Your CV is up to date, the job ad looks promising, and then you reach the last line: "Please send your CV and cover letter to…". For a lot of people, that's exactly where an application stalls. What can you say that isn't already in your CV? And how do you stop your letter from sounding like everyone else's?
The good news: a strong cover letter doesn't require a gift for writing. It's mostly about structure, making choices and being specific. In this article you'll learn how to structure your letter, how to open without clichés, how to tailor it to the job, how long it should be and which mistakes are easy to avoid. At the end there's a short example with notes on each paragraph.
What a cover letter does (and doesn't do)
Your CV shows what you've done. Your cover letter explains why you want this job and why you're a good fit. The reader, usually a recruiter or your future manager, wants to come away knowing three things:
- Does this candidate understand what the role involves?
- Have they demonstrably done what we need?
- Why do they want to work here in particular?
What a cover letter is not: your CV rewritten in full sentences, your life story, or a list of traits such as "flexible, team player, works well under pressure". Everyone uses those words, and they prove nothing.
The structure: four paragraphs that work
A clear letter follows a simple line. You don't have to stick to it rigidly, but this structure gives you something to hold on to:
- Opening — Which role are you applying for and what's your hook? One to three sentences that make it immediately clear what you bring.
- Why you — The core of your letter. Pick two or three requirements from the job ad and, for each one, show with a concrete example that you've done it before.
- Why them — What draws you to this organisation or team? Be specific: a product, a project, a way of working. "A leading company" says nothing.
- Close — Wrap up briefly and invite them to continue the conversation. No pleading, no false modesty.
Start with the right greeting. If you know the contact person's name, use it: "Dear Ms Patel". If the ad doesn't name anyone, check the company website or LinkedIn, or simply call and ask. If that doesn't work, "Dear Hiring Manager" is a tidy alternative. In British English, the traditional rule is to sign off with "Yours sincerely" when you've used a name and "Yours faithfully" after "Dear Sir or Madam"; "Kind regards" is increasingly common in emails.
The opening line: skip the stock phrase
Plenty of letters open with something like "I am writing to apply for the position of…". There's nothing wrong with it, but the reader has seen that sentence countless times. Your first line is your best chance to stand out, so use it. Three ways to open more strongly:
- Lead with your fit. "For six years I kept a two-shift distribution centre on schedule as its planner. I'd like to bring that experience to your team as Logistics Team Leader."
- Lead with a concrete connection. "When I read that you're restructuring customer service around a single point of contact for each client, I recognised the exact project I've been leading at my current employer over the past year."
- Lead with a genuine referral. "After speaking with Sarah Jones at your open day, I'm certain I want to apply for the Junior Data Analyst role." Only use this if that conversation really took place.
All three mention the role and something about you. In fact, a good opening works like a short elevator pitch on paper: in a few sentences, who you are, what you bring and why you're here.
Tailoring your letter to the job
A letter you send unchanged to ten employers is easy to spot. Tailoring doesn't have to take hours if you work systematically:
- Highlight the key requirements. Read the job ad and underline the tasks and requirements that are mentioned first or most often. That's usually what the employer cares about most.
- Choose your evidence. For two or three of those requirements, find a concrete situation from your work, studies or volunteering. Build each example the way you would with the STAR method: the situation, what you did and what came of it, condensed into two or three sentences.
- Use the job ad's language. If the ad says "stakeholder management", don't just write "working with colleagues". That way the reader sees the match straight away. The same goes for your CV, especially if it passes through a screening system first; read more in our article on an ATS-friendly CV.
- Make the 'why them' paragraph real. Read the website, recent news or the team's profiles. One specific detail says more than three generic compliments.
How long should a cover letter be?
Treat one A4 page as the upper limit; shorter is often better. Three to five compact paragraphs are plenty. Anyone who reads a lot of letters appreciates one that gets to the point. If an employer asks for a short motivation in an online form, stick to the space available and lead with your strongest argument.
If you're sending the letter as an attachment, use a PDF with a clear file name such as "Cover_Letter_Sam_White_Marketing_Coordinator.pdf". Some employers would rather have the text in the body of the email, so read the instructions in the job ad carefully.
Common mistakes
- Starting every sentence with "I". Vary your sentences and focus on what the employer needs, too.
- Repeating your CV. Your letter gives meaning to your experience; it doesn't list it all over again.
- Claims without evidence. "I am highly results-driven" doesn't convince anyone. "I cut our quote turnaround from two weeks to four days" does.
- The wrong company name. A classic with recycled letters. Always double-check the company name, job title and contact person.
- Only writing about what you want. "This role is a great next step for me" is fine, as long as you also make clear what the employer gains from you.
- Spelling and grammar slips. Read your letter aloud or ask someone to proofread it. Errors stand out, especially in roles where accuracy matters.
A short annotated example
Say you're applying for a Marketing Coordinator role at a mid-sized online garden retailer. The ad asks for email marketing experience, working with external partners and analysing campaign results. Your letter could look like this (the name, company and details are made up for illustration):
Dear Ms Baker,
For the past three years I've run the newsletters for an online homeware shop, from planning and copywriting to reporting. I'd love to bring that experience to Greenfield as your Marketing Coordinator.
Why this works: the role and the fit appear in the first two sentences, with no "I am writing to apply".
In my current role I rebuilt our email programme: I segmented our customer list by buying behaviour and now test two subject lines against each other with every send. I'm also the main point of contact for our design agency and photographer, and each month I report on which campaigns drive sales and which don't.
Why this works: all three requirements from the ad come back, each backed by a concrete example rather than an adjective.
What appeals to me about Greenfield is the practical, seasonal gardening advice you include in every newsletter. That mix of useful content and sales is exactly what I enjoy, and I already have a few ideas for tailoring those tips more closely to what customers have bought before.
Why this works: the detail shows the candidate has done their homework, and the end of the paragraph offers something rather than only asking.
I'd welcome the chance to explain in an interview how I would approach this at Greenfield.
Yours sincerely,
Sam White
Why this works: short, active and free of over-the-top formalities.
Your letter and your CV as one story
The strongest applications tell the same story in the letter and the CV. If your letter mentions three requirements from the job ad, make sure they're visible in your CV as well. With MARA's CV Tailor you adapt your CV to a specific vacancy, and MARA's STAR story generator helps you turn your experience into concrete examples you can work into your letter in a few sentences. The writing and the final check are still up to you: you know best what actually happened.
Conclusion
A good cover letter is short, specific and clearly written for this one job. Open with your fit, back up two or three requirements with real examples, show why you want to work there in particular and close with an invitation to talk. Then read it aloud one more time. What you'll have is a letter that doesn't sound like all the others, but like you.