A business cover letter is a document you write and submit alongside your resume when looking for a job. Unlike your resume, which is more about factual information, skills, and experiences, a cover letter gives you the opportunity to highlight your drive and passion as well.
If you're looking to maximize your chances of impressing hiring managers and landing an interview, this guide will help you craft an impeccable business cover letter. You’ll learn how to format such a document, what to include in it, and what details to focus on to make it stand out among the competition.
Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
Your cover letter should be one page long and have between 250 and 400 words split into 3–5 paragraphs.
A strong introductory paragraph acts as an elevator pitch, persuading the reader to pay attention to the rest of the writing.
Your skills and qualifications outlined in the document should be relevant to the role you’re applying for.
Adding a call to action to the final paragraph of your cover letter significantly increases the odds of getting an interview invitation.
What Format Should I Use for a Business Cover Letter?
A business letter format is an industry standard for business cover letters. It offers a proven way of arranging the parts of your document so that they optimally convey information to hiring managers.
Here’s how you should sort the sections of your cover letter:
Cover Letter Mandatory Details
Contact information goes in the header.
A polite greeting introduces the reader to your letter.
The body of the text should have three distinct parts, which are:
An introductory paragraph that grabs attention
A middle portion that should be all about your drive and qualifications
A closing paragraph that should feature a call to action
A cordial conclusion closes the letter, along with your sign-off.
In addition to the format, you should also consider your cover letter’s layout. To create a visually appealing document, you can follow these guidelines:
Cover Letter Layout Guidelines
The optimal length for a cover letter is 250–400 words and 3–5 paragraphs.
A professional font like Arial or Helvetica will make your document sleek and legible.
The font size should be 10–12 pt.
Line spacing should be 1.0, with an additional line between paragraphs for an orderly look.
Margins should be at least 1 inch.
These rules will help you design an outstanding business cover letter from scratch. However, if you want to speed things up and ensure a perfect format and layout without worry, you should check out our cover letter builder.
We developed a robust software solution you can use with no prior experience. Choose any of the countless expertly made cover letter templates, customize them to your liking, input your writing, and you can have a submission-ready business cover letter in minutes!
Business Cover Letter: 7 Fundamental Parts
There are seven fundamental parts every business letter should have, so let’s go through each one. To visualize what we’re talking about, here’s a simple and straightforward blueprint:
#1. Heading
Most business letters—cover letters included—should have a date and contact information in the heading.
You should begin with your details and list the following:
Heading Mandatory Details
Name
Job title
Phone number
Email address
Optionally, you can add:
Heading Optional Details
Address
LinkedIn
Personal website or portfolio
Following that, you should include the date and location of writing. Then, you want to proceed with the recipient’s contact information, including their name, job title, company name, and address.
Here’s all that in an example:
Header Example
David Cawley Administrative Assistant 853 Clarksburg Park Road Phoenix, AZ 85006 928-253-9057 davidcawley@example.com
Phoenix, 03/10/2024
James Friesen HR Manager Bridging Solutions 1352 Crowfield Road Phoenix, AZ 85023
#2. Greeting
The main purpose of a greeting is to address the reader. This politely introduces them to your writing and establishes a connection. To make that first contact as impactful as possible, you should address the recipient by their name.
This shows that you’re willing to go the extra mile since you researched the company before writing a letter. Moreover, it personalizes the letter, helping you build rapport better.
Here’s an example:
Greeting Example
Dear Mr. Friesen,
You should avoid universal openings like “Dear Sir or Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern.” They are too generic and impersonal, and you’re better off using the recipient’s job title or department.
#3. Introduction
The introduction should point out the position that you’re applying for and your key skills or most notable accomplishments. By starting your cover letter this way, you grab the reader’s attention and persuade them to focus on the rest.
Check out the following example:
Introduction Example
With more than seven years of experience as an administrative assistant, I am excited to apply for an open position at Bridging Solutions. One of my most notable achievements includes assisting a company to generate more than $11 million in revenue by managing schedules for clients and subcontractors across seven different job sites.
