Do you still need one
Sometimes. The rule that covers most cases is short: if the advert asks for one, write one and take it seriously, because leaving it out is an easy reason to put your application aside. If the application form has no field for it and nobody has asked, your effort is better spent on the CV.
It is worth the time when:
- You are changing career, and the CV alone would leave the reader confused about why you applied.
- You have a gap, a redundancy or a short stint that needs a sentence of context.
- You are moving to a different county or into Ireland, and want to head off the question of whether you are serious about relocating.
- The employer is small enough that one person reads everything, which is most Irish SMEs.
It is usually wasted on:
- Large graduate programmes with their own structured application forms.
- Agency applications, where a recruiter is working through a long list and only needs the CV.
- Job board quick-apply buttons that give you nowhere sensible to put it.
What it does that your CV cannot
Your CV shows what you have done. It has no room for reasoning, and no way to explain anything that looks unusual from the outside.
The letter is the only place you can say why this employer, why this role, and why the move makes sense from where you are standing. A reader who understands your reasoning treats an imperfect match far more generously than one left to guess at it.
The four paragraphs
One page, four short paragraphs. Three quarters of a page is better than a full one.
Name the role, and where you saw it advertised. One or two lines, no throat-clearing.
Two or three sentences on the parts of your experience that line up most closely with what the advert asks for. Pick the two or three requirements they listed first.
One or two lines showing you know something real about the employer. A recent contract, an office they opened, the part of their work that overlaps with yours.
Say you would welcome the chance to talk it through, and thank them for their time. Two lines.
A full worked example
This is roughly the length to aim for. Notice how little of it repeats the CV.
I am writing to apply for the Assistant Accountant position advertised on your careers page last week.
I have spent the last four years in accounts roles in construction and manufacturing, and for the last two of those I have run accounts payable and the month-end close on my own, including through two external audits. Your advert puts month-end and audit support at the top, which is where most of my day currently goes. I am part-qualified ACCA and due to sit my final two exams this year.
I have been following your expansion into the Cork site since it was announced, and the mix of a growing finance function inside an established business is the sort of move I have been looking for. I would rather be somewhere the role can widen than somewhere it is fixed.
I would welcome the chance to talk it through. Thank you for your time.
Want a look at what you have?
Send me your CV and I will tell you what is working and what is holding it back. If you send the advert you are going for as well, the notes get a lot more specific. I do these myself, so it takes up to 7 days, and there is no obligation afterwards.
Get My Free ReviewFormat, length and sending it
- Address it to a person where you can find one. The advert, the careers page or LinkedIn usually gives you a name. "Dear Hiring Manager" is acceptable if you cannot find one. Avoid "To Whom It May Concern", which reads like a circular.
- Sign off correctly. "Yours sincerely" when you have named the person, "Yours faithfully" when you have not.
- One page, never more. Four short paragraphs will not fill a page, and that is fine.
- Match the CV. Same font, same header block with your name and contact details, so the two documents look like a set.
- Send a PDF unless the advert asks for something else, and name the file after yourself. Mary Kelly Cover Letter.pdf.
- If you are applying by email, the body of the email is your cover letter. Do not write a short email and attach a letter that says the same thing again.
What gets a letter skipped
- Retelling the CV in paragraphs. The reader already has the CV. A letter that adds nothing gets skimmed and forgotten.
- Writing about what you want. "This role would be a great opportunity for me to develop" is about you. Turn it around to what you would bring.
- The wrong company name. It happens constantly with reused letters, and it ends the application on the spot. If you reuse, check the name and the role title twice.
- Opening with how excited you are. Enthusiasm reads better in what you chose to write about than in a sentence claiming it.
- Going over a page. A two page letter suggests you could not decide what mattered.
- An error in the first line. That is the line most likely to be read carefully, so it is the worst place for a typo.
The 10 point CV checklist
Ten things Irish recruiters check before shortlisting, as a checklist you can work through against your own CV. Takes about five minutes. Free.
Or have the pair written together
A cover letter works best when it is written alongside the CV rather than bolted on afterwards. Complete and Ultimate both include one.