cover letter made easy

In an increasingly digitized world, where customer-centric strategies are vital for business success, I am thrilled to apply for the [Job Title] position at HubSpot."

Unhelpful Cover Letter Introduction:

"To Whom it May Concern,

I am applying for the [Job Title] position at HubSpot. I have some experience in marketing and can help your clients grow their businesses."

Relevant Professional Experience

It can be tempting to use the same cover letter for every job. After all, it‘s about your experience, isn’t it? But it's not enough to rephrase the work history in your resume.

Recruiters and hiring managers are looking to fill a specific role, so you need to show how your experience translates to their unique needs.

So, the body of a great cover letter should showcase the specific professional experiences that are relevant to the job you're applying for. Emphasize your accomplishments and skills that directly relate to what the job needs.

To speed up this part of the cover letter writing process, start by creating a list of your transferable skills . Drafting this list can help you quickly focus on the skills to highlight in your cover letter.

Then, use AI tools to summarize job descriptions and narrow in on where your experience and the needs of the role you're applying for overlap. This post is full of useful AI assistant tools if you're new to AI.

Helpful Cover Letter Experience:

“At [Company Name], I had the opportunity to assist a global ecommerce retailer in enhancing their online customer experience. By conducting in-depth market research and customer journey mapping, I identified pain points and areas of improvement in their website navigation and user interface.”

Unhelpful Cover Letter Experience:

“I also worked with an ecommerce retailer to improve the customer experience. We did some surveys and training, and they were happy with the results.”

Useful Examples

To make your cover letter stand out, add specific examples that show how you've solved problems or gotten results in past roles.

Quantify your accomplishments whenever possible, using data to give the reader a clear understanding of your impact.

Helpful Cover Letter Example:

“I lead a team of five content writers while increasing website traffic by 18% year-over-year.”

Unhelpful Cover Letter Example:

“I have a great track record of leadership and achieving fantastic results.”

Research and Company Knowledge

Hiring teams aren‘t hiring anyone with the skills to do the job. They’re hiring a person they'll work alongside at their specific company.

So, to show that you‘re not just looking for any job anywhere, share your knowledge of the company’s industry, values, and culture in your cover letter.

Spend some time on the company website and take notes on what makes this business interesting to you and why you would want to work there.

Then, explain how your skills align with the company's mission and goals and explain how you could add to their chances of success. This will showcase your interest in the company and help them see if you are a good cultural fit.

Helpful Cover Letter Research:

“I was particularly drawn to HubSpot not only for its industry-leading solutions but also for its exceptional company culture. HubSpot's commitment to employee development and fostering a collaborative environment is evident in its recognition as a top workplace consistently. I strongly believe that my passion for continuous learning, self-motivation, and dedication to contributing to a team will make me a valuable asset to HubSpot.”

Unhelpful Cover Letter Research:

“I have been inspired by HubSpot's commitment to inbound marketing and its comprehensive suite of solutions. HubSpot's dedication to providing valuable content and fostering meaningful relationships aligns with my own values and aspirations.”

Clear Writing

Your cover letter needs to pack in a lot of important information. But it's also important that your cover letter is clear and concise.

To accomplish this, use professional but easy-to-understand language. Be sure to remove any grammar or spelling errors and avoid lengthy paragraphs and avoid jargon or overly technical language.

You may also want to use bullet points to make your letter easier to skim. Then, proofread your cover letter for clarity or ask a friend to proofread it for you.

• Guide to Becoming a Better Writer
• Tips for Simplifying Your Writing

Helpful Cover Letter Writing:

"In addition to my academic accomplishments, I gained valuable practical experience through internships at respected law firms.

Working alongside experienced attorneys, I assisted in providing legal support to clients. This hands-on experience helped me develop a deep understanding of client needs and enhanced my ability to effectively communicate complex legal concepts in a straightforward manner."

Unhelpful Cover Letter Writing:

"Furthermore, as a complement to my academic accomplishments, I have garnered invaluable practical experience through internships at esteemed law firms.

Throughout these placements, I actively collaborated with seasoned attorneys to conduct due diligence and furnish clients with comprehensive legal support. Notably, these experiences fostered a profound comprehension of client necessities, whilst honing my legal acumen to articulately convey intricate legal principles within a lucid and concise framework, adhering to applicable precedents and statutes of limitations."

Genuine Interest and Enthusiasm

Find ways to convey your passion for the role and how excited you are to contribute to the company you're applying to. At the same time, make sure your interest feels authentic and outline how it aligns with your career goals.

