Cover Letter Format: Layout, Length and a Template You Can Copy

A cover letter is one page: your contact details, the date, the employer's name and address, a greeting, three or four short paragraphs, a sign-off and your name. Use a plain 11 or 12 point font, 1 inch (2.5 cm) margins and left-aligned text. Dates differ by country (US month first, UK and Australia day first). Send a PDF or paste the text, as the employer instructs.

The standard cover letter format at a glance

A cover letter has eight parts, always in the same order. Employers skim, so a predictable layout helps the reader find what they need in seconds.

1. Your header: name, phone, email, and optionally city and LinkedIn address.
2. The date: the day you send it.
3. The recipient block: the contact's name and job title, the company, and its address.
4. The greeting: "Dear Ms Okafor," or "Dear Hiring Manager,".
5. Opening paragraph: the job you want and your strongest reason for fit.
6. One or two body paragraphs: evidence, then why this employer.
7. Closing paragraph: a short call to action.
8. The sign-off and your name: "Sincerely," or "Yours sincerely," followed by your typed name.

The whole letter fits on one page, typically 250 to 400 words. That is a widely used convention, not a rule written down by any standards body, and a few employers state their own limits in the job ad. If the ad says something different, follow the ad.

This guide covers layout only. For what to say in each paragraph, see how to write a cover letter, and for the first lines in particular, how to start a cover letter.

A cover letter template you can copy

Replace everything in capitals or brackets. The example uses US conventions; the next section shows what changes in the UK and Australia.

JORDAN ELLIS
(555) 014-2290 | jordan.ellis@example.com | Columbus, OH

March 4, 2027

Ms. Dana Whitfield
Hiring Manager, Operations
Harbor Logistics
200 Example Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Dear Ms. Whitfield,

[Paragraph 1: the job title, the company, and your strongest match in one or two sentences.]

[Paragraph 2: one or two results that prove the match, with a number or a concrete outcome where you honestly have one.]

[Paragraph 3: why this employer, using something specific from their work or the job ad.]

[Closing: thank the reader and ask for a conversation.]

Sincerely,
Jordan Ellis

Every name, address and number above is made up for the template. Use your own details, and only claims that are true for you.

US, UK and Australian conventions side by side

The structure is identical in all three countries. The details that change are small, but they are the ones a local reader notices.

Two rules cover most mistakes.

• Month first or day first. In the US, "03/04/2027" means March 4. In the UK and Australia it means 4 April. Write the month as a word and the ambiguity disappears.
• Match the sign-off to the greeting in British and Australian English: "Dear Ms Whitfield" ends with "Yours sincerely"; "Dear Sir or Madam" ends with "Yours faithfully". In the US, "Sincerely" works for both. Our email sign-off guide, how to end an email, covers the same choices for shorter messages.

Use the spelling variant of the employer's country throughout. A Canadian employer usually expects Canadian spelling, which mixes American "-ize" and "-or" patterns with British "centre" and "cheque". The Spell Checker lets you pick American or British English, so set it to match the reader.

Margins, fonts and length: a checklist that works in Word and Google Docs

These settings produce a clean one-page letter in both programs.

Before you finish:

• Put the header on the same lines every time, then match it to your CV or resume so the two documents look like a pair. If you are unsure which document your target country expects, read CV versus resume.
• Turn off automatic bullet and numbering features inside the letter body. A cover letter is written in paragraphs.

Salutation, opening and sign-off in practice

The greeting

Use the name of a real person whenever you can find one: on the job ad, on the company's team page, or in the recruiter's email signature. Without a name, "Dear Hiring Manager," is acceptable and "Dear [Team name] team," is often better. Avoid "To whom it may concern" for an application; we explain why in our note on To whom it may concern.

If you cannot tell a contact's gender or title, use the full name: "Dear Alex Rivera,". It is safe in every country. Our guide to Ms, Mrs, Miss and Mx explains the titles.

The paragraphs

A common shape is four short paragraphs of two to five lines each.

• Opening (2 to 3 lines): the role, the company, and the strongest reason you fit.
• Evidence (4 to 6 lines): one or two results that prove it.
• Employer fit (3 to 4 lines): why this company, in terms only this company could receive.
• Close (2 to 3 lines): thanks and a clear next step, such as "I would welcome a conversation about the role."

For a role with a short application form, three paragraphs is enough. More than four is a sign that the letter is repeating the CV.

The sign-off

Put the closing phrase, a blank line, and your typed name. If you send a printed letter, leave four lines for a signature. For a PDF or email, a typed name is standard; a scanned signature image is optional and adds nothing the employer needs.

Email body or PDF attachment?

Follow the employer's instructions first. If the ad says "upload your cover letter", use the upload field. If it says "email your application to jobs@...", read the rest of the sentence for the format. When nothing is stated, use this rule.

PDF keeps your layout fixed across devices. Send a Word file only if the employer asks for one. Some applicant tracking systems read text from a PDF correctly and some handle certain layouts poorly, so avoid text boxes, tables for layout, headers and footers that hold key information, and images of text. A simple single-column document is the safest choice.

File names

Use a name a recruiter could find a week later in a download folder.

• Good: Ellis_Jordan_CoverLetter_OperationsAnalyst.pdf
• Good: Jordan-Ellis-Cover-Letter.pdf
• Poor: Cover letter final v3 (2).docx
• Poor: Document1.pdf

Avoid special characters, and keep the name parallel to your CV file name.

Email subject lines

The subject line should state what the email is, so it is not mistaken for spam.

• If the ad gives a format, copy it exactly: "Application: Operations Analyst, ref. OA-117".
• If it does not: "Application for Operations Analyst – Jordan Ellis".
• If someone referred you: "Operations Analyst application – referred by Priya Nair" (only if she did refer you).

The email body should be brief. Say which job you are applying for, mention that your CV and letter are attached, and thank the reader. If you paste the full letter in the body, drop the address block and the date, because the email already carries both. See email subject lines for more patterns.

Common layout mistakes

Using AdeptWrite to produce a clean letter

AdeptWrite does not format documents for you. It helps with the words inside the layout.

1. Draft with the Cover Letter Generator. It builds a first version from the position, the company and your experience, with modes such as recent graduate, experienced, internship, standard and formal. The result is generated text, so replace anything generic with your own facts and delete any claim you cannot back up.
2. Paste the text into your template and set the margins and fonts from the checklist above.
3. Run it through the Grammar Checker and the Spell Checker, choosing the right English variant.
4. If a paragraph is too casual or too stiff, try the Tone Changer and edit the result by hand.
5. For the short email that carries your attachments, the Email & Letter Writer has a job application mode.

Free runs take up to 6,000 characters, far more than a one-page letter needs. Read every line aloud before you send it.

Final format check

1. Is it one page, with 1 inch margins and a readable 11 or 12 point font?
2. Does the date use a written month, in the order your reader's country expects?
3. Are the contact's name, title and company spelled correctly?
4. Does the sign-off match the greeting (British and Australian English)?
5. Is the file a PDF with a clear name, unless the employer asked for Word?
6. Does the email subject line say what the email is?
7. Have you read it once on a phone-sized screen?

If all seven are yes, the format is done and the content can do its job.

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