Length
250 to 400 words. One page maximum. Three or four short paragraphs. If your letter is longer than this, the fix is almost always to cut a sentence, not add one.
Applicants underweight how fast a hiring manager reads. A cover letter gets 6 to 12 seconds before the reader decides whether to keep reading. Everything after that window only matters if you earned it with the opening.
The one exception: senior or executive roles sometimes justify a second page when the applicant has a long, specialized track record that genuinely needs context. Even there, one tight page is usually stronger than two loose ones.
Font and size
Use the same font on your cover letter as on your resume. If you're using one of our matched templates, this is handled automatically. Otherwise:
- Sans-serif (modern roles): Inter, Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Lato, Open Sans.
- Serif (traditional roles): Garamond, Merriweather, Libre Baskerville, Georgia.
- Size: 10.5 to 11pt for body text. 10pt is the absolute floor. 12pt starts to look juvenile.
- Line height: 1.35 to 1.5 for body paragraphs.
Never use Comic Sans, Papyrus, Curlz MT, or any display font. Never use two different fonts in the same letter. Never use four different sizes.
Margins and whitespace
Keep margins between 0.7 and 1 inch on all sides. Anything tighter and the page looks cramped; anything looser and you look like you don't have enough to say.
Between paragraphs: 8 to 12pt of space. Avoid indenting paragraphs (the tabbed-first-line style) — it reads as dated unless you're explicitly going for a formal, academic voice.
The address block question
Traditional format expects a full address block: your address on top, a date, then the recipient's address, then the salutation. For most digital applications, this is no longer standard. Recruiters read from a web form; they don't care about your street address.
What to include at the top instead:
- Your name (same as on your resume)
- Email + phone
- City and country (not full street address)
- Optional: LinkedIn URL or portfolio URL
When to keep the full address block: law firms, academia, government roles, some financial services. If the employer explicitly asks for a formal letter, give them one.
The salutation
If you know the hiring manager's name, use it: Dear Ms. García, or Dear Jamie Patel,. If you don't, Dear Hiring Manager, is fine. Avoid Dear Sir/Madam (dated) and To Whom It May Concern (dated, and it signals you didn't try).
Spending ten minutes on LinkedIn to find the actual hiring manager is worth the effort for roles you want. Don't mention that you looked them up; just use the name.
Should cover letters use bullet points?
Default answer: no. Bullets fragment the letter and weaken the voice. The whole point of a cover letter is to show how you write — bullet points turn it back into a resume.
The exception: technical roles where measurable achievements need to land fast. Even then, at most 3 or 4 bullets inside one paragraph, and only if your highlights genuinely don't flow as prose.
The signature
Formal closers: Sincerely, Respectfully, Kind regards, Best regards,. Informal (tech, creative industries): Best, Thanks, Warmly,. Avoid Cheers in US applications; it's fine in UK/Australia.
Sign with your full name. On PDFs you can include a real signature image if you want — it's a nice touch but not required.
File format
PDF, always. Word documents render differently on different machines (fonts swap, spacing shifts, bullets re-layout). A PDF looks identical to the hiring manager as it did on your screen.
Name the file: FirstName-LastName-CoverLetter.pdf or FirstName-LastName-CL-<CompanyName>.pdf. Never cover-letter.pdf or final-v2.pdf — recruiters save hundreds of files per role and unhelpful filenames get lost.
Should your cover letter match your resume visually?
Yes, and it's a signal recruiters notice. When both documents share a header, color palette, and typography, the application reads as one coherent submission rather than two mismatched files. That's the core premise of our matched-pair approach: every EasyResumeAI resume template ships with a companion cover letter in the same visual language.
Structural checklist
Before you submit, confirm:
- Under one page
- Three or four paragraphs
- Opens with something specific to the company
- Names 2-3 concrete achievements from your resume
- Closes with a specific next step, not a generic sign-off
- No "I am writing to…" or "I am passionate about…" openers
- File is a PDF with a clear filename
- Font and header match your resume
Eight checks, two minutes of review. That's the difference between a cover letter that lands and one that gets skimmed.