How to write a cover letter, with a paragraph-by-paragraph template

A cover letter is the one part of an application where you explain yourself in your own voice. Your resume lists what you did; the letter connects it to this job at this company.

Not every employer reads cover letters, and some application forms do not ask for one. When they do ask, a short letter written for that one job is easy to tell apart from the ones that could have gone to any company.

Do you need a cover letter?

Write one when:

• the job ad or the application form asks for it,
• you are changing careers and your resume alone does not explain the move,
• there is something the reader should know up front: a relocation, a gap, a referral from someone at the company,
• the role involves a lot of writing or client communication. Then the letter doubles as a writing sample.

You can usually skip it when the form has no field for it and the ad does not mention it. A strong resume matters more than any letter, so start there. Our guide on how to write a resume walks through it step by step.

If the form says a cover letter is optional, write a short one. Three paragraphs are enough.

How long should a cover letter be?

Aim for 250 to 400 words in three or four paragraphs, and never more than one page. Recruiters often read a letter after they have skimmed the resume, looking for an answer to one question: why this person, for this job? Answer it in the first paragraph. Lengths for emails, online forms and other situations, and how to cut a letter that runs long, are in how long should a cover letter be.

The structure, paragraph by paragraph

1. The header and greeting

Use the same header as your resume: name, job title, email, phone, city. Then the date and, if you know it, the hiring manager’s name and the company.

Address a real person when you can. The job ad, the company’s team page or LinkedIn often tells you who leads the team. If you cannot find a name, “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear [Team name] team” is fine. Avoid “To whom it may concern”; it reads as if nobody checked.

2. The opening: the role and one reason

Make the first two sentences count. Say which job you are applying for and give one concrete reason you are a fit.

Weak: I am writing to express my interest in the position advertised on your website. I believe I would be a great addition to your team.

Strong: I’m applying for the Senior Product Designer role on your patient app team. For the past four years I’ve designed booking and scheduling flows in health tech, most recently cutting the steps to book an appointment from nine to four.

Openings for three common situations:

Referral: Jonas Ek, who leads your data team, suggested I apply for the Analytics Engineer role. I’ve spent three years building the reporting pipelines a retail chain’s buyers use every morning, which is close to what the ad describes.

Career change: I’m applying for the Junior UX Researcher role. As a secondary school teacher for six years, I ran weekly feedback sessions with students and parents and changed my lessons based on what I heard, and I’ve since completed a UX research course with three usability studies of my own.

Moving to the area: I’m applying for the Payroll Specialist role in your Leeds office. I’m relocating to Leeds in January and bring five years of running monthly payroll for about 600 staff.

3. The middle: one or two stories that match the ad

Go back to the job ad. Pick the two or three requirements that seem to matter most, often the ones listed first or repeated. Then choose one or two achievements from your experience that prove you can do exactly that.

Tell each one briefly:

• The situation: what problem or goal there was.
• What you did: your part, not the team’s.
• The result: what changed. Use a number if it is honest and you can stand behind it in an interview.

Leave the resume’s bullet points on the resume. The letter is where you add what they cannot hold: why a project was hard, how you made a decision, what you learned. A useful link between the two is to quote the ad: “Your ad asks for someone who can…” followed by the story that proves you can.

4. Why this company

One short paragraph showing you know who you are writing to. Mention something specific: a product you use, a market they are entering, a value they state publicly that matches how you work. “I admire your innovative culture” could be sent to any company. “I’ve used your app to manage my own prescriptions, and the reminders flow is the reason I still do” could only be sent to one.

If you cannot find anything specific, say what draws you to the work itself (the customers, the product type, the size of the team) rather than praising the company in general terms.

5. The close

Thank them, say you would welcome a conversation, and sign off.

Thank you for your time. I’d be glad to talk about how I could help your team ship the new booking experience.

Kind regards,
Maya Lindqvist

Add your phone and email under your name if they are not already in the header.

A cover letter template you can adapt

Paragraph	What goes in it	Length
Opening	The job title, where you saw it, and one strong reason you fit	2–3 sentences
Proof	One or two achievements that match the ad’s main requirements, with results	4–6 sentences
Company	Why this company and this team, with one specific detail	2–3 sentences
Close	Thanks, interest in a conversation, sign-off	1–2 sentences

A full example

Here is the template filled in for a fictional designer and company. It runs to about 210 words.

