How to Start a Cover Letter: Greeting First, Then 20 Opening Lines

Start a cover letter with a greeting that names a real person if you can find one, then a first sentence that states the job you want and your strongest reason for fit. Skip "I am writing to apply" and flattery. Below are 20 opening lines for referrals, career changes, graduates and internal moves, plus US, UK and Australian greeting rules.

The short answer: two decisions before the first sentence

A strong opening has two parts, and the first is not a sentence at all.

1. The greeting. Address a named person whenever you can: "Dear Ms Okafor," or "Dear Daniel Reyes,". If there is no name, address the team: "Dear Marketing Team,".
2. The first sentence. Say which job you are applying for and give one specific reason you fit it. A reader who stops after this sentence should still know who you are and what you want.

Everything else in this guide is a way of doing those two things well. The rest of the letter is covered in how to write a cover letter, and the layout in cover letter format.

Choose the greeting first

The greeting is the first thing a reader sees, and it is where most applicants lose a little goodwill. Use this order of preference.

1. A named person. Check the job ad, the company's team page, the recruiter's email signature or the professional profile of the hiring manager. Copy the spelling exactly.
2. A named team. "Dear Customer Support Team," or "Dear Hiring Committee," reads as written for this employer.
3. "Dear Hiring Manager,". Acceptable and safe when nothing else is available.
4. The full name when the title is unclear. "Dear Alex Rivera," avoids guessing a title or gender. Our guide to Ms, Mrs, Miss and Mx explains the options.

Avoid "To whom it may concern" for applications because it signals a mass mailing; see To whom it may concern for where it still fits.

US, UK and Australian conventions

The sign-off rule matters because the greeting sets it. In British and Australian English, "Dear Ms Whitfield" ends with "Yours sincerely" and "Dear Sir or Madam" ends with "Yours faithfully". Our comparison Yours sincerely vs yours faithfully goes through the pairs. For American readers, "Sincerely," works in both cases.

What a good first sentence does

A good opening sentence does three jobs in about 20 to 35 words:

• names the role (and the company, if it fits naturally);
• states one fact about you that matches the role;
• sounds like a person, not a template.

Compare these two openers for the same job.

Generic: I am writing to apply for the Operations Analyst position advertised on your website. I believe I would be a great fit for this role.

Specific: I am applying for the Operations Analyst role at Harbor Logistics. For the past three years I have built the weekly delivery reports that a regional warehouse team used to plan its shifts.

The second version contains a real task, a time span you could verify and a clear link to the job. It does not claim greatness; it shows evidence. Use only facts that are true for you.

20 opening lines by situation

These are patterns, not scripts. Replace every detail with your own, and drop any line that claims something you cannot back up. Names and companies below are invented.

When you have a referral

1. "Priya Nair on your logistics team suggested I contact you about the Operations Analyst opening, and I would like to be considered."
2. "After speaking with Marcus Lee at the industry meetup last month, I am applying for the Account Manager role at Brightwell."
3. "Your colleague Sam Ortiz mentioned that the data team is hiring, and my work on reporting dashboards seems to match what she described."

Only name a referrer who has agreed to be named. Put the referral in the first sentence, because it is the strongest signal you have.

When you are changing careers

1. "After six years teaching secondary maths, I am moving into data analysis, and I am applying for the Junior Analyst role at Meridian Health."
2. "My work as a nurse taught me to record, check and explain data under pressure, which is why the Clinical Data Coordinator role appeals to me."
3. "I spent eight years in retail management, and I am now applying those scheduling and budgeting skills to the Operations Coordinator position."

Name the change plainly, then connect the old work to the new. A career changer who hides the switch invites doubt; one who explains it earns trust.

When you are a recent graduate

1. "I graduated in June with a degree in economics, and I am applying for the Graduate Analyst programme because my dissertation on regional housing prices used the same forecasting methods your team describes."
2. "As a final-year communications student who has run my university's newsletter for two years, I am applying for your Content Assistant internship."
3. "My placement year at a local council gave me hands-on experience with budget reports, which is why I am applying for your Finance Trainee role."

In the UK and Australia, "programme" and "placement" are the usual words; in the US, "program" and "internship" are more common. A graduate's evidence is coursework, placements, projects and volunteering. Describe what you did, not just where.

When you are moving internally

1. "I have worked on the support team for three years and would like to apply for the Team Lead vacancy advertised on the intranet."
2. "After leading the onboarding project for our regional office, I am applying for the Project Coordinator role in the central team."
3. "Having supported your sales team from the finance side for two years, I would like to move into the Business Partner position."

Internal letters can be short, because the reader knows the company. Skip company praise and focus on what you did in the building.

When you are answering a specific job-ad requirement

1. "Your advertisement asks for someone who can manage multiple vendor contracts; in my current role I manage twelve."
2. "You are looking for a copywriter with B2B software experience, and I have written product pages and release notes for a software company for four years."
3. "The role calls for fluent Spanish and English; I use both daily in my work as a bilingual customer adviser."

Mirroring a requirement is effective only when you can follow it with a true, specific fact. Number claims must be real numbers from your own work.

When you are applying with a clear interest in the employer

1. "I have used your accessibility checklist in my own projects, so the opportunity to join the team that maintains it as a Technical Writer is exactly the work I want."
2. "Your recent move to open the second distribution centre in Leeds suggests the planning team is growing, and I would like to join it as a Logistics Planner."
3. "Having volunteered at a food bank for five years, I am drawn to the Programme Coordinator role at your charity."

Show interest through something concrete and public: a product, a report, an announcement. Flattery without a detail ("I admire your innovative culture") reads as filler.

When you want a short, plain opening

1. "I am applying for the Customer Service Adviser position. I have four years of phone and email support experience, and I would welcome the chance to bring it to your team."
2. "Please consider my application for the Accounts Assistant role. I am a part-qualified accountant with experience in month-end reconciliation."

Plain openings suit conservative industries and tight word counts. Their strength is clarity.

Openers that sound generic, and how to fix them

The pattern in each fix is the same: replace a general claim with one concrete fact and a clear target.

A quick checklist for your first two lines

• Is the greeting addressed to a real name, or at least a real team?
• Does the first sentence name the job?
• Does it include one specific fact about you that is true and relevant?
• Could it be pasted into another company's letter unchanged? If yes, rewrite it.
• Is it under about 40 words, so it can be read at a glance?
• Does the spelling match the employer's country (organise or organize)?

Using AdeptWrite for the opening

AdeptWrite does not know your history, so any opener it produces needs your facts. Used with care, it can speed up drafting.

1. Open the Cover Letter Generator, enter the position, the company and your experience, and choose a mode such as recent graduate, experienced or internship. Treat the result as a first draft.
2. Replace every generic phrase with a real fact from your own work, and delete anything you cannot support.
3. Run the text through the Grammar Checker and the Spell Checker, picking the English variant your reader uses.
4. If the draft sounds too stiff, try the Tone Changer. If the first line is too long, the Sentence Shortener & Expander can trim it.

Free runs take up to 6,000 characters, far more than a one-page letter needs. The tools generate text; the claims in the letter remain yours.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Starting with yourself instead of the job. "My name is..." tells the reader nothing they cannot see.
• Using the same opener for every application. Hiring managers recognise templates.
• Overclaiming. "The best candidate you will meet" is a risk, not a strength.
• Burying the referral. If someone suggested you apply, say so in line one.
• Making the opener longer than the evidence. One sentence of setup, then proof.
• Spelling the contact's name wrongly. It is the most visible error in the letter.

For ready-made full letters, see cover letter examples.

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