Cover letter examples by job

Pick your job to see cover letter examples you can copy: two letters for each, one entry-level and one with experience. Every letter is illustrative: the writers and figures are made up.

Writing for an internship? See the internship cover letter. Need a blank letter for your situation (career change, referral, email, UK)? See the cover letter templates.

How to write a cover letter: layout, header, greeting, sign-off

Keep it to one page: a header, a greeting, three or four short paragraphs and a sign-off, in the same font as your resume. Send it as a PDF unless the advert asks for Word, and name the file with your name and the role. On an email application, the letter goes in the body of the email and the resume is attached.

Header: your name, phone, email and city, then the date, then the hiring manager's name, title and company. Use the same header as your resume so the two read as one application.
Greeting: use a name when the advert or LinkedIn gives you one ("Dear Ms Rao,"). When it doesn't, "Dear Hiring Manager," is safe.
Sign-off: "Sincerely," in the US and Canada; "Yours sincerely," in the UK and India, when you used a name or "Dear Hiring Manager". Keep "Yours faithfully," for UK letters that open "Dear Sir or Madam". Then your full name.

What changes by job is the body: which requirement you prove and with which numbers. Each role page above shows that part. The full guide, paragraph by paragraph, with an example: how to write a cover letter.

Good cover letter examples: what to copy and what to change

A good cover letter sample earns its place by doing three things in a page: it names the job and the company, it picks one or two things you have done that match what the posting asks for, and it ends with a clear request. When you read an example on this site, copy the order and the proportions, not the sentences: the opening that names the role, the middle paragraph that proves one requirement with a number, and the short close. Everything inside those paragraphs has to be yours.

Most people are looking for resume and letter examples for one of three situations. An entry-level letter leans on school, internships and volunteering. A career change letter explains the move in one sentence and then shows the skills that carry over. An experienced letter opens with a result and a figure. The role pages above give an entry-level and an experienced letter for each job; for a career change, start from the cover letter templates. The guide to how to write a good cover letter walks through the paragraphs in order.

Format example and a quick checklist

The format of a cover letter is the same for almost every job: your contact details, the date, the employer's details, a greeting, three or four short paragraphs and a sign-off. As an example, a simple letter for a sales assistant would take about 250 words, start with the job title and where you saw it, give one result with a number, and close with your availability. If you build it in CVEmber, check that the output keeps to one page and that the name, role and company are filled in everywhere they appear.

The greeting names a person when the posting does; otherwise it addresses the team.
The first line names the job, and the second says why you are a match.
One paragraph proves one requirement with a number.
The letter and your resume tell the same story, with the same dates and job titles.