Maya Lindqvist · Senior Product Designer
Stockholm · maya.lindqvist@example.com · +46 70 000 00 00

18 October 2026

Dear Priya Shah,

I’m applying for the Senior Product Designer role on Carewell’s patient app team. For the past four years I’ve designed booking and scheduling flows in health tech, most recently cutting the steps to book an appointment from nine to four.

Your ad asks for someone who can research with patients and clinicians and turn what they learn into designs engineers can build. At Medlink I interviewed 30 patients and 12 receptionists about why online bookings failed. Most of the problems traced back to one screen that asked for insurance details before showing any free times. I moved that step to the end, tested two versions with our engineers, and online bookings rose 22% in the quarter after launch.

You also mention accessibility. Last year I led our audit against WCAG 2.2 AA and wrote the component guidelines our six designers now work from, which let us fix most of the issues without a redesign.

I’ve used Carewell to manage my own prescriptions, and the reminders flow is the reason I still do. I’d like to help make booking as easy as that.

Thank you for your time. I’d be glad to talk about how I could help your team ship the new booking experience.

Kind regards,
Maya Lindqvist

More letters by job are in our cover letter examples.

Tone

• Write like you speak in a good interview. Short sentences, active verbs, no jargon you would not say out loud.
• Use “I” freely. It is a letter about you. Starting every sentence with it is the only thing to avoid.
• Skip the clichés. “Team player”, “passionate”, “fast learner” and “think outside the box” are so common that they no longer tell a reader anything. Show the quality with an example instead.
• Be honest about gaps or changes. One calm sentence is enough: “After two years caring for a family member, I’m returning to product work and have spent the last six months refreshing my research skills.” Our guide to employment gaps on a resume has more wording for the resume itself.

Tailoring without starting from scratch

You do not need a brand-new letter for every application. Keep a base version, then change three things each time:

1. The opening: the exact job title and the reason that fits this ad.
2. The proof stories: swap in the achievements that match this ad’s priorities.
3. The company paragraph: this one is always specific to the company.

Use the same keywords the job ad uses where they honestly describe your work. It helps both the human reader and any software that scans the application. Our ATS resume guide explains how that software reads documents, and how to tailor your resume to a job description shows the same process for the resume.

Format and file

• Same look as your resume. Use the same fonts, colours and header so the two documents feel like a set.
• PDF, text-based. A PDF keeps your layout; a text-based one (not a scan) stays readable by software.
• File name: FirstName-LastName-Cover-Letter.pdf.
• Pasting into a form? Remove the header and the date, keep the greeting and paragraphs, and check the line breaks after pasting.
• Applying by email? Either paste the letter into the email body and attach your resume, or write two lines in the email and attach both files. Put the job title, any reference number from the ad and your name in the subject line: “Application: Senior Product Designer (ref. 2041), Maya Lindqvist”.

Common mistakes

• Generic openings that could be sent to any company. If your first sentence still works after you swap the company name, rewrite it.
• Retelling the whole resume instead of picking the one or two stories that match the ad.
• Talking only about what you want (growth, learning, a great culture) and not what you will bring. Keep at most one sentence about what you hope to gain.
• The wrong company name, an easy slip when you reuse a letter. Search the final file for the previous company’s name before you send it.
• Typos. Read it out loud or use a spell checker; a letter is often judged as a writing sample.
• Too long. If it does not fit on one page with comfortable margins, cut.

Quick checklist before you send

• The job title and company name are correct
• The first two sentences say why you fit this role
• One or two achievements match the ad's main requirements
• One specific reason you want to work at this company
• 250–400 words, one page
• Same header and style as your resume
• Text-based PDF with a clear file name

Start with the resume

A cover letter works best next to a resume that already makes your case. If yours needs work, you can build one in AlderCV for free: pick one of the templates, fill in your details and download a watermark-free PDF. Then start a cover letter from that resume: AlderCV copies your details and design, so both documents look like they belong together, and the free plan includes one letter.