What Irish employers expect
Irish cover letters follow British letter conventions more than American ones. A few details mark a letter out as written for here:
- One page, and usually less. Three quarters of a page is the target. Four short paragraphs will not fill a page, and they do not need to.
- A formal greeting and the matching sign-off. "Dear Ms Byrne" with "Yours sincerely". "Dear Hiring Manager" with "Yours faithfully". "To Whom It May Concern" reads like a circular and is best avoided.
- Dates written the Irish way. 7 October 2026, with the day first.
- Irish and British spelling. Organised, programme, colour. Set your document language to English (Ireland) so the spellchecker agrees.
- A plain, confident tone. Specific evidence persuades a reader far more than adjectives about yourself.
The template, part by part
Each part below says what it is for and what belongs in it. The wording is yours to write, and it should be specific to you and to the job.
Your name, phone number, email address, and town and county, at the top of the page. Use the same header as your CV, in the same font, so the two documents look like a set.
The date, then the name of the person you are writing to, their job title and the company name. A full postal address is optional if you are sending it online.
"Dear Ms Byrne," or "Dear Mr Byrne," if you have a name. "Dear Hiring Manager," if you do not.
One or two sentences naming the role, any reference number, and where you saw it.
The longest paragraph. Pick the two or three requirements the advert lists first, and give one specific piece of evidence for each: what you did, where, and with what result.
One or two sentences showing you know something real about them: a project, a new office, a service, or the part of their work that matches yours.
Say you would welcome the chance to talk, add anything practical the reader needs, such as your notice period or availability, and thank them.
"Yours sincerely," if you used their name, "Yours faithfully," if you did not, then your full name.
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The shape stays the same. What changes is which paragraph does the most work, and one or two extra sentences where your situation needs explaining.
- Graduate or first job. In paragraph five, use one real project, placement or part-time job and describe it properly, with a number if you have one. One example in detail beats a list of qualities. Our guide to writing a CV with little experience covers what counts.
- Changing career. Answer "why are you applying?" in the opening paragraph, before the reader can ask. Then build paragraph five around the one part of your current job that overlaps most with the new one. See our career change guide.
- Moving to Ireland. Add your right to work and your move date to the opening paragraph, so the reader knows straight away that you can start. Our guide to applying from abroad covers the CV side.
- Returning after a break. One honest sentence on the break in paragraph five, then move straight on to what you have done to be ready now. No apology. See our guide to returning to work after a career gap.
- Shift work, retail and hospitality. Keep it short and put availability and travel in the close: which shifts you can work and how far you live from the job. For a busy store or site manager, those are often the deciding questions.
Sending it by email
If you are applying by email, the body of the email is your cover letter. Use the same template without the address block, put the role title and any reference number in the subject line, and sign off with your name and phone number. Do not attach a separate letter that says the same thing again.
If the application asks you to upload a letter, save it as a PDF named after yourself, such as Mary Kelly Cover Letter.pdf, unless the advert asks for a different format.
Mistakes that come up again and again
- Retelling the CV. The reader already has it. Each sentence should add something the CV cannot say.
- Reusing a letter without checking it. The previous employer's name or the wrong job title ends the application. Check every name twice.
- Writing about what you want from the job. "A great opportunity for me to grow" is about you. Write about what you would bring.
- Going over a page. It suggests you could not decide what mattered.
- A mismatched greeting and sign-off. "Dear Ms Byrne" with "Yours faithfully" is a small error, and an easy one to avoid.
For a full worked example and more on each paragraph, see our guide to writing a cover letter for an Irish job.
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