How to Write a Cover Letter: Format, Examples and Tips

When a cover letter matters (and when it doesn't)

Not every application needs one, and some recruiters skip them. But a cover letter can tip the balance when:

• The posting asks for one. Then it isn't optional; leaving it out suggests you didn't read the ad.
• Your resume doesn't explain itself. You're changing careers, returning after a gap or moving cities, and the reader needs the reason.
• The employer is small. The person reading it is often the person you'd work with every day.
• You were referred. The letter is the natural place to name who suggested you apply.
• The job is about communication. In writing, marketing, sales, teaching and client roles, your letter is a sample of the skill they're hiring for.

When a letter is marked optional, write one if you can make it specific to this job, and skip it rather than send a generic one. If the form has no upload slot and no message box, don't force a letter in somewhere else.

The cover letter format: four parts

Whatever the country, the structure that works is the same. Above it, put your name and contact details, the date, and the employer's name. In an email application, your contact details go under your name at the end instead.

1. Greeting. Use the hiring manager's name if you can find it, for example "Dear Priya Rao". If you can't, "Dear Hiring Manager" is safe almost everywhere.
2. Hook (two or three sentences). Name the role and give one specific reason you fit, ideally a result. Don't spend your whole first line on "I am writing to apply for..."; the reader already knows.
3. Two proof paragraphs. Each one takes a need from the job description and shows, with a real example, that you've already done it. Numbers help: time saved, sales, students, patients, tickets, budgets.
4. Close. Say in one line why this employer, ask for a conversation and thank them. Sign off with "Sincerely" or "Kind regards" and your full name.

That's the whole format. No life story and no list of every job you've held. Your resume does that; the letter connects the dots between it and this role.

How long should a cover letter be?

Aim for 200 to 400 words: three or four short paragraphs that sit comfortably on one page with space around them. When the letter is the body of an email, go shorter, around 150 to 250 words, because many people read email on a phone.

Applications that set their own rules win every time. Follow any word or character limit exactly. If a form asks for a supporting statement or answers to selection criteria, that's a longer, different document, covered in the country notes below.

A quick editing test: if a paragraph would still make sense in a letter to a different company, cut it or make it specific.

How to tailor it to each job

1. Read the job description and mark the three or four things it stresses most. They're often repeated, or listed first under requirements.
2. For each one, find a matching story in your resume: what the situation was, what you did, and what changed. If your resume needs work first, start with how to write a resume.
3. Pick the two strongest stories for your proof paragraphs. Use the employer's own words for each skill, the same way you would with resume keywords.
4. Find one genuine reason you want this employer: a product you use, work they've published, the people they serve. Put it in the close in a sentence.
5. Update the company name, role and greeting, then read the whole letter aloud. A letter with another company's name in it is the most avoidable mistake there is.

A full cover letter example

Here's a complete letter for a marketing executive role at a food brand. The people and companies are invented; the structure is the point.

• Greeting: Dear Ananya Mehta,
• Hook: I'd like to apply for the Marketing Executive role at Leafline Foods. At Crunchwell, a regional snack brand, I plan and run the Instagram and email campaigns that grew our repeat online orders by 32% last year, and I'd love to do the same for your new ready-to-cook range.
• Proof 1: Your posting asks for someone who can run campaigns end to end. At Crunchwell I own the monthly campaign calendar: I write the brief, work with our designer and an outside agency, split the budget between channels and report results to the founders every Friday. I also briefed two campaigns with local food creators that brought in our first orders from Pune and Hyderabad. Our Diwali gifting campaign sold out its stock nine days early.
• Proof 2: You also mention data. I run our weekly reporting in Google Analytics and Excel, and last year I noticed that half our email list hadn't opened a message in six months. Cleaning the list and rewriting our welcome series lifted open rates from 18% to 29%.
• Close: I've bought Leafline products since your first launch, and your move into ready-to-cook meals is exactly the kind of launch I want to work on next. I'd welcome the chance to talk about the role. Thank you for your time.
• Sign-off: Kind regards, Rohan Iyer

The body is about 210 words, and every number is one Rohan could explain in an interview, which is why it convinces. Notice what's missing: no "hard-working team player", no summary of the resume, no apology. If you're applying for roles like this, a marketing resume template shows how the matching resume is usually laid out, and these resume summary examples help you sharpen your one-line pitch.

