Free cover letter templates

Cover letter templates that match your CV

Add your name, pick a colour, download. Six layouts, one per CV template.

6
Templates
Word + PDF
Both formats
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Colour

Fictional example. Maria Novak is not a real person and Lumen Analytics is not a real company.

  • Modern Professional

    No subject line · Accent rule · 1 matching CV

  • Classic ATS-Friendly

    No subject line · Accent rule · 1 matching CV

  • Minimal Clean

    No subject line · No accent rule · 1 matching CV

  • Harvard Style

    No subject line · Accent rule · 1 matching CV

  • Executive Bold

    No subject line · Accent rule · 1 matching CV

  • Europass Formal

    Subject line · Accent rule · 3 matching CVs

The letter gets your CV read. Make sure it holds up.

Open CV Lab

What the four paragraphs are for

Every template below contains the same worked example, written to this shape. The layout is a container; this is the part that decides whether the letter is worth sending.

  1. Which job, and the one reason you are credible for it

    Name the role and say in a sentence why you are a plausible candidate. No "I am writing to apply for" preamble and no adjectives about yourself — a specific fact does the work that "passionate and detail-oriented" cannot.

  2. One piece of evidence, told as a story

    Pick a single thing you did that matches what the posting is asking for, and tell it properly: the situation, what you did, what changed. One example told in full beats four listed in a row, and it is the part of the letter that is not already on your CV.

  3. Why this employer, specifically

    Something true about this organisation that you could not write to any other one. If you cannot find anything, that is worth noticing before you apply.

  4. A plain close

    Say you would welcome a conversation and thank them. No "I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience".

Need the CV to go with it? The CV templates come in the same families.

Questions

Does anyone still read cover letters?
It depends on the employer, and nobody can tell you which one you are dealing with. What is safe to say: when a posting asks for one, not sending it is a reason to discard you, and when the letter is four recycled paragraphs it adds nothing. Writing one worth reading takes about twenty minutes, so the question is really whether this particular job is worth twenty minutes.
How long should it be?
One page, and most of a page is plenty: three or four paragraphs. The sample in these templates is four. If it runs past one page, the second page is usually your CV repeated back in sentences.
Who do I address it to?
A name if the posting gives one, or if you can find the hiring manager without guessing. If you cannot, "Dear Hiring Team" is fine and is what the samples use. Do not write "Dear Sir or Madam", and do not invent a name — getting it wrong is worse than not having it.
Should the letter match my CV?
It helps. Each of these six families matches a CV template of the same name, so the header, typeface and accent line up when the two arrive in the same email. The Europass letter is the match for all three Europass CVs.
Do I have to join the mailing list?
No. The box is optional and starts unticked, and the download works the same either way.