How to Write a Cover Letter (With Examples)

TL;DR — Yes, you usually still need one — recruiter surveys find most hiring managers read cover letters when you include them. A working letter is about a page: a specific opening that names the role and company, a body that proves two or three skills the posting asks for, and a short, confident close. Tailor it to every job and fix every typo.

A cover letter feels like a relic until you realize what it does that a resume can't: it lets you say, in plain sentences, why you fit this job. For a new grad whose resume is mostly coursework and projects, that's valuable space. The good news is that a strong cover letter follows a predictable shape — once you know the structure, you're filling in a form, not staring at a blank page.

Do you still need a cover letter?

Most of the time, yes — and especially early in your career. Hiring-manager surveys keep landing in the same place: a Resume Genius survey of U.S. hiring managers found that about 83% always or frequently read cover letters, and roughly half said a strong letter could convince them to interview an otherwise borderline candidate. Treat the exact percentages as directional rather than gospel — they come from industry surveys, not official data — but the direction is clear and consistent.

A few practical rules:

• If the application has a field for it, use it. Skipping an obvious slot reads as low effort.
• If it says "optional," usually write one anyway. Surveys suggest many recruiters still expect a letter even when it's marked optional, and as a new grad you want every edge.
• If there's genuinely nowhere to attach one and nobody asks, don't force it. A letter pasted where it doesn't belong helps no one.

When your work history is thin, the letter is the one place you get to argue for yourself in your own voice. That's worth twenty minutes.

What goes in a cover letter (the structure that works)

Career centers converge on the same three-part shape. MIT's career office lays it out as an opening, two to three body paragraphs, and a close — all on one page, in a standard 10–12 point font. Here's the job each part does:

1. Opening (2–4 sentences) — Name the role and company, and give one real reason you're applying. State up front what you bring.
2. Body (1–2 paragraphs) — Connect your skills to what the posting asks for, with specific proof. This is the heart of the letter.
3. Close (2–3 sentences) — Restate your interest, invite a conversation, and thank them.

Keep the whole thing to half a page to one page — about 250 to 400 words. If it runs longer, you're almost certainly repeating your resume instead of adding to it. As MIT puts it, don't restate the resume in paragraph form — complement it with a little more detail.

How to write an opening that isn't generic

The fastest way to lose a reader is to start with "I am writing to apply for the position of…" — everyone does, and it says nothing. Berkeley's career team recommends opening with a paragraph that catches attention and tells a small story.

Three moves make an opening specific:

• Name the exact role and the company by name. Generic openers signal a mass-send.
• Give one genuine reason you want this job — a product you actually use, a mission you care about, a problem the team works on.
• Lead with what you offer, not what you're hoping to get out of it.

Compare:

Weak: "I am writing to express my interest in the Marketing Coordinator role at your company. I am a recent graduate eager to begin my career."

Strong: "I've been a daily user of Trailhead's hiking app since freshman year, so when the Marketing Coordinator opening came up, I had to write. I'm a May communications grad who ran social for a 2,000-member campus club, and I'd love to bring that to a product I already love."

The strong version proves, in two sentences, that this letter was written for one job and not three hundred.

How to connect your skills to the role

The body is where most letters go wrong — they restate the resume. Instead, pull the two or three qualifications the posting leans on hardest, and prove each one with a concrete thing you did. Berkeley frames the body as the place to connect your experience to the employer's stated needs.

The pattern for each point: name the skill the job wants → give a specific example → tie it back to the role.

The posting emphasizes managing competing deadlines. As editor of our student magazine, I ran a five-person team to ship a 40-page issue every month for two years — twelve issues, none late. I'm used to keeping several moving pieces on schedule, which is exactly what a coordinator role demands.

Notice it doesn't claim "strong organizational skills" in the abstract. It shows the skill in action with a number attached. If you're working from coursework and projects rather than jobs, that's fine — the same pattern works, and our guide to building a resume with no experience covers what counts as proof. Also add one line that only fits this employer — a product, a value, a recent launch — so it's obvious you did your homework.

How to close strongly

The ending should be short and self-assured — not a plea. Three sentences is plenty: restate your interest in the role, say you'd welcome the chance to talk, and thank them for reading.

I'd be glad to bring the same energy to Trailhead's marketing team. I'd welcome the chance to talk about how I can help — thank you for considering my application.

Avoid over-apologizing ("I know I don't have much experience, but…"), and skip the desperate sign-off ("I really, really need this opportunity"). Confidence reads better than need. End with a simple "Sincerely," and your name.

A fill-in cover letter template

Here's a skeleton you can adapt. Replace every bracket, and cut anything that turns into resume-repetition:

[Your Name]
[City, State] · [email] · [phone] · [LinkedIn URL]

[Date]

Dear [Hiring Manager's name, or "Hiring Team" if you can't find one],

I'm applying for the [exact job title] role at [Company]. [One genuine,
specific reason you want this job — a product you use, a mission you share].
I'm a [your degree / grad timing] and I'd bring [the single biggest thing
you offer] to your team.

Your posting emphasizes [skill #1 from the listing]. [A specific example
that proves it — a project, job, or club, with a number if you have one].
It also calls for [skill #2]. [A second concrete example.] [One line showing
you researched the company specifically.]

I'd welcome the chance to talk about how I can contribute to [Company]. Thank
you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

A couple of finishing rules: address a real person if you can find one (LinkedIn or the company team page usually works); match the posting's exact language where it's genuinely true for you so it reads naturally; and proofread relentlessly — a single typo can undo an otherwise strong letter. Tailoring this by hand for every application is tedious, which is exactly what our Tailor Resume tool is built to speed up.

Once your letter and resume are out the door, the work isn't quite done — a brief, well-timed nudge can keep you top of mind, which is what the follow-up email guide walks through.

Sources

• MIT Career Advising & Professional Development — How to write an effective cover letter
• UC Berkeley Career Engagement — Cover Letters
• Resume Genius — Cover letter statistics (2023 hiring-manager survey)