GUIDE WITH EXAMPLES
How to write a cover letter: structure, format and examples
A good cover letter explains in a few short paragraphs why you fit a specific job and what you’ll bring from day one. Here you’ll find a five-part structure, how to address it, how long to make it, how to tailor it to each posting and send it by email, how it differs from a letter of interest or a personal statement, and three complete examples: with experience, with no experience and for a career change.
What a cover letter is and when it makes a difference
A cover letter is a short letter that goes with your resume and answers a question your resume can’t answer on its own: why you, for this job, at this company. Your resume lists what you’ve done; your cover letter picks two or three of those things and connects them to what the job posting asks for.
Not every application requires one, but there are situations where it really counts:
- When the posting asks for one: leaving it out makes your application incomplete.
- When your background needs context: an employment gap, a career change, a move to another city or state.
- When you’re writing to a company that hasn’t posted an opening (a letter of interest).
- At small businesses, where the person who would be your manager often reads it directly.
- In jobs where good writing is part of the work, such as administration, communications or law.
If an online application has an optional cover letter field, use it: a short, targeted letter sets you apart from candidates who leave it blank.
Cover letter structure in five parts
To write a cover letter that doesn’t sound like a template, follow a logical sequence: who you are, why this job, what proof you bring and what you suggest as a next step.
1. Header and greeting
At the top go your contact details: name, city and state, phone and email, plus your LinkedIn URL if you have one. A traditional letter then adds the date and the employer’s name and address; in an email or an online form, you can skip them. Address a person whenever you can find a name: Dear Ms. Patel, or Dear Jordan Patel if you’re not sure which courtesy title the person uses. Follow it with a colon in a formal letter or a comma in an email. If you can’t find a name, Dear Hiring Manager works far better than To Whom It May Concern, which sounds dated.
2. Opening
One or two sentences that say which job you’re applying for and what defines you professionally. Skip “My name is…” and “I am writing to apply for…,” the openings almost everyone uses, and get straight to something specific.
I’m applying for the Maintenance Technician position posted on your careers page. For five years I’ve kept packaging lines running on rotating shifts, and your job description reads almost line for line like my current workday.
3. Fit with the job
This is where you show you’ve read the posting. Pick the two or three requirements that matter most and explain, with facts, how you meet them. Don’t copy them as a list: tie them to real situations.
4. A specific contribution
This is the paragraph that separates a good letter from an adequate one. Describe one accomplishment or verifiable situation that shows how you work: a process you improved, a problem you solved, a modest but real result. A number helps if it’s true and you can explain it in an interview; if you don’t have one, describe the change precisely.
5. Closing and next step
End by suggesting a next step and making it easy: when you could start, whether you’re available for an in-person or video interview, whether you can relocate or travel. Sign off with a simple closing such as Sincerely, Best regards or Thank you for your consideration, followed by your full name.
Quick test: cover your name and reread the letter. If any other candidate could have signed it for any other company, it’s missing part 4.
Cover letter length and format
A reasonable length for a cover letter is 250 to 400 words: three or four paragraphs that fit on one page with standard margins. In the body of an email or a text box on a job site, aim for the low end of that range.
- One page, with the same font and contact details as your resume.
- Short paragraphs of three to five lines.
- A PDF when you attach it, unless the posting asks for another format.
- A clear file name, like
Laura-Bennett-Cover-Letter.pdf.
- Going over one page (letters for academic jobs are the main exception).
- Retelling your entire work history in paragraph form.
- Bold text, colors and bullet points in every paragraph: a cover letter is prose.
If a job site limits the number of characters, cut the pleasantries first, never your specific contribution.
How to tailor your cover letter to the job posting
Tailoring isn’t swapping the company name in the greeting; it’s writing a letter that responds to the posting. A method that works:
- Mark the requirements and duties. Separate the must-haves (“2+ years of accounts payable experience”) from the nice-to-haves (“Spanish a plus”).
- Look for the underlying problem. A posting that stresses “high volume” and “tight deadlines” is telling you the team is stretched. One that keeps repeating “customer-facing” values patience as much as technical skill.
- Match each key requirement with proof. Picture two columns: what they ask for and where you’ve shown it.
- Use their vocabulary without copying whole sentences. If the posting says “tickets,” don’t write “cases”; if it says “guests,” don’t write “customers.”
- Find one fact about the company (a product, its customers, a recent expansion) and mention it only if you connect it to what you bring.
I would love to join your company, a leader in the industry, because I am a responsible, proactive person who is eager to learn.
Your posting mentions a monthly close with more than 400 vendor invoices. In my current role I reconcile a similar volume in SAP, and I’ve reduced close-week issues by reviewing invoices daily instead of letting them pile up.
If starting from scratch is the hard part, the AI assistant in Mi Resumen writes a cover letter draft from your resume and the job posting you paste. It works from what’s on your resume, without inventing experience, and you review and decide before using it. Then add what only you know: why this particular company interests you.
