What Is a Cover Letter & How to Make It Stand Out [10+ Tips]

Writing a cover letter can seriously boost your chances of landing a job.

The question is—

What is a cover letter in the first place?

Don’t worry.

After reading this guide you’ll know exactly what a cover letter is, and you’ll never confuse it with a resume or CV.

In this guide you’ll learn:

• What the purpose of a cover letter is and what to put on it.
• The difference between a cover letter and a resume/CV.
• How to write and format a job-winning cover letter.
• Why writing a cover letter for a job is a good idea. 

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1. What Is a Cover Letter for a Resume?

A cover letter (also known as a motivational letter, letter of motivation, or covering letter) is, as the name suggests, a letter that accompanies a resume or CV and forms part of a job application. A cover letter’s role is to explain your motivation for applying for the position and demonstrate the skills that make you suitable for the job.

And let’s be super clear about one thing—

A cover letter is not the same as a resume or CV.

The term resume is commonly used in the US and Canada to refer to a document briefly outlining your qualifications, previous experience, education, and skills. Typically, resumes are one or two pages long. You can find more details in our guide on how to write a resume.

A CV, or curriculum vitae, is very much like a resume but offers a more detailed look into the candidate’s career history. In the US and Canada, CVs are mostly used when applying for positions with academic institutions. CVs can be one or two pages long, but it’s not uncommon for a CV to be 10+ pages long, and contain detailed information on the candidate's publications or academic honors among others. For more details, read our guide on how to write a CV.

2. What Is on a Cover Letter?

A cover letter should be clean and simple, like this one:

Sample Cover Letter

3. How to Write a Cover Letter

They say that writing a cover letter can be gruelling.

Well, it can.

But not if you know exactly what to do, and how to do it right.

Here’s a handy checklist you can fall back on when writing your cover letter:

• Make a professional letterhead. See to it that it includes your full name, job title, and current contact information, as well as the addressee’s contact details.
• Use appropriate salutation. Start with Dear, and follow it with either the hiring manager’s first name or Mr./Ms. and their last name, depending on company culture. If you have no idea who you’re writing to, you can use Dear Hiring Manager for example.
• Divide the main body into three sections: start your cover letter with showing your biggest achievement, then explain how your skills will benefit the company, finally explain your motivations.
• Include a call to action towards the end of your cover letter and sign off with a professional closing.

If you need more detailed advice, head straight to our full-length guide on how to write a job-winning cover letter. Apart from lots of great writing hints, you’ll find good and bad examples of each cover letter section.

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4. How to Format a Cover Letter

The best cover letter format is one that’s universal enough to be easily tailored to just about any position. Here are the basic rules of formatting a job-winning cover letter:

• Add your contact details
• Put the addressee’s contact information
• Date the letter
• Use an appropriate salutation
• Write an attention-grabbing opening paragraph
• Make a paragraph explaining why you’re a great fit
• Finish with a closing paragraph that calls the reader to action
• Include a professional sign off
• Consider adding the postscript (an optional section)

And here come our tried and tested formatting guidelines:

• Set a one-inch margin on each side
• Left-align the text
• Opt for professional-looking cover letter fonts
• Stick to single-line spacing (1.15 will do too)
• Separate each section and paragraph with a blank line
• Export your cover letter to a PDF.

Our in-depth guide on how to format a cover letter offers actionable advice on getting to grips with every section of your cover letter. Plus, it has a lot of examples you can use and modify for your purposes.

5. Do I need a Cover Letter?

Cut a long story short—

Yes, you do need a cover letter.

Why?

First off, 50% of hiring managers expect your job application to consist of both a resume and a cover letter. Since you never know what the hiring manager reading your job application expects, it’s better to overdeliver than disappoint.

Plus, a well-written cover letter will give you an edge over those applicants who are either too lazy to write one or have no idea what it takes to write a great cover letter.

In fact, we have an entire guide in which we examine whether on not cover letters are necessary, and see how the cover letter evolved over the years.

6. How Long Should a Cover Letter Be?

Here’s how it works:

Your cover letter should be long enough to show everything you can offer, and short enough not to lose the reader halfway through.

This is how it translates into numbers.

Your cover letter should be: 

• 1 page
• 3 paragraphs
• about 300 words

Obviously, there are many different kinds of cover letters. So, if you’re looking for more detailed information, our guide on how long a cover letter should be has all the answers.

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Key Points

Here’s all you need to know about a cover letter:

• A cover letter is a type of letter you include in your job application.
• Its main role is to let the reader know what motivated you to apply, and what you can offer.
• A cover letter is not synonymous with a resume or CV.
• Typically, a cover letter’s main body consists of three paragraphs, each for a different purpose.
• Even though cover letters aren’t always necessary, they can give a serious boost to your application.
• Cover letters shouldn’t be too long. Most of the time, a single page is enough.

Do you have any questions on what a cover letter is? Would you like to share your advice on what a cover letter should consist of? We’d love to hear from you. Give us a shout out in the comments below.