
Is a Cover Letter Necessary in 2022? Do I Need a Cover Letter?
Asking yourself "Do I need a cover letter?" We surveyed 200 hiring decision-makers to find out if cover letters are still important in 2022.
You know well that writing a cover letter will give your job application a serious boost. But before you get down to writing anything, you must find out how much space you have.
Just like Goldilocks likes her porridge neither too cold nor too hot—
The recruiters like your cover letter to be just the right length.
The question is:
Do you know how long your cover letter should be?
In this guide you’ll learn:
Create a cover letter that matches the design of your resume—pick from 18 professional templates and get a powerful resume + cover letter combo now.
Let's see some cover letter examples:
You can find more examples and guides here: Cover Letter Examples to boost your hiring chance.
Cut to the chase—
Your cover letter should be between half a page and one page long, consist of four paragraphs, and shouldn’t exceed 200-350 words. Be concise and at the same time grab attention. If you make your cover letter too long, the recruiter won’t read it. If its word count is too low, though, your cover letter will look sloppy.
So, learn these numbers by heart:
This is how long a cover letter should be
Now, let’s now break this down into several more specific questions.
Absolutely.
Your cover letter should be one page long at maximum.
Why?
By definition a cover letter is a brief explanation of your credentials and interest in the position. And brief if the keyword here.
A single page is a digestible cover letter length for a recruiter to read, or at least skim. Anything longer than this is useless as you can be 100% sure it will never get read.
No.
Unlike a resume, your cover letter can’t be two pages long.
Why?
A recruiter will only spend about 7 seconds scanning your resume. If they find it interesting enough, they’ll give your cover letter a shot too.
But—
If instead of a cover letter they’ll come across a 2-page essay recounting your life story, they’ll give it a pass.
To cut a long story short:
The very length of your cover letter reflects your understanding of the idea behind writing one in the first place. If you write a two-page cover letter, you’ll only show you don't know how to write a great cover letter, and what its purpose really is.
Most cover letters now are sent via email, so keep your cover letter word count between 200-350 words.
This isn’t exactly hard science but it's how many words there are on average in all the four paragraphs of a well-written cover letter.
And one more thing:
If you want to write your cover letter in the body of an email, rather than send your cover letter as a PDF attachment just make sure it’s even more succinct.
Remember: hiring managers read emails in a hurry.
So—
Unless you grab their attention right away, your message will end up in trash.
Learn how to write an attention-grabbing email cover letter from our dedicated guide.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
Here’s an example of a cover letter whose length stays within the acceptable limits:
Charlize Bence
Product Manager, CPM
662-243-1483
charlizebence@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/charlizebence
twitter.com/charlizebence
10 July 2019
Richard Primm
Head of Sales
Jensen Smul International
Overland Park, Kansas(KS), 66210
2638 Better Street
Dear Richard,
Surpassing revenue goal by 130% at Accelubeam, and saving $1.5 million in costs last financial year wasn’t the peak of my career. I am positive I can achieve even higher results in the role of a Senior Product Manager at Jensen Smul International.
As a product manager with over 5 years of experience, I’ve been opportune enough to work in varied environments. I had a chance to lead 5 cross-functional teams from conception through product launch with multiple iterations, which resulted in raising 7 efficiency measures by more than 20%. I believe this is the kind of flexibility and leadership experience you’re looking for among your senior leaders. And I’d be delighted to help your product team grow.
I’m truly elated by this opportunity as I’ve been a long-time fan of your multiple ventures, especially Accel-Rator. I’d love my experience in helping fast-growing SaaS businesses use their full potential to contribute to the growth of Accel-Rator in particular.
Would it be possible for you to set aside some time next week to talk about my ideas on exploring new product functionalities, and running marketing campaigns that could help us realize up to 130% ROI?
Best Regards,
Charlize Bence
PS—I'd love to tell you how my team managed to improve UX/UI scores by up to 20% by means of increasing user feedback collection.
Here’s the thing:
In order to convey as much meaning as possible is as few words as possible, your cover letter needs to be formatted right. Here’s how to do this:
And—
Follow the four-paragraph cover letter format to make the most of the space you have:
Start with an introductory paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention.
How?
Mention one of your biggest achievements that’s relevant to the position you’re targeting.
For more details, read our dedicated guide on how to start a cover letter in a captivating way.
And—
Learn how to address your cover letter properly to stand out from the other applicants right off the bat.
The two following paragraphs should focus on convincing the recruiter you can get the job done better than the rest.
You need to show how you’re going to help the company succeed, and explain your motivations.
If you’re not sure how to do this, our guide on what to include in a cover letter has all the answers.
Your cover letter should end with a promise and a clear call to action just like you see in the example above.
You can learn the ins and outs of how to end a cover letter in a powerful way from our dedicated guide.
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Here’s everything you should know about your cover letter length:
Do you have any other questions about how long a cover letter should be? Would you like to share your advice on choosing the optimal cover letter length? We’d love to hear from you.
Asking yourself "Do I need a cover letter?" We surveyed 200 hiring decision-makers to find out if cover letters are still important in 2022.
Looking for cover letter tips and advice to really stand out? Want cover letter mistakes to avoid and other dos and don'ts? You've come to the right place.
How to write a cover letter with no experience, a first job cover letter, or an entry-level cover letter that makes the best impression.