Your ultimate goal is an enthusiastic letter that feels honest and leaves a lasting positive impression.

Showing excitement in writing doesn't come naturally for everyone. A few tips that can help you boost the genuine enthusiasm in your letter:

• Record audio of yourself speaking about the role, then use voice-to-text technology to transcribe and add these sections to your letter.
• Choose your words carefully .
• Write in active voice.

Helpful Cover Letter Tone:

“I am genuinely enthusiastic about the prospect of joining [Company/Organization Name] as an accountant. My combination of technical proficiency, eagerness to learn, and strong attention to detail make me an ideal candidate for this role. I am confident that my dedication, reliability, and passion for accounting will contribute to the continued success of your organization.”

Unhelpful Cover Letter Tone:

“Honestly, I can hardly contain my excitement when it comes to reconciliations, financial statement analysis, and tax regulations! Engaging in spirited discussions with professors and classmates has allowed me to foster an unbreakable bond with the fascinating world of accounting, and I'm positively bursting with enthusiasm at the prospect of applying my skills in a professional setting.”

Memorable Conclusion

End your cover letter on a strong note. Summarize your top qualifications, restate your interest in the position, and express your interest in future communication.

Then, thank your reader for their time and consideration and include your contact information for easy follow-up.

To make your conclusion memorable, think about what parts of your letter you‘d most like the hiring manager to keep top of mind. Then, consider your word choice and phrasing. If you’re feeling stuck, this list of ways to close an email can help.

Helpful Cover Letter Conclusion:

"Thank you for considering my application. I am excited about the opportunity to further discuss how my qualifications align with the needs of Greenpeace. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience to arrange an interview.

Together, let's make a lasting impact on our planet.

[Your Name]"

Unhelpful Cover Letter Conclusion:

"Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing my qualifications further and how I can contribute to Greenpeace's mission. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience to arrange an interview.

I’d like to add another stage to the job search: experimentation.

In today’s competitive landscape, it’s so easy to feel defeated, less-than-good-enough, or like giving up your job search.

But don’t let the process become so monotonous. Have fun discovering the qualitative data I’ve discussed here — then, have even more by getting creative with your cover letter composition.

I certainly can’t guarantee that every prospective employer will respond positively — or at all — to even the most unique, compelling cover letter. But the one that’s right for you will.

So, get inspired by these examples and templates. Write an incredible cover letter that shows the hiring team at your dream job exactly who you are.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure to learn more about how we use AI.

Don't forget to share this post!

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How to Write a Cover Letter in 5 Easy Steps

Write a Winning Cover Letter and Stand Out From the Crowd

5 Easy Steps for a Successful Cover Letter

• Analyze the Job Listing
• Look for a Specific Employee Name
• Create a Table or Paragraphs
• Format Your Cover Letter
• Finish With a Follow Up
• How to Send or Upload the Letter

Izabela Habur / E+ / Getty Images

Do you need to write a cover letter for a job? By following these five easy cover letter steps, you can ensure that your cover letter will be drafted, written, and sent off without much stress—and with a good chance of success.

Once you've got a system in place for writing your cover letters, it will make the process of applying for jobs much simpler.

This guide gives you five steps to writing a winning cover letter.

1. Analyze the Job Listing

Give the job listing a careful read to identify the areas where your own experience best matches up with the employer's needs.

Be discriminatory about which of the company's requirements you choose to highlight, as you are going to use these selections to make a table in your cover letter.

The points you choose to highlight should be the ones that are most significant to the position, but also the ones that provide specific examples and compelling anecdotes about your experience.

 Remember, your  cover letter should only be one page long . So, aim to match half of the company's requirements, but keep it under five or six total in the cover letter. Make sure that you know  how to match your qualifications to a job listing .

What to Keep in Mind: 

• When you copy and paste from the job listing into your word processor, proofread for typos that might be in the listing. The person who gives your application a first read probably won't know (or care) that the mistake wasn't your fault.

2. Look for a Specific Employee Name

If it's not provided in the job announcement, check through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram to find the name of a relevant employee to whom you can address your cover letter.

For example, you can use Twitter's advanced search to find names, and if the company has a profile on LinkedIn, you can view its employees from there.

Don't just choose a random individual. Instead, seek out someone in Human Resources - preferably a director or manager - or a higher-up within the department you're applying to. This is a key way to kickstart your application and make sure it gets to where it needs to go.

Don't stress if you can't find a contact person. Some employers don't make the information public. Instead, use a different option for addressing your letter .

