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Best Cover Letter Examples To Nail Your Next Job Application

Create personalized cover letters for every job in minutes, not hours. 

You already feel exasperated after writing your resume — and now there’s a pesky cover letter field. Learn how to effortlessly write persuasive cover letters for each job using our ever-growing collection of free cover letter examples.
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hubspot
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free cover letter examples
Skillcrush
Dice
hubspot
Lifehack

A cover letter is overrated….said no HR person ever.

On the contrary, most treat a cover letter as a powerful add-on to a resume. Yes, even if it’s marked as *optional*.

Candidates who bother to write a cover letter (vs those who don’t) instantly appear more motivated and professional. Moreover, they establish a better rapport with the hiring authorities before even walking through the door.

Why? Because a cover letter gives you an opportunity to contextualize the qualifications and competencies you’re bringing up on your resume. Remember: You’re competing against other qualified people with very similar skill sets. A cover letter gives you an opportunity to show how you’re using your expertise in real-world settings, plus talk a bit further about your soft skills and passion for the selected profession.

When combined with a resume, your cover letter helps the employer get a wholesome picture of you as a candidate — and ring you up for a job interview.

Cover Letter Examples by Profession and Industry

If you’re tired of browsing generic cover letters which are clearly out of touch with the modern reality of work, you’ve landed at the right place. Freesumes runs an up-to-date database of sample cover letters, created and vetted by certified writers and HR experts.

Sample Cover Letters for Entry-Level Jobs

A compelling cover letter for a first job is as important as your resume. Learn how to talk your way into getting that job when you lack extensive work experience.

Cover Letter Examples for Teachers and Educators

Academia and education favor good writing. Use our samples as prompts to build a strong case of why you’d make a strong addition to the faculty.

Retail & Sales Cover Letter Examples

Show your abilities to persuade in writing by following our expert-level cover letter writing strategies for positions in sales and retail.

Cover Letter Examples for Healthcare

Put your emotional intelligence and well-rounded people skills upfront. Healthcare is a sector where hard and soft skills are equally valued.

Administrative & Management Cover Letter Examples

Orchestrate a memorable first impression with a cover letter that shows how perfectly you’d fit into any position requiring strong organizational and (self)-management skills.

IT Cover Letter Examples

Use real-life cover letter examples to showcase your technical skills and a bit of personality to impress potential employers and score some of the highest-paid jobs.

Hospitality & Customer Service Cover Letter Examples

Make your personality stand out through writing by applying the tips we share alongside every sample cover letter for people-facing jobs.

Cover Letter Examples for Marketing & Creative Roles

Be a standout applicant by giving yourself the best promo. Our cover letter examples teach you how to present your creative abilities in the best light.

Cover Letter Layout To Follow

Compelling cover letters – the one HR folks exchange with one another – have one thing in common: they follow the same structure and layout. That’s something you can easily do with our free cover letter creator.

That’s the first thing you need to master. You have just one shot to impress the same employer and you don’t want to lower your chance by making some basic mistakes in formatting.  So let’s take a closer look at the anatomy of successful cover letters.

cover letter outline

Header section: This one should take approximately 1/5th of your page and include your name and current position, e.g. Jane Smith, Chief Accountant. You can also add your headshot at the top left corner if you prefer (as an example above) to make your letter more personal. List your contact information just under your name and title.

Opening section: This one should be formal. Add a date and type the full address of your employer in the following format:

To Name
Title
Company
Address
City, State Zip Code

This should be single-spaced and left justified. If you don’t know the full employer’s information, you can skip this. Though it’s advised to research those details in advance – this will show that you did your “homework” and didn’t just file some generic letters to a dozen companies in your industry.

Salutation: As a rule of thumb, you should use the formal “Dear, [Mr/Ms Surname]”. Though if you are applying to some hip, modern company you can replace the old-fashioned “dear”, with a simple “Good day” or “Hello” or just “[Name Surname]” combo.

