- Our customers have been hired by: *
A cover letter is an informative professional document that you enclose along with your CV when filling out a job application. Applicants use cover letters to express their interests and highlight their qualifications specific to the applied position. This is your opportunity to stand out and shine by explaining why you are the ideal candidate for the role.
Usually attaching a cover letter is not compulsory, but it is always welcome.
A standard cover letter starts with contact details. You should include your details first (name, address, telephone number and email address) followed by the details of the company to which you are applying. Next, the cover letter contains:
- a polite greeting,
- an introduction, in which you briefly describe your background and the purpose of the letter,
- the main body of the letter, which describes why you are applying for this particular position and what makes you suitable for it,
- a conclusion, which summarises the benefits of employing you and expresses your interest and readiness to take up the job.
If you meet the requirements for the position, a well-written cover letter is your ticket to a job interview. Use our professional, recruiter-approved cover letter tips and learn how to create a great covering letter.
What is the purpose of a cover letter?
For the applicant:
The essential purpose of a cover letter is to help you (and your CV) stand out. It allows you to tailor your application to a specific role or company, highlighting how your skills and experience are relevant to the job at hand. It also helps to express the passion and enthusiasm while you’re applying.
For the recruiters:
Cover letter is a short, concise summary. As such, it allows recruiters to save time and get to know the candidate's profile better within just a few minutes. In addition, a cover letter often provides answers to many important questions that recruiters need to know before inviting you for an interview
What is a cover letter for a job? Top examples
Customer Service
Administrative Assistant
Receptionist
Retail Assistant
Internship
Teacher
What does a cover letter look like? Top templates
Accountant
Data Analyst
Support Worker
Top tips for your cover letter
From who to address to design ideas, our cover letter tips will make it easier to write a cover letter for your CV that gets recruiters interested.
Use an appropriate cover letter design
First things first, it’s important to choose an appropriate design for your cover letter, including both the layout and font. Your cover letter layout should be similar to a formal letter but with your name and contact details listed clearly at the top. Much like a UK CV, keep design features to a minimum, perhaps using a larger font or a pop of colour at the top to emphasise your name. Finally, stick to a simple font like Arial or Calibri to underline your professionalism and keep everything easy to read.
Address the recruiter or hiring manager
Starting a cover letter can seem daunting. If you’re wondering who to address a cover letter to, it’s simply the person who’s in charge of the recruitment process. Quite often, this person will be named in the job listing to make things easier. Alternatively, if you just can’t find a name on the job listing, there are a few ways to address a cover letter without a name:
- To Whom It May Concern
- Dear Sir or Madam
- To the Management Staff at [Company Name]
- To the Board of Directors at [Company Name]
Customise your cover letter
It’s important to tailor your cover letter for job applications. While your CV lists the skills, experience, and qualifications you can offer for a range of roles and employers, your cover letter’s job is to make that relevant and attractive to a specific role or recruiter. Pick out specific responsibilities or company values from the job description that interest or excite you, and discuss how some of your skills or experience make you the perfect fit for the role and company in question.
Grab their attention
Remember, the person reading your cover letter is only human. There are only so many times they can read the same opening statement like ‘I’m applying for the role of…’ Instead of stating the obvious, grab their attention by outlining some key skills or qualifications that they’re looking for in the opening sentence.
Do your research
With most recruiters looking for enthusiasm and a genuine interest in the job or industry, one of the best cover letter ideas is to include some knowledge of the company or role in question. That could be your understanding of their products or services, an alignment with their company values, or just an interest in the relevant industry or sector, for example.
How to write a cover letter
In this section you will find a handful of useful tips for writing cover letters. If you are looking for more detailed advice, visit our step-by-step guide on how to write a cover letter.
How to start a cover letter
Whether it’s for administration or investment banking, your cover letter should be addressed to the recruiter, hiring manager or management staff of the company. Sir or Madam is fine if you don’t know their name. Start by outlining why you’re getting in touch, including the specific job title, where you saw it advertised, and why it interested you.
What to write in a cover letter
All the best cover lAll the best cover letter examples have one thing in common. They take a candidate's skills, experience, and qualifications, and demonstrate how they make them suitable for the job. That includes specific achievements in your career to show how the capabilities in your CV have been put into practice, and how they could add value to the company you’re applying to.
How to end a cover letter
The end of your cover letter should thank the recruiter for their time, or for considering your application, and express anticipation to meet with them and talk about the role in more detail. For example, ‘Thank you for taking the time to consider my application. I look forward to hearing from you’. After that, a simple ‘Yours sincerely, followed by your name, is the best way to finish a professional cover letter.
How to structure a cover letter
For cover letter format, UK applicants should start with the layout of a professional letter. The name, address, and contact details of the recipient should be listed in the top-left of the page underneath the date, before the main body of the cover letter begins in basic, left-aligned text. You can add your own name, address and contact details above those of the recruiter, on the right-hand side of the page. However, many cover letter samples instead have the applicant’s name and details centred at the top of the page for more prominence.
How long should a cover letter be
In terms of pages, your cover letter should be no longer than one page of A4 in length. However, that’s an absolute maximum. Most recruiters won’t want to read an entire page about you and your career. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to keep your cover letter around half a page in length – or four to five paragraphs.
Create your cover letter
If you’re struggling with cover letter ideas, finding it difficult to get the right cover letter structure, or are just baffled by the overall idea of writing a cover letter, myPerfectCV is here to help. Our cover letter creator makes it quick and easy to build a cover letter customised to your needs that matches your CV.
Simply enter your personal details, choose a UK cover letter template, and then enter some details about your career and the job you’re applying for. Our cover letter maker will do the rest, putting you in pole position for your job application. Get started today!
