I've been applying for jobs for years now. I've written tens and tens of cover letters with little response. A non-canned response that shows a human read & interacted with any application materials provided is extremely rare.
If I put in the work to apply—researching the company, researching the role, writing a botique cover letter, adjusting my resume to match the role—I get frustrated that a sliver amount of work to say why not isn't recipricocated. Even if it's a canned response of "doesn't meet these requirements," that an application reviewer selects in their applicant tracking systems. Just to give something.
Yet, the logic part of me says: better to write something than nothing for a cover letter, despite.
I've gone through multiple structures, reading resource after resource, listening to advice after advice from recruiters that say things like, "things designers need to do right now" or "things the industry is looking in this market" or "do these things to get past the resume stage." Little has worked.
Structure
One of the structures that's made the most sense to me, and works better in the longer run as a template that's relatively quick to replicate as I continue on the journey, was skeeted out by Victoria Duncan on Bluesky:
I don't know who needs to see this but if you are writing a cover letter on your own (no AI), try this:
- intro: "Here's what I think you're looking for." Describe the role and business need in your own words based on your understandig. This shows you read the posting and gave it some thought.
- 2nd paragraph: "Here's what I can offer." A tailored summary of your strengths for the role, covering not just what they said they need, but also what ~you~ think they need.
- 3rd paragraph: "Here's why I'm a good fit for htis role." Include what you're looking for and how the role suits your background/goals - why it's interesting to you and how it fits your career path.
- An article I liked with more detail along these lines: forbes.com/sites/juliakorn/2025/01/14/how-to-write-the-perfect-cover-letter-its-not-how-youve-been-taught
I find it perfectly simple and, framing cover letters as an introduction to one's uniqueness combined with marketing that could push them to look beyond the resume, this looks right.
Have used it once or twice so far, but it feels like a good, simple, short, open and will be using it more.