Popular cover letter

Four structures cover almost every letter written. They differ in what the opening does, which is the only part reliably read.

What this layout usually means

  • The standard four-paragraph letter — why them, why you, what you did, the ask
  • The "T" letter, matching their requirements to your evidence in two columns
  • The story opening, one specific thing you did, then why it fits
  • The referral letter, which leads with the name of the person who sent you

What happens when a machine reads it

Not an opinion about design. These are the things a text extractor does with a page, and you can watch ours do them to your own file at the bottom of this page.

The "T" letter
Effective on paper and destroyed by any form that takes plain text, because the two columns interleave. Keep a flattened version.
Reusing one letter
The structure is reusable; the first paragraph is not. A letter that could have been sent to anyone reads exactly like one.

Reads cleanly

The four-paragraph letter, with a first line naming something specific about the employer. Everything else is arrangement.

Write one instead

Our builder writes the structure above, exports as PDF, Word or plain text, and shows you what a parser reads back as you type. Free, no account, and the download is not the paywall.

Open the free builder

Or check the one you have

Drop it here and see the text a screening system gets — which sections it finds, which it loses, and what it decides you do for a living. Read in this tab; nothing is uploaded.

Your file is read by code running in this tab. It is never sent anywhere, and we never see it. Open your browser’s network tab and drop it again — you will see no upload.