Cover Letter Template: Free, Copy and Paste

Most job applications still ask for a cover letter, and most candidates still write it last, at midnight, from scratch. That is the wrong order and the wrong method: a cover letter is a short, structured document, and structure is the part you should never have to invent twice.

This page gives you the whole thing: a copy-and-paste template, a filled-in example, and the rules for adapting both to a specific job ad in a few minutes. You still write the sentences — the template just makes sure the letter has the parts a reader is looking for.

The cover letter template (copy and paste)

Copy the block below into a plain document, then replace everything in square brackets. Keep the order of the paragraphs; change the words inside them.

[Your name]
[Phone] · [Email] · [LinkedIn or portfolio, optional]

Dear [Hiring manager's name, or "Hiring Team" if no name is published],

I am applying for the [exact job title] role at [company]. I have
spent [time in field / kind of work] doing [the part of the work this
role is built around], and the part of this job description that
matches my experience most closely is [specific duty or requirement
from the ad].

At [previous employer or project], I [what you actually did, in the
employer's vocabulary]. The result was [what changed for the team,
customer or process]. That work is the closest thing I have to what
you describe under [the same duty, in the ad's words].

What draws me to [company] specifically is [one concrete thing: a
product, a market, a way of working that you can point at]. I would
bring [the strength you want to be known for] to [the team or
function named in the ad].

I would welcome the chance to talk about [the first problem you would
pick up in this role]. Thank you for reading.

[Your name]

That is the whole letter: a header, four short paragraphs and a sign-off. It fits on one page with room to spare, which is the length most readers expect.

What each block of the template does

Every paragraph is doing one job. If you know the job, you can rewrite the paragraph in your own voice without losing the structure.

The header

Contact details, nothing else. No photo, no date of birth, no full postal address unless the employer asks for one — those are expected in some countries, so follow the local convention where you are applying. A reader who wants to reply should never have to search for your email.

The opening paragraph

It names the role exactly as the ad names it and says what you are. Two or three sentences. The most common mistake here is starting with a sentence about yourself (“I am a highly motivated professional…”) before saying which job you mean.

The evidence paragraph

This is the only paragraph that has to convince anyone. Pick one thing you did that resembles the work in the ad, describe what you did in the employer’s own vocabulary, and say what changed as a result. One specific example beats three vague strengths.

The fit paragraph

It answers “why here?” with something you could only say about this company: a product you have used, a market they are in, a way their team works that matches how you work. If the sentence would fit any employer, cut it.

The close

One sentence offering to talk, one line of thanks, your name. No “I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience” — it reads like a template because it is one.

Filled-in example: customer support application

Here is the same structure with the brackets removed, for a customer support role at a software company. Contact details are left as placeholders on purpose; everything else is written the way you would send it.

[Your name]
[Phone] · [Email]

Dear Priya Raman,

I am applying for the Customer Support Specialist role at Northline
Software. I have spent four years on the front line of a subscription
product, mostly on the queue this role is built around: the billing
and account questions that arrive when something has gone wrong.

At Fieldnote, I owned the inbox for small business accounts. When the
same password-reset question kept arriving, I rewrote the help article
that answered it and added the link to the reply template the team
used. The volume of that question dropped, and the replies we sent
stopped turning into second and third emails.

What draws me to Northline is that your support team writes the
documentation as well as the replies. I would bring the habit of
turning repeated questions into something the customer can read
before they ever contact us.

I would welcome the chance to talk about what your queue looks like in
the first month of a new account. Thank you for reading.

[Your name]

Two things are doing the work here. The evidence paragraph names a real task (owning an inbox, rewriting an article, changing a template) instead of claiming a quality. And the fit paragraph could not be sent to another company — it points at something specific about how that team works.

How to adapt the template to a specific job ad

Adaptation is mostly a vocabulary exercise. Read the ad once for the role, then again with a pen, and mark the words the employer repeats: the job title, the tools, the two or three duties that appear more than once. Those are the words your letter has to use, because they are the words the reader is scanning for.

Then check that each marked phrase is true of your experience. If the ad asks for “stakeholder management” and you have run a project across two departments, that is the phrase to use — not because it sounds better, but because it is the employer’s own label for the work you did.

If a requirement is genuinely missing from your history, do not paper over it with adjectives. Name the nearest thing you have done and say plainly that the rest would be new. Readers forgive a gap that is acknowledged; they distrust a letter that claims everything.

This is the same exercise as tailoring a CV, just shorter: our guide to tailoring your CV to a job description walks through the full version, and finding the keywords in a job description covers how to pull the employer’s vocabulary out of the ad in the first place. The letter and the CV should be using the same words, or a reader will notice the seam.

Using the template in Google Docs or Word

Paste the template as plain text, not as a table. Then keep the layout boring on purpose:

• One column. No text boxes, no sidebars, no header band with your name in it. Text inside a text box or a table cell is the part most likely to be lost when a system reads the file.
• A standard font at a readable size, with real paragraph spacing rather than empty lines.
• No graphics except, if you want one, a single line under your name.
• Save as PDF and use a file name a recruiter can search for later: your name and the role.

Those rules exist for the same reason as the CV ones: if the application system cannot read your letter, the formatting was wasted. Our explanation of how an ATS reads an application covers what gets lost and why.

Cover letter template with no experience

With little or no paid experience, the evidence paragraph changes source but not shape. Use coursework, a volunteer role, a side project, a family business, a society you ran — anything where you did work for other people and something changed as a result. Describe it in the same three moves: what you did, in the employer’s vocabulary; what the result was; why it resembles the job.

Do not apologise for the missing history, and do not fill the gap with a list of personality traits. One honest project described properly is stronger than a paragraph about being a fast learner. If the CV is the harder document, start there: how to write a CV with no experience covers the same reframing for the CV itself, including a copy-paste skeleton.

Mistakes that make a templated cover letter obvious

• The wrong company name. It happens, it is fatal, and it is the reason to fill the template in the order it is written rather than editing an old letter.
• Praise that could be copied to any employer. “Your innovative culture” is not a reason; a product, a market or a way of working is.
• Restating the CV. The letter is not a summary of the page attached to it. It is the argument for reading that page.
• Adjectives instead of evidence. “Detail-oriented” is a claim; “I rewrote the reply template the team used” is evidence.
• Three paragraphs of throat-clearing. If the first sentence does not name the role, delete it.
• Placeholders left in. Search the finished letter for the bracket character before you send it.

FAQ: cover letter templates

Is it OK to use a cover letter template?

Yes, as long as the evidence is yours. Readers recognise structure and they do not punish it; what they punish is a letter with no specifics, which is what most templates produce when they are sent unchanged.

How long should a cover letter be?

One page, and shorter is usually better. Four short paragraphs — opening, evidence, fit, close — is enough to say something real.

Should I address the hiring manager by name?

Use the name if the ad or the company page publishes one, spelled correctly. If not, “Dear Hiring Team” is honest and does not read as careless.

Do I need a cover letter if the application does not ask for one?

Not always, but a short one rarely hurts when the application form allows an attachment or an extra field. If there is no place to put it, the CV has to carry the argument on its own.

Can I use the same cover letter for every job?

Use the same structure, not the same letter. The template is the part that stays; the role title, the evidence and the reason for applying change with every application.

The takeaway

A cover letter is a short argument in four parts: what you are applying for, what you have done that resembles it, why this employer, and an offer to talk. Keep the structure, rewrite the evidence, and use the ad’s own words for the work you have genuinely done.

If you want the mechanics behind all of this, how FuqHR works explains what the tool changes and what it leaves to you.