Opening lines for different roles

Your first two sentences do most of the work. These openings lead with something specific. Use them as patterns, not scripts, and put in your own facts.

• Software engineer: "I'm applying for the Backend Engineer role because I've spent two years doing what your posting describes: breaking a large codebase into services. At Finlo, I led the move of our orders API, which halved its average response time."
• Nurse: "I'm a registered nurse with four years on a busy medical ward, and I'd like to bring that experience to your cardiac unit, where I did my final student placement."
• Teacher: "In four years teaching science to students aged 11 to 16, I've rebuilt our lab lessons so every student runs an experiment each week, and I'd like to bring that approach to Greenfield School."
• Data analyst: "Your posting asks for someone who can turn messy sales data into decisions. Last quarter, my Power BI dashboard showed which three regions drove most of our returns, and we changed suppliers within a month."
• Customer service: "I handle around 60 customer chats a day for an online electronics store while keeping a 4.8 out of 5 satisfaction rating, and I'd like to bring that pace and patience to your support team."
• Graduate or fresher: "I'm a final-year B.Com student applying for your Graduate Analyst role. During my internship at an audit firm, I reconciled 400 vendor accounts and flagged mismatches the team then corrected."

Country conventions: US, UK, India and Australia

• United States. Cover letters are common but not universal; send one when asked or when it adds something your resume can't. "Dear Hiring Manager" is the standard fallback, and "To Whom It May Concern" now reads as dated. Titles take a period ("Ms. Rao"), and "Sincerely" is the usual sign-off. Leave out age, marital status and photos.
• United Kingdom. You'll also hear "covering letter", and it usually goes with a CV rather than a resume (see CV vs resume). Formal letters still follow the old pairing: "Dear Sir or Madam" closes with "Yours faithfully", and a named greeting such as "Dear Ms Rao" (no full stop) closes with "Yours sincerely". "Dear Hiring Manager" with "Kind regards" is widely accepted too. Many public-sector jobs, including NHS and teaching roles, ask for a supporting statement instead: a longer piece that answers the person specification point by point.
• India. The letter is often the body of an email to HR or a recruiter, with your resume attached, so keep it short and put the role and your experience in the subject line, for example "Application: Senior Accountant — 6 years, CA". "Dear Hiring Manager" reads better than the old "Respected Sir". If you're currently employed, mention your notice period, since recruiters ask about it early.
• Australia. Cover letters are widely expected. Many ads name a contact person, so address them by name, or use "Dear Hiring Manager". "Kind regards" is the usual close. Government roles often ask for a statement addressing the selection criteria, or a short pitch with a set word or page limit; follow it exactly.

Everywhere: keep it to one page, use the same fonts and contact details as your resume, and name the file clearly, such as "Rohan-Iyer-Cover-Letter.pdf".

Cover letter mistakes to avoid

• Repeating your resume. The reader already has it. Pick two stories and go deeper.
• Starting with yourself instead of the job. "I have always been passionate about..." tells them nothing. Lead with the role and your strongest proof.
• Generic praise. "Your company is a leader in the industry" could go to anyone. Name something real.
• Claims you can't back up. Everything in the letter is fair game in the interview.
• The wrong name. Another company's name, a misspelled manager's name, or "Dear Sir" to someone who isn't one.
• Opening with an apology. "Although I don't have much experience..." points the reader at the gap. Point them at what you do have.
• Running long. If it spills onto a second page, cut until it doesn't.
• An awkward file. Send a PDF unless the employer asks for Word, and check it opens cleanly on a phone.

Drafting it with ResumeInk

If your resume is in ResumeInk, it can be the starting point for your letter. Open Cover letter & LinkedIn in the editor's AI tools and paste the job description. The AI drafts a cover letter from the experience in your resume, and it can also draft a LinkedIn headline and About section so your profile tells the same story.

The draft is written to stick to what your resume shows rather than invent skills. Treat it as a first draft: check every claim, add your reason for wanting this employer in your own words, and cut anything that could go to any company. No resume there yet? Upload your current one as a PDF, Word file or photo; the AI rebuilds it in a designed template, and you can edit any line, switch designs and check the ATS score before you write the letter.