Marisela Solorzano Certified Phlebotomy Technician II, PBT(ASCP) Bakersfield, 93309, United States [email protected] · (661) 555-1330
11 September 2026
Ms. Yolanda Cortina Laboratory Manager Tehachapi Valley Diagnostics Bakersfield, United States
Application for Phlebotomist II, Tehachapi Valley Diagnostics
Dear Ms. Cortina,
I am applying for the Phlebotomist II post at Tehachapi Valley Diagnostics. I hold California Certified Phlebotomy Technician II, #CPT2-0449182, along with PBT(ASCP) certification since 2019, and I am available for the 05:30 start and the weekend rotation your posting lists.
At Sequoia Bend Reference Laboratory I draw 45 to 60 patients a shift in a five-chair patient service center and cover a mobile route of 12 to 18 home and long-term care collections two days a week. The figure I would most want you to check is the specimen rejection rate: 0.4 percent across roughly 8,200 draws in the last year, against a department average of 1.1 percent. When our site was audited for labeling, I rewrote the bedside identification check, and mislabeled and unlabeled specimens fell from 31 in a quarter to 3 and have stayed there since.
Your posting mentions oncology and dialysis draws at the Bear Mountain site. I take the hard-stick consult list where I am now, roughly 15 referrals a week across oncology, dialysis, edematous and pediatric patients, and I would expect to pick that up quickly for you. I also run chain of custody drug screen collection for four employer contracts and have had no chain of custody deficiencies recorded.
My CPT II and my basic life support card are current, and my hepatitis B series and titer are documented. I can start with two weeks' notice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Marisela Solorzano, CPT II, PBT(ASCP)
Summary
A phlebotomist cover letter names the certification you hold, the number of draws you can carry in a shift, and one accuracy figure a laboratory manager can check against their own report. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, what changes between a hospital and a reference laboratory, and the openings that get a strong file called first.
Phlebotomist cover letter examples by experience level
In short, a phlebotomist cover letter is a one page letter telling a laboratory manager which certification you hold, how many patients you can draw in a shift, and one number from the specimen rejection log with your name on it.
In practice, laboratory managers hire against a schedule with holes in it: an unfilled 05:30 inpatient sweep, a patient service center down a collector, a mobile route nobody wants. As a result, a letter written for that reality is unusual enough that readers finish it.
Guide to a phlebotomist cover letter
That is why this guide and the corresponding phlebotomist cover letter example will cover:
- First, how to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Then, why your certification and your availability belong in the first two sentences
- What counts as evidence when the laboratory will not give you its numbers
- Also, how the letter changes between a hospital, a reference laboratory and a physician's office
- Finally, the openings that make a manager call a strong file first
How to write a phlebotomist cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, the certification with its number, and the shift you can take | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One volume figure, one accuracy figure, and the period they cover | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something specific about their site, and the populations you can take | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Availability, start date, thank you | 2 sentences |
Put the certification and the shift in the first two sentences
A laboratory manager reading applications is not thinking about your commitment to patient care. They are thinking about the 05:30 sweep that is short a collector on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Name the credential and the shift: "I hold California CPT II, #CPT2-0449182, and I am available for early morning starts and weekend rotation." That sentence answers the two questions they actually have.
Then, if it is true, add the line that is worth money to a site: "I also carry arterial puncture under CPT II and run chain of custody drug screen collections."
A phlebotomist cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Cortina,
I am applying for the Phlebotomist II post at Tehachapi Valley Diagnostics. I hold California Certified Phlebotomy Technician II, #CPT2-0449182, along with PBT(ASCP) certification since 2019, and I am available for the 05:30 start and the weekend rotation your posting lists.
At Sequoia Bend Reference Laboratory I draw 45 to 60 patients a shift in a five-chair patient service center and cover a mobile route of 12 to 18 home and long-term care collections two days a week. The figure I would most want you to check is the specimen rejection rate: 0.4 percent across roughly 8,200 draws in the last year, against a department average of 1.1 percent. When our site was audited for labeling, I rewrote the bedside identification check, and mislabeled and unlabeled specimens fell from 31 in a quarter to 3 and have stayed there since.
Your posting mentions oncology and dialysis draws at the Bear Mountain site. I take the hard-stick consult list where I am now, roughly 15 referrals a week across oncology, dialysis, edematous and pediatric patients, and I would expect to pick that up quickly for you. I also run chain of custody drug screen collection for four employer contracts and have had no chain of custody deficiencies recorded.