Opening paragraph: This one’s pretty standard as well: state what position you are applying for, how you heard about the opening and why you are a solid candidate. You can make the last statement more attention-grabbing to entice the recipient to read on.

Body of your letter: This can take up to 2-3 paragraphs. Use the space to explain what makes you the perfect match for the announced position:

  • Recap your work experience;
  • Throw in some bragging rights: results achieved, big gun clients you worked for;
  • Briefly summarize your education.

The second body paragraph should speak about why the company is the perfect match for you:

  • State how and why this opportunity is a perfect match for your career goals and expectations;
  • Mention how you can relate to the company’s mission and corporate values;
  • Highlight that you are a good cultural fit for reasons X, Y, Z.

PRO TIP:

“Remember CPR (CHALLENGE – PROCESS – RESULTS)! In your cover letter, it is important to demonstrate your exponential value by incorporating strong examples of opportunities where you were presented with a challenge, your process to implement a solution, and the overall results.”

Claire
Claire Briggs

Career Consultant, CPCC, CPRW
Colorado, United States

Closing paragraph: Wrap up your pitch, thank the employer for considering you and include a call-to-action. Check our previous post for more tips on how to close a cover letter with a bang.

Formal closure: Bade your goodbyes with a “Kind regards, [Your Name Surname] ”. If you are sending your cover letter the old-fashioned way by mail, you should also add a handwritten signature after that.

PRO TIP:

“Use a cover letter to introduce yourself, tell the hiring manager who you are, what you are looking for in your next career opportunity, how this job fits in with your career goals and explain why or how you can bring value to the company by highlighting your key skills which are aligned to the job description.”

Melony
Melony Botha

HR Consultant
London, United Kingdom

Top 3 Cover Letter Writing Styles

Sample Classic Cover Letter

For when your goal is to get that coveted position in a Fortune-500 corporate company or it’s smaller sized counterpart with equally big love for formalities, stick with a very formal, utterly professional cover letter.

This style works best for positions in big business, finance, law, government, retail, and education.

Dear Mr Thompson, I’m writing in response to the position of a Senior Associate Attorney in Divorce Law Firm, advertised on LawCrossing.com.  Enclosed you will find my CV.

As an Associate Attorney at FirmX, I was effectively handling probate administration, estate planning and guardianship cases for the past five years. I successfully won 90% of trials for my clients and negotiated favorable settlement agreements on behalf of my clients.

As a former Court Facilitator, Guardian Ad Litem in the state of Colorado, I also possess deep knowledge in family, juvenile and criminal law. My background in court has prepared me for serving to the clients with great compassion and integrity. My colleagues and bosses have noted on my exceptional negotiation skills, as well as great attention to details, discretion and analytical skills.

In 2015, I have re-joined by former alma mater (the University of Northern Colorado) as a part-time Adjunct Professor. I know that your Big Law Firm is well vested in promoting intellectual vigor among younger staff and future employees through mentorship programs, and I would be honored to join in as a mentor if given a chance.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my candidacy and I would welcome the chance to have an in-person discussion with you concerning my application.

Yours sincerely,

Daniela Baker

Speculative Cover Letter Example

Did you know that around 80% of jobs are never advertised publicly? And yet, they are still getting filled in by the savvy candidates. The “Hidden Job Market” isn’t as mythical as Atlántida – it has been effectively thriving since the 1990s.

“Hidden job market” encompasses all the opportunities filled in through employee referral programs, networking and speculative applications.  Tapping into this cloaked area of job search means that you won’t rub with as many elbows as when applying for publicly advertised openings.

