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6 Secrets To Writing A Great Cover Letter

Seth Porges
This article is more than 7 years old.


Of course, the Internet is full of tips and tutorials on writing a cover letter, but few of them give much useful information other than the obvious ("Use good grammar!"). So I got to thinking about what cover letter tips and techniques have served me over the years. I came up with these six golden rules for writing a cover letter somebody will actually want to read.

1) Don't repeat your resume


2) Keep it short


3) Address Nobody

Sometimes, you don't know exactly who you should be addressing your letter to. Nix the generic and bland "Dear Hiring Manager" or "To Whom It May Concern". If you absolutely don't know who you should be addressing, then don't address anybody. Instead, just jump right into the body of the letter.

4) Send it as a PDF


introduce formatting errors. Both are bad. (Note: This story originally suggested .doc files. Definitely better than .docx, but, as the comments pointed out, PDF is surely better. It can't be easily tampered with, and you have more control over how it appears on somebody's screen.)

5) Never ever, ever use the following phrase

"My name is ___, and I am applying for the position as ____".They already know this, and you'll sound inexperienced.

6) Close strong

Finish off by quickly (and I mean quickly) explaining how your experience or worldview will help you at the job. That's key. That's the closer. And it can be done in one to two seconds. If it goes any longer, you're just rambling.

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I'm a New York-based writer and entrepreneur. I appear on a few shows on the Travel, Science, History, Discovery, and Nat Geo channels. I also write for numerous publications, including Forbes. As a writer, I'm interested in the intersection between technology, human experience, design, and culture. For more fun, you can follow me on Twitter: @sethporges, subscribe to me on Facebook.