Cover letter formats that survive the form
Most applications take a cover letter as a text box rather than a file, which discards every design decision in it. What is left is the writing — so the structure is what matters.
- Reads cleanlySimpleFour paragraphs, your contact details at the top, no graphics. A cover letter is read by a person if it is read at all, so the only job the format has is to not get in the way.
- Reads cleanlyProfessionalThe business letter, unchanged: sender, date, recipient, subject, body, sign-off. Conservative fields expect it and notice when it is missing.
- Reads cleanlyModernA light header, a sans-serif face, plenty of space, one column. The restrained end of the design spectrum, and the one that survives being flattened.
- Reads cleanlyPopularFour structures cover almost every letter written. They differ in what the opening does, which is the only part reliably read.
- Reads cleanlyPrimoOne of the named layouts a template gallery sells. Underneath the name it is a single-column letter with a tinted header, and the structure matters more than the label.
- Usable with careCreativeColour, a matching header, sometimes a sidebar. Worth remembering that most systems will take this letter as a text box and throw the design away before anyone sees it.
- Usable with carePremiumTypography, a matching set, and a licence. The letter still has to work as a text box, because that is how most of them are submitted.
Write one, free
Our builder writes the structure that survives extraction, exports as PDF, Word or plain text, and shows what a parser reads back as you type. No account, no watermark, and the download is not the paywall.
Open the free builderOr check the one you have
Drop it in and see the text a screening system gets out of it. Read in this tab; nothing is uploaded.
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