How to Write a Cover Letter: 8 Steps With Before and After Lines

The most useful work happens before you start typing. Read the ad and mark the requirements that appear first or more than once; those are usually what the employer cares about most. Then look at the company's website for one specific detail: a product, a recent project, a value they describe, or the customers they serve.

Harvard's career office puts this plainly: "Tailor your letters to specific situations or organizations by doing research before writing your letters." Ten minutes of research gives you the raw material for two of the paragraphs you are about to write.

Make a quick note with three lines: requirement one, requirement two, and the company detail. Everything else in the letter hangs off that note.

A letter addressed to a person reads as a letter written for them. Check the job ad for a contact name, look at the company's team or about page, or search the company and job title on a professional network. Prospects advises that you "always try and address your cover letter directly to the person who will be reading it."

If you truly cannot find a name, use a role: "Dear Hiring Manager" or "Dear Recruitment Team." In British English, pair "Dear Sir/Madam" with "Yours faithfully," and a named greeting with "Yours sincerely." American letters generally close with "Sincerely" either way.

The header is not the place to be creative. It needs your name, city, email and phone, the date, and the employer's name and company. A full street address is no longer expected on most applications; your city is enough.

Date and paper conventions follow the Unicode CLDR locale data that browsers use: US Letter is the default in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines and a few other countries, and A4 elsewhere.

Prospects says the opening "should set out why you're writing the letter." The reader should know in the first two lines which job this is and why you are worth reading.

Weak: "My name is Jordan Lee and I am writing to express my interest in the position advertised on your website."

Stronger: "I am applying for the Customer Success Manager role at Northwind Health. For five years I have run support teams for software used by clinics, and onboarding new accounts is the part of the job I do best."

The stronger line names the role, the company, the years of experience and a skill that maps to the ad, in two sentences. Your name is already in the header; it does not need to open the letter. If someone referred you, this is the place to say so: "Sam Ortiz on your brand team suggested I apply."

This is the heart of the letter. Take one requirement from your note and answer it with something you have done. Prospects frames it as "highlight any relevant experience and demonstrate how your skills match the specific requirements of the job description."

A simple formula: requirement, action, result.

Weak: "I have excellent communication skills and am a team player who works well under pressure."

Stronger: "Your ad mentions reducing churn. At Brightline I set up a 30-day check-in call for new clients, and the share of clients renewing after their first year went from 71 to 83 percent."

Harvard advises you to "give examples that support your skills and qualifications" and to "avoid flowery language." One real number does more than three adjectives. If you are early in your career, the evidence can come from a course project, a part-time job, volunteering or a student society; the cover letter with no experience guide shows how.

One paragraph or two?

If the ad has two very different requirements (for example, technical skill and client handling), give each its own short paragraph. Otherwise one paragraph is enough. Do not retell your whole resume; pick what fits this job.

Employers want to know you chose them on purpose. Use the company detail from your research note. Prospects suggests covering "what attracted you to this type of work."

Weak: "I have always admired your company and its reputation for excellence."

Stronger: "Northwind's work with clinics in smaller towns is what drew me to this role; I grew up two hours from the nearest hospital and know how much good software matters there."

Two to four sentences is enough. Be specific and honest. If your reason is practical (the role is close to home, or it is the next step in your field), say that plainly rather than inventing passion.

The last paragraph should "reiterate your interest in the role and indicate your desire for an interview," in Prospects' words. Mention that your resume or CV is attached, ask for the next step, and thank the reader.

Weak: "I hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience."

Stronger: "My resume is attached. I would welcome an interview to discuss how I could help your new clients settle in quickly. Thank you for your time."

Then sign off with "Sincerely," (or "Yours sincerely," in the UK) and your full name.

Read the letter out loud once. Anything that sounds stiff, cut or rewrite. Then run through this checklist:

• Length: one page at most. Prospects recommends "three to five concise paragraphs," and nidirect says "one A4 page is preferable."
• Names: the company name and the reader's name are spelled correctly everywhere.
• Pronouns: Harvard advises "Don't overuse the pronoun 'I'." Vary sentence openings.
• Font: the same font type and size as your resume, as Harvard recommends.
• File: PDF unless the ad asks for Word. Name the file clearly, for example "Jordan-Lee-Cover-Letter.pdf."
• Email: if you send by email, use a subject line with the role and your name, and keep the email body short or paste the letter into it.

Last, make sure the resume you attach supports the claims in the letter. If it needs work, the resume writing guide and the resume builder will help.

Want to see all of this applied? The cover letter examples page has eight complete letters, and the templates page shows the structure for each situation.