What to Keep in Mind:

• If you're going on a major stalking spree on LinkedIn, adjust your privacy settings so that other people can't see that you've viewed their profile. While  connecting with a company on LinkedIn  can be a good way to increase your visibility, you probably won't want them to see that you've clicked through their entire staff on LinkedIn.
• If you know someone at the company  who can refer you for the job , mention them in the first paragraph of your cover letter.
• If you can't find a person's name, know  how to address your cover letter  appropriately without a name.

3. Create a Table or Paragraphs Highlighting Your Qualifications

Next, make a two-column table with the company's requirements on the left side, and your matching attributes on the right side. Then, take the number of requirements you're choosing and add one for the header. So, for this example, which has focused on five points, the table is two columns by six rows. 

• If you get stuck for ideas of your experience that fit with the job to enter on the right side of the table, find a copy of the job description for your current or past position, which will give you a guideline on how to phrase your past responsibilities and your professional and personal attributes. 
• If you're having difficulty creating a table, you can include your qualifications  in paragraph form .

4. Format Your Cover Letter

Now that you've made your table, copy and paste it into the body of your cover letter. This is often called a "T"-shaped cover letter format. The table should go between your introductory paragraphs, and before your close.

It's a nice look to format the table with invisible borders, although it's not absolutely necessary. To achieve this in Microsoft Word, right-click on the table, select  Borders and Shading , and then click  None  on the left-hand side of the small window that pops up.

If you'd prefer not to include a table, simply write how you  match the employer's job requirements  in paragraph form.

Review examples  to see what this finished cover letter format looks like.

Unless the company requests a different file format , save your cover letter as a PDF file so that the document retains the proper formatting when it is opened and viewed. 

5. Finish With a Follow Up

Finish strong and close the cover letter with the promise of a "next step." That way, even if your application gets lost at the bottom of a pile, when you reach out to the potential employer they'll be reminded to retrieve your cover letter and resume to take another look.

Finally, be sure to carefully proofread your cover letter so it's error-free.

• Reach out when you say you will so that you demonstrate your punctuality and ability to follow through on promises.
• If you have submitted many different applications and have trouble keeping track of dates, stay organized with an Excel sheet, set reminders with your phone, or use one of these  other ways to organize your job search .

How to Send or Upload Your Cover Letter

How you get your cover letter and resume to the employer depends on the organization's requirements. You may be asked to upload your application documents to the company website or to a job board. Or, you may be asked to email your resume and cover letter, or even to mail it.

What's most important is to follow the employer's instructions. Otherwise, your application may not be considered.

Key Takeaways

Try to find a contact person.  A letter addressed to a contact at the company will have the best chance of being read.

Target your letter.  Take the time to match your qualifications carefully to the requirements listed in the job posting.

Follow up.  If you don't hear back from an employer within a week or so,  follow up to check on the status  of your application.

Land the job with cover letter templates

Show hiring managers why you're the perfect job candidate with professional, customizable cover letter templates. find the perfect cover letter template for any industry or career path..

Download free cover letter templates

Stand out from other job applicants with free, professional cover letter templates. Cover letters are a perfect complement to your resume and provide an effective opportunity to show your personality and enthusiasm for a position. Focus on writing a compelling cover letter and let a professionally designed template do the rest.

These free cover letter templates are perfect for any stage of your career, whether you're looking to land an internship or your dream job. If you're applying for a corporate position, you may want to opt for a simple cover letter template. There are a variety of other cover letter designs available, from basic cover letter templates to creative cover letter templates.

Each of these cover letter templates is customizable in Word , so you can add your own text, change design elements, and more. Print out your cover letter or download it for free to use for online job applications. Once you've customized the perfect cover letter, explore resume templates that will match your cover letter design, or download free business cards for your next networking event.

Get a FREE Executive Resume Template to help you improve your resume.

Cover Letters Made Simple

A repeatable system for writing a stand-out cover letter in 15 minutes!

For many job seekers, the cover letter is the most tedious and daunting part of finding a new job you love..

It takes you forever to write a good cover letter for each position

You’re not sure how to customize your cover letter for different positions

You’re stuck on how to address the employment gaps in your resume

You don’t know how to shape your cover letter when you’re making a career or industry pivot

All the cover letters you’ve sent so far haven’t gotten a good (if any) response

And Googling “how to write a cover letter” doesn’t provide any real help.

Cover letter articles and templates can be helpful if you’re truly new to the job search and you’ve never seen a cover letter before. 

But many job seekers need more nuance and detailed advice than a rigid fill-in-the-blank template can give. 