Cover letter vs. personal statement
A cover letter isn’t the only letter you may be asked to write. Graduate programs, scholarships and fellowships ask for a personal statement or a statement of purpose, and some employers and programs abroad ask for a “motivation letter,” the usual term in Europe. Here’s how they differ:
| Cover letter | Personal statement or statement of purpose | |
|---|---|---|
| What it’s for | A specific job | Graduate school, scholarships, fellowships, some volunteer programs |
| Central question | What will you bring to this job? | Why do you want this, and what will you do with it? |
| What matters most | Accomplishments and fit with the requirements | Academic path, interests and future plans |
| Typical length | One page or less | Often longer; many programs set a word limit |
| Tone | Professional and direct | More personal, but still specific |
In a personal statement for a graduate program or a scholarship, the committee wants to see your path as a coherent story: what drew you to the field, what you’ve already done to move forward in it, why this program and not another, and how it fits your career plans. For a volunteer program, real availability and previous experience with the people you’d serve carry the most weight.
Read the application instructions before you write. If the program asks you to answer specific prompts or stay under a word count, following those instructions is already part of the evaluation.
Letter of interest: writing when there’s no job posting
A letter of interest (also called a prospecting letter or letter of inquiry) goes to a company you’d like to work for even when it has no opening posted. With no posting to give context, it’s up to you to explain what kind of role you’re looking for and why they should keep you in mind.
How to approach it
- Choose the right recipient. If the company’s careers page accepts general applications, use it. If not, look for the recruiter or, at a small company, the manager of the team you want to join; LinkedIn often makes them easy to find.
- Name the role. “Any position” doesn’t help anyone decide. Say what kind of work you’re after: “a quality control lab technician role.”
- Show that you know the company. One concrete detail is worth more than three adjectives about its reputation.
- Ask for something small: a brief conversation, or to keep your resume on file for future openings.
- Follow up once. If you haven’t heard back in two or three weeks, a short email is reasonable; more than one starts to feel pushy.
I’ve followed your furniture restoration studio’s work for some time and saw that you’ve started taking on hotel projects. I’m a cabinetmaker with six years of experience in finishing and refinishing, and I’d love to be considered if you expand your production team.
How to send a cover letter by email
Many US applications go through an online portal, where you upload your cover letter or paste it into a text box. When you apply by email instead, you have two good options: write the full letter in the body of the email and attach only your resume, or write a short message and attach both your cover letter and your resume as PDFs. What you shouldn’t do is both: paste the letter into the email and attach it.
The subject line
It should identify your application without anyone having to open the email: the job title, the job ID if there is one, and your name.
Application: Accounts Payable Specialist (Job ID AP-24) – Laura Bennett
Letter of interest: Quality Control Lab Technician – Jorge Salinas
The body
If you attach the letter, keep the email short: a greeting, one sentence about the job, another with your strongest selling point, a mention of the attachments and a sign-off with your phone number.
Dear Ms. Patel,
I’m applying for the Accounts Payable Specialist position (Job ID AP-24). I have six years of experience in vendor accounting, month-end close and SAP. My resume and cover letter are attached as PDFs.
I would welcome the chance to talk with you.
Best regards,
Laura Bennett
(614) 555-0142
- Check that the attachments open and that the company name is right.
- If the posting specifies a subject line, use it exactly.
Cover letter example with experience
Laura is applying for an accounts payable specialist job at a food distribution company. She has six years of experience in a very similar role, so her letter focuses on volume, tools and one specific accomplishment. To see how a profile like hers looks on a resume, check our accountant and administrative assistant resume examples.
Laura Bennett · Columbus, OH · (614) 555-0142 · laura.bennett@email.com
Dear Ms. Patel:
I’m applying for the Accounts Payable Specialist position (Job ID AP-24) at Harbor Lane Foods. For the past six years I’ve handled vendor accounting for an electrical supply distributor, and the environment your posting describes, with high invoice volume and a tight monthly close, is exactly the one I work in today.
In my current role, I process about 450 vendor invoices a month in SAP, run three-way matching against purchase orders and receiving reports, prepare the weekly check and ACH payment runs, and resolve discrepancies with purchasing and the warehouse. I use Excel daily for reconciliations with pivot tables and XLOOKUP, and I collect W-9s from new vendors and help prepare year-end 1099s.
Last year, I proposed reviewing invoices daily instead of saving them for the last week of the month. With that change, our close went from five business days to three, and we stopped paying late fees to two regular suppliers. I’d like to bring the same approach to a team that, according to your posting, is growing.
I can start after giving two weeks’ notice, and I’m available for an in-person or video interview any day this week or next.
Sincerely,
Laura Bennett
Cover letter example with no experience
Daniel just earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and is applying for an entry-level production planning job. With no full-time experience in the field, he leans on his co-op, his senior design project and his tools, and he doesn’t apologize for what he lacks. If you’re in the same spot, our guide to a resume with no experience will help you prepare the resume that goes with your letter.
