How long should a cover letter be? There’s one simple answer — short. Two unequivocal conditions assure that result. Without exception, a cover letter should:
Both of these mutually inclusive goals are attainable each and every time you write a cover letter. If you do everything else right, your cover letter will automatically be short enough. It will also completely cover everything you need to say.
And what’s left unsaid should make the reader curious enough to find out more in an interview. That’s the whole idea.
Let’s look at how to create a perfectly sized cover letter that wows the reader, from start to finish. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Cover letters are like a written handshake in an era when job-seekers no longer walk into offices with no appointment asking to see the hiring manager. Cover letters enhance the first impression you make on hiring managers and could improve your chances of a job-winning interview.
Why? Because your resume can only do so much on its own. It’s designed that way. A cover letter compensates for the resume’s limitations. It can start earning you points as the best job candidate before anyone even looks at your resume. It can even make a difference in whether your resume gets read at all.
As a resume companion document, your cover letter serves these key purposes.
Job applicants often wonder if there’s any point writing a cover letter with no guarantee it will be read or influence hiring decisions. Not being required to include one with your resume is typically welcomed as a reason to skip it.
This is understandable, but not advisable. You have everything to gain — and nothing to lose — by regarding cover letters as essential, not just a smart idea. Studies have shown they can give you a 40% job-winning edge over other qualified applicants who do not submit one.
Why else?
Myth-busting research has concluded that the cover letter is not “dead.” The opposite is true. Not submitting a cover letter with your resume could actually jeopardize your job-winning chances. Why risk it?
Even with no requirement to include a cover letter with your resume, there is only reason not to do so — if the application instructions stipulate that it be excluded.
According to one survey, 90 percent of hiring professionals consider a hiring manager invaluable when making hiring decisions. Even if cover letters are optional, about three-quarters of recruiters still expect to receive them, prefer to receive them, always read them and show a preference for applicants who include one.
HR professionals find cover letters important and useful to:
Would you rather spend the next hour organizing your socks drawer than writing a cover letter? We get it. Even for published authors, getting started is typically the hardest part of any writing task.
Take heart in the simplicity of a cover letter’s framework to feel less overwhelmed. Breaking it into separate parts can make the writing process seem less daunting. So should our assurance that there’s a learnable knack for putting all of these components together in a single-page cover letter document:
The following sales representative example packs equal parts passion and professionalism into a compact 300 words.
Dear Ms. Underhill,
With a seasonal product such as garden furniture, you need a sales rep who can go into marketing mode for half a year and sales mode for the other half. Having been a rep for two gardening manufacturers previously, I understand the investment that this requires.
My career began with a sales management degree from Northwestern University and a graduate placement selling hot tubs. It was a perfect introduction to selling a high-value seasonal product and many conferences and events later, I had perfected my sales pitch. In my first two years as a sales rep, I skyrocketed my region’s sales by 80%, attracted 55 more customers and won the national sales prize in my second year.
I have just left a role with your competitor due to a change of company ownership – they brought in their own sales team. This was disappointing, as I took great pleasure in eating away at your market share (the net gain for my previous employer was 6%), but after an acrimonious exit and on finishing my gardening leave, I am keen to stay in garden furniture and feel that my three years of direct experience will prove useful.
My accomplishments there are readily transferable:
I know that we have met before, but as I was a rival rather than a potential hire, I hope that the current circumstances may be a little more interesting. I would love the opportunity of an interview to discuss the market and how I might contribute to your sales team.
Sincerely,
Tyler Bellinger
While “sales representative” is one of the broadest job titles in existence, this cover letter example fully illustrates how to target each specific position and employer.
Let’s look at how to optimize the impact of each cover letter part.
Start your cover letter off on a professional, yet approachable, note in the greeting. Science has proven that positive responses are triggered by people hearing or reading their own name. That’s why all cover letters should be addressed to someone by name if possible.
In the few seconds it would take in person to shake hands and be seated for an interview, your cover letter introduction facilitates the same connection in writing. Recruiters will expect you to jump in right away with your relevant strengths and experience. And so you should. But the “why you need me” hook is what they will find irresistible.
Our sales representative sample letter leads with this masterful introduction.
With a seasonal product such as garden furniture, you need a sales rep who can go into marketing mode for half a year and sales mode for the other half. Having been a rep for two gardening manufacturers previously, I understand the investment that this requires.
This is the place to show, not just tell, what makes you an ideal job match. Elaborate on a few carefully selected achievements and the transferable skills brought to bear. Cite relatable facts and figures that the employer would relish seeing you replicate if hired. And let your motivation shine through in a pertinent anecdote or two.
The cover letter body sample below demonstrates the reader-friendly use of bullet points for both showcasing and word-trimming.
My career began with a sales management degree from Northwestern University and a graduate placement selling hot tubs. It was a perfect introduction to selling a high-value seasonal product and many conferences and events later, I had perfected my sales pitch. In my first two years as a sales rep, I skyrocketed my region’s sales by 80%, attracted 55 more customers and won the national sales prize in my second year.
I have just left a role with your competitor due to a change of company ownership – they brought in their own sales team. This was disappointing, as I took great pleasure in eating away at your market share (the net gain for my previous employer was 6%), but after an acrimonious exit and on finishing my gardening leave, I am keen to stay in garden furniture and feel that my three years of direct experience will prove useful.
My accomplishments there are readily transferable:
Close off in a manner that’s concise but not entirely conclusive. Thank recruiters for their time and interest in your application, adding a reminder of why you are an ideal job fit. Then, be sure to include a call to action that puts some onus on the employer to respond, not cast your application aside.
The call to action in this sample cover letter closing is unusual but potentially effective.
I know that we have met before, but as I was a rival rather than a potential hire, I hope that the current circumstances may be a little more interesting. I would love the opportunity of an interview to discuss the market and how I might contribute to your sales team.
Searching for more information? Our “ How to write a cover letter” goes into more detail about the broader aspects of writing a well-rounded cover letter.
Here are some ways to keep your cover letter short and snappy without selling yourself short.
Action verbs in the active present or past tense are your best friend in a cover letter or resume. They automatically make your writing tighter and more results-driven. Tell the reader what you do or did, not what you are responsible for doing.
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
That these famous words are frequently misquoted or misattributed takes nothing away from their meaning. Don’t be surprised or discouraged by this oft-misunderstood reality when composing your cover letter: the shorter it is, the longer you might take writing it well.
Put another way: cover letters are a classic case of “less is more.” And getting to “less” typically takes more time and effort.
* The earliest recorded version of this quote dates back to 1657, when French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal published “Lettres Provinciales.” Later variations are attributed to philosopher John Locke; inventor Benjamin Franklin; authors Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain; and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
Don’t even think about tinkering with margins or font size as a way to squeeze in too many lines of space-busting cover letter text. If word bloat is the real problem, then further edits are the only slimming solution.
But if your cover letter is well within the 400-word count limit, and seems to fit fine on a single page, it might still benefit from eye-pleasing improvements. Every aspect of the document’s layout, design and formatting should help make it:
How to prevent widows and orphans
Knowing how to manage straggler text snippets in your cover letter is useful to ensure the document fits on one page without compromising the layout’s look.
“Widows” are paragraph-ending lines of text that stray onto the top of the next page, while “orphan” lines start a new paragraph at the bottom of a page. Neither is desirable in a multi-page document, but can be prevented with certain line or page break adjustments.
Even within a single-page document,“widow” lines of text can cause problems with page fit and layout imbalance. One of the following solutions can make a difference:
For more inspiration, check out our free cover letter templates and build your own cover letter.