Cover Letter Template
A short job application letter that says why you, for this role.
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Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing to apply for the post of [role].
[why this role, and why you]
In particular: [what you bring].
My CV is attached with fuller detail. I would welcome the chance to talk about the role and can make myself available at short notice. Thank you for considering my application.
What is a Cover Letter?
A cover letter is the short document that sits in front of your CV and answers one question: why you, for this job. It matters because a CV is a list, and a list does not explain a career change, a gap, or why someone working in one industry is applying to another. Where a hiring manager is working through a stack of applications, the cover letter often decides which CVs get read at all.
Applicants write one for almost every advertised role, and rewrite it for each. Career changers rely on it most, because it is the only place to connect what they have done to what the employer needs. Graduates use it to make coursework, placements and part-time jobs read as relevant experience. Speculative applicants — writing to an organisation with no advertised vacancy — depend on it entirely, since there is no job description to match a CV against. Internal applicants use a shorter version addressed to a manager who already knows them.
Conventions differ by country and are worth checking before you send. In the US the document is a cover letter accompanying a resume, usually one page, and photographs, date of birth and marital status are left off. In the UK, Ireland and India it accompanies a CV. In parts of continental Europe a photograph and personal details are still common on applications, while elsewhere they are discouraged for equality reasons. Some public sector and graduate schemes replace the cover letter with a structured supporting statement against named criteria — follow the form the employer asks for.
A cover letter cannot fix an application for a job you are not qualified for, and length does not compensate. It is not a prose version of your CV — repeating the same content in paragraphs wastes the one page where you could say something new. It is not the place to set out salary expectations unless you were asked, or to negotiate terms. It also does not replace the application form: employers who ask for a form and receive only a CV and letter usually reject the application unread.
What to put in a Cover Letter
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Writing to (name) | For example: Ms. Dana Whitfield |
| Their title and address optional | For example: Hiring Manager |
| Role applied for | For example: Warehouse Supervisor |
| Where you saw it optional | For example: your careers page |
| Why this role | For example: I have run a goods-in and picking operation of a similar size for three years, and your… |
| What you bring | One per line |
| Issued to (full name) | For example: James Whitfield |
| Their address | For example: 588 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
How to write a Cover Letter
Address a person and name the role
Find the hiring manager's name in the advert, on the company site or on the team page, and use it. If you genuinely cannot, ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ beats ‘To Whom It May Concern’, which reads as a mail merge. Name the exact job title and the reference number in the first line so the letter can be filed against the right vacancy.
Open with why this job, specifically
The first paragraph should be impossible to paste into another application. Reference something real: the product, a recent contract win, the fact that the team covers three sites and you have run distribution across four. ‘I am writing to apply for the position advertised on your website’ burns the most-read sentence in the letter on information the reader already has.
Prove two claims with evidence
Pick the two requirements from the job description that you match best and give a concrete instance of each — what you did, in what circumstances, and what came of it. ‘I reduced our reporting cycle from five days to two by moving reconciliation into the ledger system’ is evidence. ‘I am highly organised and detail-oriented’ is an assertion anyone can type.
Deal with the obvious question head on
If there is a career gap, a relocation, a sector change or a step down in seniority, address it in one sentence rather than hoping the reader will not notice. They will. ‘I took eighteen months out to care for a family member and have kept my certification current’ closes the question. Leaving it unexplained means the reader supplies their own answer.
Keep it to one page and check
Three or four short paragraphs, one side. Then check the company name, the role title, and that nothing from the previous application survived the edit — naming the wrong employer is the single most common fatal error. Save and send as PDF unless another format is requested, and name the file with your own name rather than cover letter final.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the previous employer's name in a reused letter, which ends the application immediately and usually without a reply.
- Summarising the CV in prose, which wastes the one page available for anything the CV cannot already say.
- Opening with a line about writing to apply for the role advertised, which spends the most-read sentence on information the reader already has.
- Listing adjectives — hardworking, passionate, dynamic — with no instance behind any of them, which reads as filler to every recruiter.
- Running to two or three pages, which signals that the applicant cannot judge what matters and is often not read past page one.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a cover letter be?
One page, three or four paragraphs, roughly 250 to 400 words. Longer letters are rarely read to the end, and the discipline of cutting forces you to choose your two strongest claims rather than listing eight weak ones. If an application form gives a character limit, treat that as the real specification and write to it exactly rather than pasting in something longer.
Do I still need a cover letter if the application is online?
If there is a field for it or an option to attach one, use it — the applications that skip it are competing on CV alone. If the system asks only for a CV and gives no upload slot, do not force one in. Where the form has a box asking whether there is anything else you would like them to know, that box is your cover letter.
What do I write if I do not know the hiring manager's name?
‘Dear Hiring Manager’ or ‘Dear Recruitment Team’ is fine and reads as normal. Check the advert, the company website and the department page first, because using the right name is noticed. Avoid ‘To Whom It May Concern’ and ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, which sound like a circular and assume things about the reader you have no way of knowing.
How do I explain a career gap in a cover letter?
One sentence, factual, then move on. Say what the period was for — caring responsibilities, illness now resolved, study, redundancy and a search — and say what you did to stay current if you did anything. You do not owe a medical history or a personal account. What the reader wants to know is whether the gap is over and whether your skills are current.
Should the cover letter go in the email body or as an attachment?
If you are emailing an application directly, put a short version in the body and attach the full letter as a PDF alongside the CV. An email with two attachments and no text reads as spam and sometimes lands there. If you are uploading through a portal, follow the portal's structure and do not duplicate the letter into a notes field as well.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.