Optional cover letter: should you send one?

The honest answer

Some recruiters read every cover letter. Some never open them. You cannot tell which kind will read yours. That makes a short, specific letter a cheap bet: fifteen minutes that may be the thing that sets you apart, and costs you nothing if it goes unread. A long, generic letter is the opposite. It takes longer to write, and if it is read, it tells the reader you send the same thing everywhere.

When it is worth writing one

• You really want this job. Put your effort where it matters most to you.
• Your CV needs explaining. A career change, a gap, a move to a new country, or applying for a remote role from abroad. A cover letter is where you say it in your own words.
• Someone referred you. Name them in the first line.
• The company is small. At a small company the person reading is often the person you would work with.
• The posting asks you something, such as to mention a particular word or answer a question. Then it is not really optional.

When it is fine to skip

• The form already asks “Why do you want to work here?”. Put your effort into that answer instead; it does the same job.
• All you could write is generic. No letter is better than a template with the company name swapped in.
• The role is one of many similar ones you are applying for, and your CV already makes the case.

A structure that takes fifteen minutes

Three short paragraphs, 150 to 250 words in all:

1. The role, and one specific reason you want it at this company. Skip “I am writing to apply for…”; they know.
2. One or two results that matter most for this job, with numbers where you have them. Don’t repeat your CV; pick the evidence that fits what they asked for.
3. Anything practical, then a short close. When you could start, where you are based, that you would be glad to talk.

The first paragraph is the hardest. Our guide to answering “Why do you want to work here?” works for it too.

File or text box?

• If the form wants a file, use a PDF with the same name and contact details at the top as your CV, and a clear file name such as “Jordan-Lee-Cover-Letter.pdf”.
• If it is a text box, leave out the postal address block and the date. Open with “Dear hiring team”, or the person’s name if you know it, and keep it shorter than you would on paper.

Mistakes that undo a good letter

• The wrong company name, left over from the last letter. Read the first and last lines again before sending.
• Your CV, rewritten as prose. Pick, don’t list.
• Apologising for what you lack. Lead with what you bring.
• More than a page. Nobody has ever wished a cover letter were longer.

How Draftloop helps

• It writes the cover-letter box for you, from your CV and the job posting in front of you, using only facts that are in your profile. The draft is marked purple so you read it first, and Rewrite gives you another version.
• It attaches your own cover letter where a form asks for a file, if you have saved one in Draftloop, and never puts your CV in a cover-letter field by mistake.