The cover letter ending should carry a unique impact. It is the last thing that a hiring manager will read before they consider whether to invite you to interview. At the very least, maybe it will persuade them to have another look at your resume. If it is read before your resume, the cover letter closing paragraph will dictate whether the resume is read at all.
If your future boss is reading the closing, then your cover letter has definitely ticked a few boxes. However, if you get the conclusion wrong, you can ruin all that impressive work. Let’s explore how to end a cover letter and make the hiring manager send that interview invite:
- Exploring powerful how to end a cover letter examples.
- Questions to ponder about the tone of your cover letter closing.
- Terrible ways how to end a cover letter.
- Checklist to finish a cover letter.
How do I write a good cover letter?
The golden rule for any cover letter rings true for the cover letter closing: You write a great cover letter by picturing yourself in the specific role and bringing together all your relevant past experiences into a compelling story to outline why you will be successful. The cover letter closing is your cherry on top. It should continue in the confident vein of what has come before.
There is nothing more useful than examining a few different ways to end a cover letter by analysing some examples in various scenarios:
5 powerful how to end a cover letter examples
Candidates will have varying strengths and differing motivations that they may wish to highlight, so there is no single recipe for a perfect cover letter ending. The individuality of the ending reflects your unique strengths as a person.
There will often be a sentence that looks forward (hopefully, not presumptuously) to the possibility of an interview, but aside from that there are a number of options for what else a cover letter ending could include. Here are the top 5 tactics of ending your cover letter to land an interview:
- End your cover letter by addressing the hidden needs of the hiring manager.
- Link your personal “why” to their culture in the cover letter closing.
- End your cover letter using the mechanism of repetition to create an impact.
- Begin a story in the conclusion of your cover letter. Aim to continue that story during the interview.
- Mention a personal connection at the end of the cover letter.
Let’s explore in a little more detail below with some example sentences:
1. End your cover letter by addressing the hidden needs of the hiring manager.
Every hiring manager wants an employee who understands their needs. If you show that this is the case as you end your cover letter (before you have even met them), you will put yourself in pole position to secure an interview.
Make them wonder how exactly you could know what they are looking for. If someone is so perceptive before they have even started the job, surely they are going to be incredibly engaged when they start?
Why it works: If you are able to take the time to sit back and think deeply about why exactly the hiring manager needs you by their side, you will be doing something that most employees don’t even contemplate. End your cover letter by showing empathy and understanding and your future boss will view you as a rare breed indeed.
Example: A detail-obsessed attitude coupled with proven relationship-building skills will help me to underpin your merger plans next year. My experience at Harwich shows that I have what it takes to ensure two behemoths come together and move forward as one.
2. Link your personal “why” to their culture in the cover letter closing.
There is nothing more impressive than a candidate who can articulate why they want the job, not because of money or status, but because it is where they feel they might belong. Understanding our personal “why” is a feat in itself; but connecting it to a career or a way of life is a whole different level of awesome.
If you do this, make sure that you are being genuine. If your "why" is somehow incompatible with the mission of the company, it is best to talk about something else. You don't want to find yourself in the position of trying to persuade an employer that you are a fit (after having bared your soul to a deep level).
Why it works: There is something incredibly seductive in meeting someone who is self-aware enough to understand their place in the world and what they want to do with their life. If you can make that calling relevant to the mission of your future employer in the cover letter closing, you will leave the very best impression and it will create an immediate talking point early on in the interview process.
Example: As an avid student of mental wellness and meditation techniques, your unique workplace culture has long been on my radar. I am excited that I may be able to contribute in a spiritual sense as well as on an operational and commercial level.
3. End your cover letter using the mechanism of repetition to create an impact.
You might like to think that the hiring manager would have savoured every word of your cover letter, but the reality is that they are busy people, so will have likely skim-read it. Ending your cover letter by repeating some key points is a way of ramming home your value-add.
