What a cover letter is for
A cover letter does the one thing a resume cannot: it connects the dots. A resume lists what you have done; a letter argues why that makes you right for this specific role at this specific company, and it lets you address anything a bullet list cannot — a career pivot, a gap, an unusually strong reason for wanting the job.
It should complement the resume, never repeat it. If your letter just restates your bullets in paragraph form, it adds nothing and wastes the reader’s time. Its job is context, motivation, and fit.
The four-paragraph structure
Keep the whole thing to under one page — three to four short paragraphs, ideally 250–350 words. Recruiters skim letters even faster than resumes, so structure and brevity win.
- Opening: state the role and open with a specific hook — a relevant achievement or a genuine reason you want this job. Skip "I am writing to apply for..."
- Body 1: prove you can do the job. Pick one or two achievements that map directly to the top requirements and tell the story a resume bullet cannot.
- Body 2: prove you fit this company. Show you understand what they do and why you specifically want to work there, not just any employer.
- Closing: reaffirm your interest, mention that your resume has the detail, and end with a confident, forward-looking line.
Address it to a person whenever you can find the name — a hiring manager or team lead on LinkedIn. "Dear Hiring Manager" is an acceptable fallback; "To Whom It May Concern" reads as dated and lazy.
Nail the opening line
The first sentence decides whether the rest gets read. Generic openers — "I am writing to express my interest in the Marketing Manager position" — waste it. Lead with something specific: a relevant win, a concrete reason this company drew you, or a sharp statement of the value you bring.
Stronger: "When I saw that your team is rebuilding the onboarding flow, I knew I had to reach out — I cut activation time in half doing exactly that at my last company." It names their situation, shows you did your research, and previews a relevant result in one sentence.
Show you researched the company
The fastest way to signal genuine interest is specificity. Reference a product, a recent announcement, a value, or a challenge the company is facing, and tie it to what you would contribute. This is the paragraph that separates a real applicant from someone who mass-mailed the same letter to a hundred openings.
It does not require deep insider knowledge — ten minutes on their site, blog, or recent news is enough to write one genuinely specific sentence. That one sentence does more than a page of enthusiasm about yourself.
When a cover letter is optional
Many postings mark the cover letter optional. When it is, a strong, tailored letter can still tip a close decision in your favor and is worth writing for jobs you genuinely want. A weak, generic one can only hurt you — so if you cannot make it specific, it is better to skip it than to submit filler.
Some situations make a letter especially worth it: career changes, employment gaps, relocations, or roles where motivation and culture fit clearly matter. In those cases the letter is doing work your resume structurally cannot.