For anyone sending the same letter twice

Cover Letter Templates That Stay Yours

Cover letter templates with a fixed order and four places to personalise, so the structure is done and the part a recruiter notices is yours.

Start with a template See how it works
A printed one-page cover letter on an oak desk with a fountain pen and a cup of tea
What goes in

Four parts, in this order

Most cover letters fail by burying the point. A good template fixes the order so you can spend your effort on the content.

An opening that names the role

One sentence with the job title and one concrete reason you want it. No greeting paragraph, no claim that you are passionate. The reader should know what this is within ten seconds.

One piece of evidence

A single result from your own work, with a number or a named outcome, chosen because it matches the advert. Two examples dilute each other. One that fits beats three that nearly do.

A sentence about them

Something specific to the employer: a product decision, a market they entered, a problem in the job description. This is the line that proves the letter was not sent to forty companies at once.

A plain closing

Say when you are available and that you would like to talk. Thank the reader once. Stop there. Closing lines that restate your whole CV are the first thing a tired recruiter skips.

How it works

From blank page to sendable draft

The structure is the same for every application. Only the details change, and you decide which ones.

  1. 1

    Read the advert for its verbs

    Underline what the employer asks the new hire to do. Two or three verbs are enough. They tell you which piece of evidence belongs in paragraph two.

  2. 2

    Fill the fixed lines

    Name, role title, company, availability and the standard closing go in once. If you apply often, these never need retyping, and that is the whole saving of using a template.

  3. 3

    Write the two personal lines

    Pick the example and write the sentence about the employer yourself. At the second send you stop rewriting. At the tenth you start refining.

  4. 4

    Read it aloud, then send

    Cut anything you would not say to the hiring manager in person. Check the length against 250 to 350 words. The click to Send is always yours.

Where it works

Three cases where a template is the right tool

A template earns its place when you are applying to several similar roles, when you are returning to work after a gap and want a calm structure to lean on, or when you write cover letters for other people, as recruiters and career advisers do. In each case the order of the letter is the same and the content is the variable. Fixing the first removes the blank-page delay without touching the second.

  • Applying to five or more similar roles in a month
  • Returning to work or changing field and unsure where to start
  • Helping candidates, students or clients with their letters
A hand holding a pencil over a blank sheet of cream paper on a linen cloth
Where it does not

One case where you should type from scratch

If the role is unusual, or the hiring manager has asked a direct question in the advert, a template can push you towards an answer to a different question. Executive searches, academic posts and creative roles often expect a letter built around the situation. The four parts still work as a checklist afterwards, but the argument has to come first. A template is a skeleton, and some bodies need a different one.

  • Executive, academic or creative applications with their own format
  • Adverts that ask you to answer a specific question
  • Applications where a personal referral changes the opening
See the templates
A notebook with a handwritten list beside a laptop on a tidy wooden desk
Questions

Common questions about cover letter templates

What should a cover letter template include?
Four parts: an opening line that names the role and one reason you want it, a paragraph of evidence from your own work, a short paragraph about why this employer, and a plain closing with your availability. Everything else is decoration. A good cover letter template fixes the order and leaves the content to you.
Are cover letter templates bad for your application?
Not if you treat them as structure. Recruiters reject letters that read like a form, not letters that follow a sensible order. If the opening, the example and the company paragraph are specific to the role, the skeleton underneath is invisible to the person reading it.
How long should a cover letter be?
Between 250 and 350 words, in three or four short paragraphs, well under one page. If a draft runs past 400 words, cut the paragraph that repeats your CV rather than shrinking the font.
Should I use a different template for each job?
Keep one structure and change the content. A single skeleton you know by heart is faster than collecting twenty layouts. What must change every time is the opening line, the example you choose and the sentence about the employer.
Can I use AI to fill a cover letter template?
Yes, for the repetitive parts: your contact details, the role title, the dates and the standard closing. Write the evidence paragraph and the company sentence yourself. Those two are the places where readers notice generic wording, and they are the reason the letter gets a reply.
Does a cover letter template work with applicant tracking systems?
Plain text and simple paragraphs parse reliably. Avoid tables, text boxes, columns and images in the letter itself. A template that is just headed paragraphs in a standard font will pass through any system without losing content.
When should I write a cover letter from scratch?
When the role is unusual, when you are changing field, or when a hiring manager has written something specific you need to answer. In those cases the structure still helps as a checklist, but the argument has to be built around the particular situation.

Write it once, send it calmly

Fill the structure, change two sentences, and press send yourself. The boilerplate disappears. The personal part stays yours.

Start with a template Back to the four parts
Oh · Boiler
Start writing