My CPT II and my basic life support card are current, and my hepatitis B series and titer are documented. I can start with two weeks' notice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Marisela Solorzano, CPT II, PBT(ASCP)
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am passionate about patient care and phlebotomy | I hold California CPT II, #CPT2-0449182, and I am available for the 05:30 start |
| I am writing to express my interest in the phlebotomist position | I am applying for the Phlebotomist II post and I can take the weekend rotation |
| I have excellent venipuncture skills and attention to detail | Specimen rejection rate of 0.4 percent across roughly 8,200 draws, against a department average of 1.1 percent |
| I would be a great addition to your laboratory | Your posting mentions oncology and dialysis draws at the Bear Mountain site |
What counts as evidence when the laboratory will not give you numbers
However, plenty of sites never show a rejection log to their collectors. Even so, you can source every line below from your own day.
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Volume | Draw 45 to 60 patients a shift plus a mobile route of 12 to 18 collections |
| Accuracy | Specimen rejection rate of 0.4 percent across roughly 8,200 draws in the last year |
| First stick | First-stick success at 91 percent across the last quarter, logged at the chair |
| Labeling | Mislabeled and unlabeled specimens fell from 31 in a quarter to 3 after the check was rewritten |
| Difficulty | Carry the site's hard-stick consult list, roughly 15 referrals a week |
| Turnaround | Collection to laboratory receipt under 10 minutes on STAT and blood culture sets |
| Contamination | Blood culture contamination held under 2 percent across three years |
| Training | Signed off nine new collectors through a four-week competency |
Hospitals, reference laboratories and physician's offices read differently
For a hospital, lead with shift coverage and the inpatient sweep, then difficult access, isolation precautions and blood culture technique. For a reference laboratory or patient service center, lead with throughput, the mobile route, chain of custody collection and specimen processing. For a physician's office or clinic, lead with the fact that you can also register patients, handle the requisition and order reconciliation and process specimens for courier. Name the site in the letter and say which shift you want.
Do not open with a sentence about compassion; the reader is filling a shift. Do not claim arterial puncture unless your credential covers it. Do not write "certified in phlebotomy" when the credential has letters and a number. Do not send a letter with no site name in it. Do not describe a patient or an identifiable case, however good the story is.
Eighteen thousand openings a year, and most of them are churn
BLS counts 143,900 phlebotomist jobs in 2025, projects 7 percent growth through 2035 and about 18,000 openings a year over the decade (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Phlebotomists, 2025 to 2035 projections).
Openings at roughly one in eight of the occupation each year are mostly replacement, not growth. Two thirds of those jobs sit in hospitals at a May 2025 median of $44,220 and medical and diagnostic laboratories at $46,670, with the occupation median at $45,230 (BLS, May 2025).
For your letter this means two things. Managers are hiring quickly against a short list of gates, so the credential and the shift have to be in the first two sentences. And because the occupation turns over constantly, a letter showing that you stayed at one site and measurably improved something there is rarer than it should be, and it is what gets a file called first.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: marisela-solorzano-phlebotomist-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Also, a hospital or laboratory site usually names laboratory managers and client services supervisors, and "Dear Hiring Manager" on a file that is otherwise precise reads as a letter sent to nine sites.
Use the same figures as your resume so the two agree. Our phlebotomist resume example is written with the numbers used here.
Key takeaways
- First, put the certification, with its number, in the first sentence.
- Then name the shift you can take in the second.
- In addition, give one volume figure and one accuracy figure, each with the period it covers.
- Also, say which populations you take hard sticks on.
- Similarly, name one real thing about their site, taken from their own posting or page.
- Say when you can start and that you can document your immunization record.
- Finally, address a named person and keep it to one page.
Write your phlebotomist cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
Phlebotomist cover letter questions, answered
How long should a phlebotomist cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Laboratory managers read these in batches while short-staffed, and length does not read as effort.
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 every applicant. The letter is the only place you can say which shift you want, which populations you can take, and what your rejection rate was.
What do I write with no paid phlebotomy experience yet?
Write the externship as a job. The site, the weeks, the number of successful venipunctures and capillary sticks you logged, the tube types you collected and the populations you saw. Then the certificate with its number and date, and the shifts you can work. A new collector with a documented stick count who will take early mornings is a straightforward hire in an occupation with about 18,000 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 to 2035 projections).
Should I mention my certification body by name?
Yes, with its letters. Write PBT(ASCP), CPT(NHA), RPT(AMT), CPT(ASPT) or NCPT(NCCT) exactly as the certifying body writes it, because that is the string a recruiter searches. If you work in California, Louisiana, Nevada or Washington, name the state credential separately, since those four states license or certify phlebotomists specifically and the state credential is not the same thing as national certification.
How do I write to a site I know nothing about?
Read their posting and their page for ten minutes first: the settings they run, the hours the post covers, whether there is a mobile route, whether they list oncology, pediatric or dialysis work. One accurate sentence about what they do beats a paragraph of admiration, and it is the part that cannot be copied into the next letter.