Daniel Reyes · Greenville, SC · (864) 555-0137 · daniel.reyes@email.com
Dear Carolina Loomworks Hiring Team:
I’m applying for the Production Planning Analyst position posted this week. I recently earned my B.S. in Industrial Engineering, and over my last two semesters I focused on production scheduling and inventory control, the core of this role.
During a six-month co-op at an apparel manufacturer, I helped update the master production schedule and built an Excel dashboard to track work orders by production cell. The team still uses that dashboard in its weekly plant meetings. My senior design project analyzed changeover times on a cutting line and proposed an order sequence that reduced changeovers in simulation.
I bring advanced Excel skills, intermediate Power BI and a working knowledge of SQL, and I speak conversational Spanish. I’m looking for exactly this kind of entry-level role, with mentoring on the plant floor, where I can apply what I’ve learned to a larger operation.
I’m available to start immediately and would be glad to come to your Spartanburg plant for an interview at your convenience.
Best regards,
Daniel Reyes
Cover letter example for a career change
Megan has worked in restaurants for eight years, the last three as front-of-house manager, and wants to move into customer support at a company that makes reservation software for restaurants. Her letter translates her experience into the language of the new job and shows that the move is well prepared.
Megan Lewis · Denver, CO · (303) 555-0186 · megan.lewis@email.com
Hi Sergio,
I’m writing about the Customer Support Specialist opening at Tablewise. For eight years I’ve been on the other side of your product: as front-of-house manager at a 120-seat restaurant, I’ve handled reservations, staff schedules and guest complaints with booking software very similar to yours. I know what a restaurant needs at 8 p.m. on a Saturday when something stops working.
In my current role, I supervise a team of six servers and resolve guest issues in person and by phone. When the restaurant rolled out its reservation system, I set it up, trained the staff and served as the main contact with the vendor’s support team. That experience is what made me want to make this move.
To prepare, I completed a 60-hour online customer support course that included hands-on practice in a help desk ticketing tool, and I speak conversational Spanish, which lets me help Spanish-speaking customers with simple requests.
I can start in a month, and I’d love to tell you on a call how I’d bring what I know from the dining room to your support team.
Best,
Megan Lewis
Megan uses a first-name greeting because the posting is written in a casual tone and names the hiring manager; always match your tone to the person reading. For the resume that goes with it, see our customer service resume example.
Common cover letter mistakes
- Repeating your resume in paragraph form. A cover letter selects and connects; if it lists every job you’ve had, it isn’t doing its job.
- Talking only about what you want. “I’m looking to grow professionally” interests an employer less than what you’ll solve for them.
- Adjectives with no proof. “Proactive, dynamic and results-driven” convinces nobody; a specific situation does.
- Getting the company or job title wrong when you reuse an old letter.
- Opening with an apology. “Although I don’t meet every requirement…” puts the focus on what’s missing. If something needs explaining, do it later and in positive terms.
- Exaggerating or making things up. Anything you write can come up in an interview or a reference check.
- Bringing up salary unprompted. If the posting asks for your salary requirements, give a researched range; if not, leave it for the interview.
- Typos. In such a short document, a single typo stands out. Read it aloud before you send it.
Before you send it, make sure every claim in your cover letter is backed up by your resume. If you mention an accomplishment that isn’t there, add it to your resume too, following our guide on how to write a resume.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a cover letter?
Not always. If the job posting asks for one, yes: without it, your application is incomplete. If it’s optional, it’s worth writing when your background needs context (a career change, little experience, a relocation or an employment gap) or when you’re writing to a company with no opening posted.
How long should a cover letter be?
A reasonable length is 250 to 400 words: three or four paragraphs on a single page. If it goes in the body of an email or a text box on a job site, the shorter and more specific, the better.
Can I use the same cover letter for every job?
You can reuse a base (your contact details, your closing), but the opening, the fit with the job and your specific contribution should change with every application. A letter that works for any company won’t convince any of them.
How do I address a cover letter if I don’t know the hiring manager’s name?
“Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear [Company] Hiring Team” are both correct. First, try to find the name in the posting, on the company’s website or on LinkedIn: addressing a specific person makes a better impression. Avoid “To Whom It May Concern” and “Dear Sir or Madam,” which sound dated.
Should my cover letter go in the email body or as an attachment?
Either works. If you write it in the body, attach only your resume. If you attach it as a PDF, write a short message of four or five lines. Avoid doing both at once.
What’s the difference between a cover letter and a letter of interest?
A cover letter responds to a specific job posting. A letter of interest goes to a company that hasn’t posted an opening: it explains what kind of role you’re looking for and why that company, and asks for a conversation or for them to keep your resume on file.
Should I mention salary in my cover letter?
Only if the posting asks for your salary requirements. In that case, give a range based on research for the role and location, and say you’re open to discussing the full compensation package. If the posting doesn’t ask, save the topic for the interview.