Plus, these options don’t address a huge problem: you don’t have time to spend an hour or more on each cover letter, writing it from scratch! 

That’s why Cover Letters Made Simple is all about empowering you with a SYSTEM for writing a cover letter unique to each position — in just 15 minutes.

Cover Letters Made Simple Course

Your repeatable system for writing a stand-out cover letter in 15 minutes.

When you enroll in Cover Letters Made Simple, you get instant access to …

Specific how-to’s, not recommendations or tips — no fluff!

Detailed walkthroughs of every paragraph, not just a template on your own to fill out

Nuanced instruction about how to talk about career pivots, industry changes, and employment gaps in your cover letter

Enroll for $89!

Get instant access to the course content

The Cover Letters Made Simple System:

Module 1: how to work through this course.

Discover how to make the most of this course and apply it to your unique job search and career situation.

Module 2: The Importance of Cover Letters

See cover letters through the eyes of hiring managers and understand how to tailor your cover letter to stand out.

Module 3: The 3 Parts of a Cover Letter

Learn how to write each paragraph — for different career situations, including employment gaps and pivots.

Module 4: Tips, Templates, & Bonuses

Make sure your cover letter gets into the right hands, explore real-life cover letters, get templates, and more.

Fill-in-the-blank cover letter templates (Microsoft Word download)

Never start from scratch; find the template that matches your career situation

10+ samples of professionally written cover letters (.PDF download)

Get inspired by real-life examples that match your industry or career situation

Action verb list of 178 action verbs to improve your resume and cover letter

Power-up your cover letter to be more engaging and more likely to be read

Learn directly from the person LinkedIn News calls “The go-to resource for people looking to land their next job."

Hello, I’m Jessica Hernandez, a career expert regularly consulted in articles for Forbes, Money, CNN, and Fast Company.

Though I’ve been in the job search industry for decades, I recently saw firsthand how daunting it can be to write a cover letter.

When my husband wanted to transition from entrepreneurship to the nonprofit space in 2022, he was spending over two hours on every cover letter he wrote.

Trying to make it perfect. Struggling to adapt it to each position. Unsure how to talk about the pivot he wanted to make.

So, I worked with him to create a simple system to tailor each cover letter for the position he was applying for.

Soon, he was able to write a cover letter in under 15 minutes! Within three days of sending his cover letter to his dream company, he was contacted for an interview.

And within seven days, they made him an offer.

This system is what I now teach you in Cover Letters Made Simple!

Will Cover Letters Made Simple help me?

Cover letters made simple is best for job seekers who ….

Are entry to professional level

Would love more detailed how-to’s than what a template or blog post can provide

Feel that cover letters are overwhelming

Aren’t getting responses from the cover letters you’re currently sending

Need a simple, repeatable system for writing tailored cover letters for different positions!

Cover Letters Made Simple addresses these common career situations:

• Career pivots
• Industry change
• Employment gap (due to raising a family, medical time off, or time off as a caregiver)
• Currently unemployed due to lay-offs or resigning
• Longterm unemployment
• Simply looking for a better job

Great question! If you’re here, I’m guessing it’s because you are still struggling with cover letter writing.

Maybe it’s the way you learn (reading and copying templates isn’t helping), and you will benefit from an audio and video format, with a real teacher.

Or it could be that your confidence is a little low, and having more detailed, step-by-step instruction can help you feel more empowered to write cover letters — faster, without second-guessing yourself.

I created this course specifically for the people who are still struggling despite trying free resources. The video walkthroughs in this course make it a much different experience from following a template!

The course is 100% self-paced, so you can fit it into YOUR schedule.

Not long at all! There are four modules total and it will take you less than an hour to complete the course. The bonus templates, samples and reference documents are there to help make the writing process quick and painless.

The short amount of time you’ll spend on the course will save you HOURS on writing cover letters.

(And likely save you even more hours on your overall job search because your amazing cover letter will get you interviews for great positions faster!)

FOREVER! Let’s say that in two years from now, you’re looking to change jobs again to advance your career further. You can return to this course (with all the updates included!) to guide you through that transition—at no added cost!

When you enroll, you get instant access to all the course content. The course is self-paced so you can start it, work on it, and finish it on your schedule.

Most likely! I’ve included examples and how-to’s for most career situations, even the tricky ones:

I offer a 30-day money back guarantee. My hope is that you will love this course and it will help you in your job search. If you are unhappy with the course for any reason, let me know within the first 30 days by emailing jessica@greatresumesfast.com and I will refund your payment.

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