Cover letter examples that actually get read

Updated 2026-09-19 · 4 min read

Recruiters and hiring managers are not the same audience, and they treat your letter very differently. That is the whole trick to writing one.

Who actually reads it

The surveys look contradictory until you split the audience. Around 39% of recruiters say they do not read cover letters, and only 17% read the letter before the CV. But among the people who actually decide — hiring managers — 83% say they read it, and 72% still expect one when the posting calls it optional.

So the letter rarely gets you through the first filter, and often decides the second. Write it for the manager who will run the interview, not for the recruiter scanning the pile.

The shape that works

One page, under 350 words, four moves:

1. An opening that could only be about them. A detail from the vacancy, their product, a change in their market. Never a summary of yourself.
2. Two paragraphs of evidence mapped to their top two requirements, each with a number or an outcome.
3. Why this company — one honest reason that is not "the opportunity for growth".
4. A plain close. Say you would like to talk, and when you are available.

The three letters below are written for invented people applying to invented companies, so nothing here is a real application. The reasoning after each one is the part worth copying.

Example 1 · marketing, with a number in the first line

Dear Ms Aldridge,

Your campaign for the autumn range ran on three channels with one voice, which is rarer than it sounds. That is the kind of consistency I spent the last four years building at a brand roughly your size.

At Northlight I ran social and email as one calendar. In eighteen months the list grew from 11,000 to 38,000, and the share of revenue from email went from 9% to 22%. It worked because I stopped treating channels as separate teams and started planning one story a month across all of them.

The part of your vacancy about "owning the content calendar end to end" is the work I like most: the briefing, the writing, the measurement, and the argument about what to cut. I am comfortable with the measurement side, from UTM hygiene to a weekly dashboard the whole team can read.

I would like to talk about the autumn plan and what I would do differently. I am available for a call any afternoon this week and can start on 1 November.

Kind regards,
Sanne Visser

Why it works: the first line proves she looked at their work. The evidence paragraph has two numbers and, more importantly, the reason behind them. The close names a date instead of asking for "an opportunity to discuss".

Example 2 · career changer

Dear Mr Bakker,

Your job posting says the support team answers 400 tickets a week and that first-contact resolution is the number you watch. I have spent six years on the other side of that number, in a pharmacy, where the same question asked twice means someone is confused and at risk.

What I bring is not a support background but the habit underneath it: triage under pressure, plain language, and writing things down so the next person does not start from zero. I built our pharmacy's internal answer book — 60 standard situations, written once, used daily — which cut the questions to the pharmacist by about a third.

I am changing field on purpose. I have completed the Zendesk fundamentals course and I am comfortable in a system after a week, not a month. What I cannot yet claim is experience with your product, and I would rather say that than imply otherwise.

I would like to show you the answer book in an interview. Available immediately, four or five days a week.

Kind regards,
Noor el Amrani

Why it works: it names the gap instead of hiding it, which is what makes the rest believable. The transferable skill is shown as a concrete artefact, not an adjective.

Example 3 · freelance, short and direct

Dear Ms de Wit,

You are looking for an interim communications advisor for six months, during a merger. I have done exactly that twice: once for a housing association of 180 staff, once for a regional care provider.

In both cases the work was the same underneath: one message, agreed with the board, repeated everywhere, and a plan for the questions people are afraid to ask out loud. At the housing association we ran 14 sessions in three weeks, and the staff survey after the merger showed 71% saying they knew what was happening, against 38% before.

My rate is €95 an hour, 24 to 32 hours a week, and I can start on 6 October. Happy to walk you through the merger communication plan I used, and what I would change for your situation.

Kind regards,
Marit Jansen

Why it works: freelance letters are a quote, not a courtship. Rate, hours and start date are in the letter, so the client can decide in one read.

Openings to never use again

• "I am writing to apply for the position of…" — the subject line already says that.
• "I was excited to see your vacancy on Indeed." — excitement is not evidence.
• "As a hard-working team player with a passion for…" — adjectives anyone could claim.
• "Although I do not meet all the requirements…" — never open by arguing against yourself.

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