A cover letter is a business letter, not free-form prose, and it reads as more credible when it looks like one. That means a specific, expected shape: date, recipient, salutation, body, sign-off, in that order, before a single word of the actual pitch.
The structure
- Date.
- Recipient block: the hiring contact's name and title if known, and the company — skip anything you don't actually know rather than guessing.
- Salutation: "Dear [Name]:" if a hiring contact is named anywhere in the posting, "Dear Hiring Manager:" if not. Address a specific person whenever the posting gives you one.
- Opening paragraph: the specific role and company, plus a one-line thesis connecting your background to what the posting is asking for.
- One to two body paragraphs: your most relevant experience, grounded in specifics (an employer, a tool, an outcome), echoing the posting's own terminology where it's actually true of your work.
- Closing paragraph: genuine interest, an invitation to next steps.
- Sign-off: "Sincerely," and your name.
One page, and the same font as your resume
Keep it concise and factual enough to fit one page — a cover letter is a supplement to the resume, not a second resume. It should also be prepared with the same font type and size as the resume it accompanies; a mismatched pair reads as two documents thrown together rather than one application.
Confident, not flowery
Plain, direct, and specific reads as more confident than embellished language ever does — flowery phrasing usually signals you don't have a concrete reason for the fit, so you're padding around the gap.
Tailor it — every time
A cover letter that could be sent to any company with a find-and-replace on the company name isn't doing its job. Reference something specific from the posting — a requirement, a priority, a piece of terminology — and connect it to a real, specific piece of your own background. This is exactly the same principle behind C for CV's tailored resume and cover letter generation: draft from your actual experience, grounded in the actual posting, never generic filler.