And here are your tips for finding those hidden opportunities:

  • Just ask your friends and family first. Yes, this is deadpan simple. But a lot of people don’t want to come forward about their job search to the close ones. And it’s a shame because your personal network – and the extended personal network – can probably help you land a few solid referrals.
  • Ramp up your LinkedIn game. Because LinkedIn is the biggest networking platform out there, where you can effectively connect with the key decision makers in your industry or a bunch of prolific headhunters, who can also send great opportunities your way. So please, get your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and optimize it for relevant keywords.
  • Direct applications. The vast majority of company websites now have these “We are hiring” pages with all the listed openings. Most will also have a separate “general inquiry” section where you can file your cover letter and your CV.
BigCommerce Careers job application

Here’s a sample speculative cover letter you can file along with your application. Depending on the company/industry, such letters can vary in the degree of formality. This sample cover letter is modeled for a modern tech company.

Dear ‘Company Name’ IT Team,

I’ve read on your corporate blog that you have recently completed your migration to a microservices architecture (congrats!).

I believe that you may be now in need of experienced DevOps engineers to help you orchestrate your systems and fine-tune the continuous deployment pipeline. That’s why I am reaching out to propose my candidacy.

In my current role as Remote DevOps Engineer in e-commerce company XXX, I have managed to accomplish the following:

  • Reduced deployment time for key infrastructure by a factor of 13.
  • Directly managed AWS for the [project name], including configuration and deployment of all required infrastructure, administrative tasks, and budgeting.

I have a strong familiarity with the following tools and technologies:

  • Programming skills: Java, JavaScript and C#
  • Orchestration & container tools: Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Puppet.
  • AWS-certified in 2017.

I’m also flexible to pick up new skills and eager to collaborate with others on your teams. I’m deeply impressed with how you managed remote work at your organization and foster collaboration within a globally distributed team.

Enclosing my CV for your consideration as well.

Regards,
Dan Bloome

Creative Cover Letter Example

In some industries, being incredibly formal can work against you. Most startups or creative agencies will find the standard cover letter a tad bit too snotty and personality-less. Even the traditional companies have a soft spot for unusual applications.

The viral cover letter example  below has recently landed a great internship with a very prestigious Wall Street firm:

real-life honest cover letter for summer internship

The applicant was brutally honest instead of being painfully polite and superficially flattering.

Want to pull a similar stunt? Here’s a less non-conformist, but equally engaging and creative cover letter example. But do proceed with caution! Such letters may not work every time, with every employer.

Dear [Name Surname],

I think words are boring.

Puzzled to hear that from a copywriter?Well, words alone are boring.

When you just paste some random words to your landing page – no one’s buying from you. No one’s even listening to you. And that’s a bad thing for business (#obvious).

I know how to find the words that will stop your customers right there on the spot, make them scroll back, rub their eye…and reach for their credit card.

So hi, I’m James, a conversion copywriter.

I might have spoken to you earlier. If you browsed SaaS Company website or read CoolCompany blog the other day, that was all me, watching you from the other side of the screen.

I also did some okay writing for the following companies:

  • AwesomeApp Landing Page – average conversion rate 12% and over 10,000 sign-ups in the first 24-hours after the launch.
  • New Homepage for Brand Z – a 2X lift in conversions within 3 months.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I don’t just write. I also talk – to your customers, your team and (sometimes in my sleep) – to capture that “special something” that makes everyone tick about your product. I also have a deep love for numbers and get way too excited by heatmaps (my girlfriend’s not thrilled, so please don’t tell her I mentioned this!).

So what do you say? Shall we talk about how I can help your brand develop that new unique voice and drive more sales through data-backed copy?

Regards,
James Knight

P.S. I noticed one major gap on your Service Page Name. Doing a few quick improvements (copy- and design-wise) can increase your conversions by 10-15%.

Final Tip

No matter which format you choose to use, it’s alright to be flexible. Don’t follow the same structure or layout to the last T. Remove paragraphs as needed, experiment with different degrees of formality and don’t forget to customize each letter for each job you are applying for. Hiring managers can sense a generic cover letter a mile away. So you definitely do not want to eschew your chance for landing a job by forgetting to change something as basic as the company name or address!