How to write a cover letter that gets read

Step by step

1. Research the company and the roleRead the job description, the company's website, recent news and the team's work. Note two or three specific things that genuinely interest you and the main problems the role is meant to solve.
2. Address the letter to a personFind the hiring manager's name on the job post, LinkedIn or the company site. If you cannot find one, use 'Dear Hiring Manager' or 'Dear [Team name] team' rather than 'To whom it may concern'.
3. Open with the role and a strong reasonIn two or three sentences, name the position, say why you want it, and give the single most relevant reason you are a strong fit.
4. Prove your fit with one or two examplesPick the requirements that matter most and show, with a concrete example and a result, that you have done this kind of work before.
5. Explain why this companyShow you understand what the company does and connect it to your experience or motivation in a specific, sincere way.
6. Close with a clear next stepThank the reader, restate your interest briefly and say you would welcome the chance to discuss the role. Sign off with your name and contact details.
7. Edit, proofread and exportCut it to under a page, read it aloud, check the company and person's names, and save it as a PDF unless the employer asks for another format.

What a cover letter is for

Your resume lists what you have done; the cover letter explains why it matters for this particular job. It is the right place to connect experience from different roles, explain a career change or a gap, mention a referral, and show enthusiasm that a list of bullet points cannot.

Think of it as a short, focused argument: you understand what this team needs, you have done similar work, and you want to do it here. Everything in the letter should support one of those three points.

A simple cover letter structure

Most effective cover letters follow the same four-part pattern and fit comfortably on one page, typically 250 to 400 words.

• Header: your name, email, phone, city and portfolio or LinkedIn link, followed by the date and the employer's details if you are sending a formal letter.
• Opening paragraph: the role, why you want it, and your strongest qualification in one sentence.
• Body, one or two paragraphs: specific examples that prove you can meet the key requirements, with results.
• Company paragraph: why this organisation, in a way that could not be copied into another letter.
• Closing: a thank you, a confident line about next steps, and a professional sign-off such as 'Kind regards' or 'Sincerely'.

Writing an opening that earns the next paragraph

Skip 'I am writing to apply for' and generic statements about being hard-working. Lead with something specific: a result that matches the role, a connection to the company, or the problem you are excited to solve.

For example: 'I'm applying for the Senior Data Analyst role because your team's work on demand forecasting is exactly the problem I have spent three years solving at a regional grocery chain, where my models cut overstock by 14 percent.' It names the role, shows research and gives evidence in one sentence. If someone referred you, mention their name in the first line.

Showing fit with evidence, not adjectives

Pick the two or three requirements from the job description that matter most, and give an example for each. A useful pattern is situation, action and result: what the situation was, what you did, and what changed as a result. Use numbers where you honestly can.

Avoid repeating your resume line by line. Instead, add context the resume cannot hold: why a project was difficult, how you worked with others, or what you learned. Mirror key terms from the job description naturally, because some employers parse cover letters into their applicant tracking system alongside the resume.

Tone, length and formatting

Write the way you would speak in a good interview: confident, specific and polite. Match the company's tone to a degree, so a start-up may suit a warmer style while a law firm or bank expects a more formal one. Keep paragraphs to three to five sentences and the full letter under one page.

Use the same font and header as your resume so the documents look like a set. Save as PDF unless asked otherwise, and name the file clearly, for example 'Firstname-Lastname-Cover-Letter.pdf'. If the application has a text box instead of an upload, paste plain text and remove the formal address block.

In Portfolio OS, cover letter templates reuse the same profile, experience and projects as your resume, so names, titles and dates stay consistent, and you can export to PDF or Word.

Mistakes that make a cover letter forgettable

Recruiters read many letters for each role, and the same issues appear again and again. Avoiding them puts you ahead of a large share of applicants.

• Sending the same letter to every company with only the name changed
• Getting the company name, role or hiring manager's name wrong
• Focusing on what the job will do for you rather than what you will do for the team
• Summarising your whole career instead of picking the most relevant examples
• Apologising for missing requirements or drawing attention to weaknesses
• Running over one page or using dense blocks of text

Frequently asked questions