A cover letter is read by one person, after the resume has passed the screen, for about a minute. Nobody else reads it, and no parser indexes it. So it is short, it is about them, and it says one thing the resume cannot: why this role, from you, now. Four paragraphs, under 250 words. When the posting asks for one, write it. When it does not, a short one does no harm and sometimes gets read. A long one never does.
Key points
- Four paragraphs: why this role, the one thing that proves you can do it, what you would do first, the close.
- Under 250 words. The reader has a minute.
- It is about the role and the team, not about you. The resume is about you.
- Open with a fact about the work, not with "I am writing to apply".
- Every tailored resume on this site comes with its letter. The three checks still apply.
When a letter is needed
| The posting says | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Cover letter required" | Write it. A missing one is a knockout. |
| "Cover letter optional" | Write a short one. It is read by the people who read letters. |
| Nothing | Write a short one if the role is one you want. Skip it for a long shot. |
| "No cover letter" | Do not. They mean it. |
| A question in the form instead | Answer the question in the box. That is the letter now. |
A letter is for the one reader who got past the resume. Write it for that one person.
The four paragraphs
One: why this role
One or two sentences. The role, the team, and the thing about the work that is the reason. Not the company's mission statement. A fact about what they are building, from the posting or from their product.
You are hiring a product designer to own the dispatch console, and the console is the kind of tool I have spent seven years on: the screen someone uses all day and curses when it is slow.
Two: the one thing
The one piece of work on your resume that is most like their problem, told as a short story with a number. This is the paragraph that gets the interview.
At Northwind I led the redesign of a console that forty drivers used to assign routes. We cut the median time from four minutes to forty seconds by removing three screens and one approval step, and the discovery work with thirty warehouse staff killed a feature before it reached engineering.
Three: what you would do first
Two sentences on how you would start. It shows you read the posting and thought about the job, which almost nobody does.
I would start with the dispatchers, not the console: a week on the floor, then a list of the ten things they do most, before any screen is touched.
Four: the close
One sentence. What you want, and that you are easy to reach.
I would like to talk about the role, and I am free any afternoon this week.
That is four paragraphs and about 170 words.
Openings that work, and one that does not
- A fact about their work: "You are hiring for the console, and the console is..."
- A fact about your work that matches: "I have spent seven years on operational tools, and..."
- A fact about the problem: "Dispatch tools are slow because they were built for the dispatcher's manager, not the dispatcher."
"I am writing to apply for the position of" does not work. The reader knows. It is the one sentence every letter has, and it costs the first line.
The address and the sign-off
Address it to the hiring manager by name when the posting or the company page gives one. "Dear hiring team" when it does not. Never the old "whom it concerns" line, which tells the reader you did not look.
Sign off with your name. "Best regards" or "Kind regards" above it. Your email and phone are on the resume and on the form, so they do not need to be in the letter, but they do no harm in a line at the end.
What to leave out
Your life story. Your education, unless the role is a first job. Repetition of the resume: the letter picks one thing from it and tells that one. Apologies for what you lack. Praise for the company that any applicant could have written. Anything over 250 words.
Tailor, on this site
Tailor writes a letter with every tailored resume, against the posting, in this shape: the role, the one thing, the first step, the close. It is held to the same rule as the resume: nothing in it that is not in your resume. Read it before it goes, change the one thing if a different piece of work fits better, and check that paragraph three is something you would do.
Questions
Does the parser read it?
No hiring system we have read indexes the letter for search. It is attached to the record and read by a person, if at all. Write it for the person.
How formal?
As formal as the posting. A letter to a bank is more formal than one to a startup, and both are short.
Do I mention salary?
No. The form asks if they want to know, and the screening call is where the number is discussed. The guide on salary expectations has the words.
Do I send one for every application?
For every role you want. For the long shots, the resume alone. The letter takes ten minutes with Tailor and twenty by hand, and that time belongs to the roles that matter.
What if I am changing careers?
Paragraph one says the move and the reason. Paragraph two is the thing you have already done in the new field. The guide on a career change resume has the same logic for the summary.