You might fear being slightly repetitive, but you can be assured that the hiring manager will not be reading it that deeply. If repeating a key message is more worthwhile that sharing another new one, opt for doubling down.
Why it works: Repeating certain messages (using different words) helps to lodge them into our memory banks that little bit firmer. There is a certain confidence in repeating the key points of an argument in a closing statement and the effectiveness of this oral technique is proven. Knock the hiring managers' socks off once and then do it again for good measure as you end your cover letter.
Example: It is worth reiterating how the challenges that I overcame during the Takeshi deal will set me up for success with the K19 project. A blank project plan is less daunting when you have been there and done it before.
4. End your cover letter with the beginning of a story. Intrigue the recruiter and aim to finish that story during the interview.
There is nothing more intriguing than beginning a story and then letting the listener hang on for the punchline. Beginning a story at the conclusion of your cover letter is the equivalent of a soap opera cliff hanger.
Every sentence of job search correspondence is an invitation to discuss further at interview. Hiring managers might not seize on every sentence, but if there are enough of them, an interview invite is guaranteed.
Why it works: When you only have 300 words to weave a narrative about your career, it is only natural to leave a few loose ends. If you leave one of your most powerful stories until the conclusion of your cover letter, it is a great way of letting the hiring manager sense that there is much more to come during the interview stage.
Example: Should we have the opportunity to meet for an interview, I would love to elaborate on how I managed to increase store footfall by 95% with a unique promotional strategy. Our competitor’s stores were empty for a month.
5. Mention a personal connection at the end of the cover letter.
The aim of the cover letter is to establish the fit with the role, so finishing by highlighting a more personal connection can serve to cement the application. It may be a person that you are acquainted with or an affinity with the company - describe how it has made a difference to you.
You start out as a total staranger. By the end of your cover letter and resume the hiring manager is getting to know you a little. If you have mentioned a person that you know, the hiring manager is sure to ask them for a personal recommendation and find out more.
Why it works: When the hiring manager starts reading the cover letter, they do not know you from Adam. You are a total stranger. Then, after your story has drawn them in, ending on a personal note can make them consider that maybe you are not such a stranger after all. The more they think that you could be “one of them,” the more likely you are to get that elusive interview invite.
Example: When I was working with Bill Travis at Kentonhill, he was always telling me how I’d make a great sales manager one day. He schooled me in the arts of social media marketing and I am confident that we would form a great team once again.
Questions to ponder about the tone of your cover letter closing
While the tone of the whole cover letter should be positive and optimistic, the cover letter closing lines are particularly important in creating a lasting impression. The “goldilocks rule” very much applies – strike a balance between self-confidence and hope to get it just right. Here are three important questions to consider regarding the tone of your cover letter:
- How should the cover letter closing make a hiring manager feel?
- Should you conclude a cover letter in hope or expectation?
- Do you ask for an interview in your cover letter closing remarks?
How should the cover letter closing paragraph make the hiring manager feel?
There are all manner of adjectives to describe how a hiring manager would want to feel after reading a cover letter that could inform the tone of how it ends:
- Comforted that they are making the right choice.
- Intrigued to find out more about the candidate.
- Excited about what you can bring to the table.
- Reassured that you understand what the job entails.
- Inspired by your story and impressed with what you have done.
Decide how this specific hiring manager might want to feel about you and write a cover letter closing paragraph that will press all the right buttons. Keep it simple. Don't jump from supremely confident to achingly humble in two sentences - that will just be confusing.
Should you conclude a cover letter in hope or expectation?
Many years of experience writing recruitment content and reading posts on social media have taught me that humility is an attractive trait in a job seeker.
The tone of your ending should therefore verge on the side of hope rather than expectation. You can’t possibly know that you will be better than all of the other candidates and you definitely won’t be able to read the mind of the hiring manager to know what they are looking for, so you can’t possibly adopt the position that you are “perfect for the role.”
