How to Write a Cover Letter in 2026
A good cover letter doesn't summarise your CV — it explains why you actually want this specific job at this specific company. That distinction is why most cover letters fail, and why a well-written one stands out.
Do You Even Need One?
Sometimes no — many online applications skip it entirely. But when it's asked for (or optional), submitting a good one is almost always worth it. It's your chance to add context, show personality, and make a case your CV alone can't make.
The Structure That Works
- Opening line — grab attention, don't start with "I am writing to apply for..."
- Why this company — one specific, genuine reason you want to work there
- Why you're the right fit — your top 2 relevant achievements, briefly
- Close — express enthusiasm, invite next steps
Three to four short paragraphs. Half a page. Never more than one page.
The Opening Line
The first sentence decides whether anyone reads the rest.
❌ Don't:
✅ Do:
A Full Example
I've spent the past three years reducing infrastructure costs at a fintech startup — cutting cloud spend by 40% while scaling to 5M users. When I saw Acme's opening for a Senior Backend Engineer, it felt like a natural fit.
What draws me to Acme specifically is your commitment to open-source tooling. I've used and contributed to two of your public repos, and the engineering standards I've seen there are exactly the environment I want to grow in.
In my current role I led a monolith-to-microservices migration — delivered on time, zero production incidents. Before that I built the payment processing layer handling £2M/day in transactions. I bring the same focus on reliability to everything I work on.
I'd love to discuss how I can contribute. Happy to jump on a call at your convenience.
Notice what it does: opens with a real hook, names something specific about the company, backs it with two concrete achievements, closes cleanly. No fluff.
Common Mistakes
- Summarising your CV — add context, not a repeat of what they can already read
- Being generic — if it could apply to any company, it needs rewriting
- Wrong company name — double-check before sending, every time
- Too long — if it's more than a page, cut it
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