a 32-bed neurological and orthopedic unit
- Instead of
I am able to work effectively in a fast-paced environment
UseI held an 88% productivity standard at 89% across four quarters
What counts as evidence in a clinical letter
You cannot describe a patient, so describe the practice. Everything below is checkable in an interview and identifies nobody.
Kind of evidenceWhat it looks like in a sentence
- Caseload7 to 9 patients a day on a 32-bed unit, plus two medical floors on rotation
- Volume214 evaluations in the year, roughly 60% at moderate and high complexity
- Productivity88% standard, met at 89% across four quarters without unpaid documentation
- Protocol builtWrote the low vision ADL screening now standard for every stroke admission
- Program growthTook post-surgical hand referrals from 18 to 61 a month over three years
- OutcomeReturn-to-work rate of 78% at 12 weeks across a flexor tendon caseload
- TeachingSupervise 2 certified occupational therapy assistants and 2 fieldwork students a year
How the letter changes between settings
Do
- In acute care, lead with speed and volume: evaluations per day, discharge recommendations, and how quickly you turn an assessment around.
- In skilled nursing, lead with documentation you can be trusted with, because payment follows it.
- In schools, lead with individualized education program goal writing and the caseload you carried across how many buildings.
- In hand therapy, lead with the protocols and the orthoses.
- In home health, lead with independent judgment and visit volume.
Don’t
- Do not send the same letter to an acute hospital and a school district; they are hiring different jobs.
- Do not write your outcomes in gait, strength and range of motion, which reads as a physical therapy letter.
- Do not name or describe an individual patient, however anonymized you believe the description to be.
- Do not claim a specialty certification you are only eligible for.
- Do not say you are passionate about helping people.
The boundary matters more in this profession than in most, and it is worth stating plainly in the letter. Occupational therapy is about occupations: the activities a person needs and wants to do. The American Occupational Therapy Association's Practice Framework, fourth edition, groups them into nine categories including activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, health management, rest and sleep, education, work, play, leisure and social participation (AOTA, accessed September 2026). A letter full of dressing, bathing, cooking, medication management, handwriting and returning to a job is unmistakably an occupational therapy letter. One full of ambulation distances is not.
The setting you name is also a pay decision
Occupational therapists earned a median of $100,330 as of May 2025, or $48.24 an hour, with the lowest 10 percent under $71,690 and the highest 10 percent over $131,950 (BLS, May 2025).
The median moves by roughly $19,000 across settings: home healthcare services $106,300, skilled nursing facilities $105,850, hospitals $102,820, offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists and audiologists $97,940, and educational services $87,300 (BLS, May 2025).
The occupation is projected to grow 15 percent between 2025 and 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 10,000 openings each year over the decade (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections). That is a market where a letter naming a setting confidently is choosing, not applying.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the hospital portal says otherwise, named for you and the post: lucia-abeyta-occupational-therapist-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Rehabilitation directors are usually named on a department page, and "Dear Hiring Manager" on an otherwise specific file reads as a mass mailing.
Use the same figures as your resume so the two agree. Our occupational therapist resume example uses the numbers here.
Key takeaways
- Name the setting and the caseload in the first sentence.
- Give the credential string: OTR/L, license number, NBCOT number, specialty.
- Use one protocol, program or change you made as your evidence.
- Put the productivity standard and what you met beside the caseload.
- Write outcomes as occupations, never as gait and strength.
- Name one real thing about their department.
- Address a named person; keep it to one page.
The occupational therapist resume example uses the same story, the same numbers and the same header.
Occupational therapist cover letter questions, answered
How long should an occupational therapist cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Rehabilitation managers read these between treatments, and length reads as noise.
Do I need a cover letter if the hospital application is a portal?
Attach one wherever there is a field for it. The portal collects the same structured data from everyone. The letter is the only place you say which setting you can step into, what caseload you carry there, and what you built that outlasted you.
What do I write with no experience beyond fieldwork?
Write Level II fieldwork as a job. The facility, the setting, the bed count, the population, the caseload you were carrying by the end, the evaluations you completed and the productivity expectation you were held to. Then the license or the license application date and the NBCOT number. A new graduate who can state a caseload and a productivity number reads as someone who has already worked.
How do I make it clear I am applying as an occupational therapist and not a physical therapist?
Write occupations. Dressing, bathing, feeding, toileting, cooking, medication management, handwriting, driving, returning to work. Add the tools that are distinctively yours: cognitive and perceptual assessment, adaptive equipment, orthotic fabrication, environmental modification. If a sentence would sit unchanged in a physical therapy letter, rewrite it.
Should I mention the setting I want to move into rather than the one I am in?
Yes, and be direct about it. A therapist moving from skilled nursing into acute care should say so in the first paragraph and then name what transfers: evaluation volume, documentation discipline, cognitive assessment, equipment judgment and speed. Managers hire across settings often; what they will not do is guess which move you are making.