Most job descriptions are also sorely lacking, so ending the cover letter with a sense of hope seems to be a much more sensible and balanced attitude. The nature of the job will only fully come clear over the course of a few interviews and even then the hiring manager may not have a fully developed vision.
Do you ask for an interview in your cover letter closing?
The short answer is: yes, actually. The whole purpose of the job application process is to prove your suitability for the role. It would be strange if a candidate did not express a desire to meet the hiring manager and find out more about them and the opportunity.
If you have written a strong cover letter format and have opted for a sentence or two like the ones in the examples above, you have every right to say: “I would welcome the chance of an interview to discuss….” or something along those lines.
If you do not mention the word "interview" at all in the last paragraph there will not be any kind of prompt for the hiring manager to take action. You have to put it in their minds that you will be getting interviews elsewhere and that they have no time to lose.
How do you sign off on a cover letter? How do you end the main body of a formal letter? Can you end a cover letter with thank you? Which word do you choose to end with? It is surprising how much time people spend deciding on the phrase to use in their cover letter sign off. “Sincerely” is the firm favourite and safe option, but as so many people use it are there other options? If you want to come across as an original thinker, it is certainly worth investigating. On the other hand, there are others that should be avoided at all costs.
What can I use instead of sincerely?
- Best regards,
- Kind regards,
- Respectfully,
- Thank you,
- Sincerely yours,
- Yours faithfully,
- Warmest regards,
- Take care,
- Best wishes,
- Cheers,
Terrible ways how to end a cover letter
We hope that this guide contains plenty of sound advice, but it would be remiss of us not to point out some of the ways in which your cover letter closing can turn off a hiring manager rather than turn them on.
If you don’t think about the impact of the words you are using, this sort of thing is all too easy to write – especially if you consider that the ending of the cover letter is not important:
Certainly, don’t write the same as everyone else. But don’t be too different!
Wrong: I guess that I have to give you one more reason to hire me... Well, I am a black-belt in karate and I love to try out my moves on suppliers that don’t toe the line. There are plenty out there that I would happily get into the dojo for a session.
Avoid ending on a needy, apologetic whimper.
Wrong: I would love the job, I really would. I have rarely wanted anything else more. I really do think that I am a super candidate and I hope that you agree with me. There is nothing else to say apart from the fact that I hope we might meet at an interview. I will be the smiley one.
Don’t waste the final impact with a list of unsubstantiated adjectives.
Wrong: I am a logical, rational, calculating, decisive and effective financial wizard.
Don’t come across as pushy or over-confident.
Wrong: I think that I would be a perfect fit for the role. Every aspect of my experience suggests that I will hit the ground running. I will aim to be your top performer within the first six months and would expect to be promoted within a year. You won’t regret hiring me.
Most of us have a second sense when something doesn’t quite sound right. When it comes to writing a cover letter closing, check and double check how it might sound to a hiring manager. If it comes across as any of these things, press that delete button and start again.
Writing the bad examples is far easier than writing the great examples. I wonder why that is?
It is likely that you will be running out of mental energy when you come to write those last few lines of your cover letter, but keep up the focus on quality until you send it off. Every word matters.
Checklist to finish a cover letter
As with any piece of writing, the editing stage is often the part where you have to slice and dice your musings before you can come up with a final masterpiece that achieves everything that you need it to.
Hopefully, this final checklist will be a way of making sure that your cover letter closing is on the right track. Your cover letter ending should aim to accomplish these goals:
- Touch on one or two of the example categories in terms of your motivation
- Hit the right tone to make the hiring manager feel the way they would want to
- Adopt a hopeful approach while still being brave enough to ask for an interview
- Reflect the essence of who you are and why you would be great at the job.
Our general “ How to write a cover letter” blog goes into much more depth about the broader aspects of writing, and if you are struggling with beginning the letter our “ How to start a cover letter” blog may well also prove useful.