#4. Skills, Qualifications, & Experiences
The body of your business cover letter should emphasize the key skills, qualifications, and experiences that make you the best candidate for the role. This means you shouldn’t haphazardly include every ability or accomplishment that comes to mind, but only those that you know hiring managers want to see.
Therefore, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the organization and the role that you’re applying for. In addition to looking into the company, you also want to carefully examine the job ad and see what employers look for in candidates.
An entry-level business cover letter should focus more on hard and soft skills, while experienced professionals should highlight their accomplishments instead.
Here’s a good example of how you can demonstrate your competence:
Skills, Qualifications, & Experiences Example
I was frequently tasked with organizing high-profile events, where I achieved a 99% attendee satisfaction rate. Moreover, I coordinated with potential employees and an HR department, which led to more than 17 successful hires. I used that experience to develop a robust training program for newcomers, reducing their onboarding times by 20%.
#5. Reasons for Applying
One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from other candidates is to highlight your motivation by mentioning specific reasons for applying. You can mention something particular about the organization that you like, which gives you another opportunity to show in-depth knowledge of the company.
This demonstrates to hiring managers that you’ll likely be a strong cultural fit and that you’ll integrate into their team better than the average job seeker.
Let’s see that in an example:
Reasons for Applying Example
One of the biggest reasons I am applying to Bridging Solutions is your dedication to fostering collaborative environments and incorporating state-of-the-art technology to streamline processes. I am eager to join a forward-looking team that enthusiastically tackles challenges and loves to solve industry problems through innovation.
#6. Call to Action
In the context of your business cover letter, a call to action is a powerful tool that can elicit a response from the reader. You can use it to suggest to hiring managers that they check out your resume or portfolio or call you for an interview.
Here’s a good example:
Call to Action Example
Thank you for taking the time to consider my application. You can find more information about my qualifications in the attached resume. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss over an interview how my project management tools and strategies can help me contribute to your goals.
#7. Conclusion & Sign-Off
A cordial conclusion with your sign-off is the traditional way of wrapping up business correspondence.
You should include one of many polite closings followed by your name, like in this example:
Conclusion & Sign-Off Example
Kind regards, David Cawley
Here's how to put everything that we’ve learned into practice and check out a complete example of a business cover letter:
Cover letter templates
Create a cover letter by filling in a free template and sharing it for freeWhether you’re writing a business cover letter with no experience or as a veteran in the industry, these five strategies will help you make it exceptional:
Top 5 Best Strategies for Writing a Business Cover Letter
You should leverage numbers to quantify your accomplishments. They add concrete value to your efforts, making it easier for hiring managers to determine your competence and the impact your work has.
Your cover letter should match your business resume. Layouts should be the same (e.g., you should use the same font type and size), and the information should be complementary. Don’t just repeat the same skills and qualifications in both documents; use different ones to paint a complete picture of who you are as a professional.
You should incorporate keywords you find in the job ad into your cover letter. Keywords can be anything from the job title to specific skills. Adding them can help you pass the ATS scan. Plus, hiring managers look for them when reading your letter.
You should proofread with care. Precision and attention to detail are crucial in business, which is why your cover letter should be spotless. Even a single typo or a grammar mistake can draw the wrong kind of attention.
Don’t forget to follow up if you don’t get a response within a few days to a week. A brief and polite reminder can help jog the hiring manager’s memory, increasing your chances of getting a response.
Final Thoughts
Business is a vast field with varying job outlooks. Tax examiners and revenue agents look at a steady 1% job growth, while job analysis specialists have a faster-than-average job outlook of 7%. The competition can be fierce, but a well-written business cover letter can get you ahead.
So, feel free to go through the guidelines and the provided sample of a cover letter for a job application once more until you’re confident in your skills to write your own. Once again, you’re welcome to use our cover letter builder to streamline and simplify the process.
No matter the route you pick, you’re guaranteed to write an outstanding document, after which you should start preparing answers to the most common interview questions. Good luck!
