Cover letter templates

148 designs, every one a live render rather than a mock-up. Pick one now and change your mind later: switching design re-renders what you've written rather than starting it over. Then scroll past them — a letter is judged on the argument it makes, and the five that matter are written out below.

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ClassicStacked header, accent rule.

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BannerFull-width accent band.

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NoteOne quiet line, then the letter.

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BureauName left, contacts right, heavy rule.

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CopperplateTracked caps, ruled margin.

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ColumnAccent block and contact panel.

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EmblemCentred box inside a page border.

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TideCurved corners, contacts at the foot.

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HeadlineDisplay name, tinted paper, signing bar.

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RibbonAccent band down the edge.

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PressCentred serif, justified body.

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MidnightDark page, reversed type.

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GazetteSerif split header, justified.

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PennantCentred name on a colour band.

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FoolscapWarm paper, one-line header.

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AtriumBoxed header, corner blocks.

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PostmarkContacts stacked, hairline.

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DispatchNo rule, role in small caps.

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MemoTight spacing throughout.

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NoticeCentred header, hairline.

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CircularOne heavy rule.

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MissiveSerif, justified, indented.

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EpistleCentred serif, indented, open.

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RegardsBold greeting, no rule.

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CourtesyContacts on ruled lines.

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BondGenerously spaced, plain.

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ReamStacked contacts, date opposite.

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SheafJustified, hairline.

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ClerkTracked caps, twice over.

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SecretaryContacts in a tinted panel.

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LetterpressTracked caps, heavy rule, border.

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DeckleCentred caps, double border.

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WatermarkWashed header, signed sign-off.

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GiltInitials, boxed and bordered.

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EmbossSquare initials, hairline.

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DebossRound initials in a box.

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SignetCentred monogram, framed.

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SealMonogram, corner marks.

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CachetMonogram left, contacts right.

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EscutcheonMonogram, box, double border.

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QuartoJustified serif, indented.

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OctavoCentred, dense, indented.

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LaidTinted paper, signed off.

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WoveRuled margin, tinted paper.

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RagRuled contacts, ruled margin.

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OnionskinBordered, airy, one-line header.

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ManilaTop bar, tinted paper.

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TracingDotted margin, one-line header.

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GroteskDisplay name, heavy rule.

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SlabDisplay name, stacked, heavy rule.

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KickerChip role, signing bar.

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MastheadTop bar, display name.

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StandfirstDisplay name, large greeting.

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BylineSplit header, chip role.

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DatelineTracked caps, date opposite.

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TypesetBoxed display name, chip role.

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MatrixColour block, chip role.

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PunchcutMonogram inside the block.

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StylusBanded display name.

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TabulaColour block, tracked title.

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PlaqueBoxed, monogram, corner block.

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TabletColour block between bars.

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SteleCentred monogram on a band.

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FriezeBanded, tracked title.

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ArchitraveBoxed and double-bordered.

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RegletSplit header, tight, heavy rule.

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InkstandDark page, round monogram.

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NibDark page, split header, chip.

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BlotterDark page, display name.

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CipherDark page, one-line header.

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ArchiveDark page, boxed and bordered.

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ChambersDark serif, date opposite.

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WritDark page, centred serif.

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RotundaTinted, centred, bordered.

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VestibuleTinted paper, square monogram.

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FoyerTinted, contacts right.

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ConsulateTinted, centred, double border.

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EmbassyTinted, boxed, round monogram.

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LegationTinted serif, justified, date opposite.

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CabinetColour block on tinted paper.

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ScriptoriumTinted, indented, signed.

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PalimpsestWashed header on tinted paper.

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CodicilTinted, one line, ruled margin.

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CharterTinted, centred, plain initials.

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EnvoyEdge band, split header.

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HeraldEdge band and monogram.

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CrierTop bar, display name.

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StampCorner block, chip role.

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AirmailBars top and bottom.

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PostboxCorner triangle, display name.

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LetterboxCorner triangle, chip role.

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MailroomDotted margin.

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SortingDotted margin, contacts right.

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DeliveryCorner marks.

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MarginRuled margin, indented.

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GutterRuled margin, justified serif.

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RectoCentred serif in a border.

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VersoDouble border, plain serif.

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SpreadWashed header, display name.

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EndpaperBoxed serif on a wash.

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FlyleafWashed sheet, one-line header.

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TerminalColour block and corner block.

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FinialMonogram, box, corner marks.

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SwashCurved corners, signed off.

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SalutationGreeting at display size.

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PostscriptContacts and sign-off at the foot.

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EnclosureName up, contacts down.

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ComplimentsSerif, contacts at the foot, signed.

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OvertureLarge greeting, chip role.

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PreambleLarge greeting, indented serif.

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PrologueBoxed header, large greeting.

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ExordiumCentred serif, large greeting.

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DictumCaps role, display sign-off.

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EpigraphRuled margin, large greeting.

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AccordBand above, contacts below.

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ConcordColour block, signed off.

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EntenteBoxed monogram, contacts below.

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ParleyCurved corners, contacts below.

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AudienceTop bar, contacts below.

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InterviewSplit header, date opposite.

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GraceSerif, signed across a bar.

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ClarityOne line up, display name down.

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CandorDisplay name, twice.

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LecternBoxed serif, closing bar.

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AscenderDisplay name, open spacing.

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DescenderDisplay name, tight spacing.

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BaselineRuled contacts, heavy rule.

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KernTracked sans caps, open.

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LigatureCentred tracked garamond.

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RomanPlain serif, indented, justified.

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UncialCentred tracked caps, bordered.

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MajusculeTracked caps on a band.

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MinusculeOne line, tight, no rule.

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AmpersandPlain initials, contacts right.

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PilcrowIndented justified serif.

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LeadingWidest spacing.

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TrackingTracked name and title.

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RubricCentred serif, chip role.

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VersalSquare initial, serif name.

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CapitalBoxed centred capitals.

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InitialRound monogram, split header.

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ScrivenerPlain serif, written sign-off.

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AmanuensisIndented serif, written sign-off.

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NotaryBoxed monogram, caps role.

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StewardTracked title, ruled contacts.

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ChancellorCentred initials, double border.

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ProvostBoxed serif, tracked title, border.

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ReedOne line, written sign-off.

Browse by set

The essentials16 designsThe designs most letters want: a plain header, a band, a rule, a quiet line.

The plain set14 designsOne column, no decoration, nothing between the reader and the words.

The stationery set18 designsSerif, engraved, ruled and framed — what a letter looked like when it was printed rather than sent.

The studio set18 designsSans at scale: display names, solid blocks, chips and bars.

The colour set18 designsTinted and dark papers, where the accent stops being a detail and becomes the sheet.

The edge set20 designsOne decorative move each, made at the edge of the sheet where it can't get in the way of a word.

The correspondence set20 designsDesigns that move the furniture of a letter — the greeting, the contacts, the sign-off.

The type set24 designsTypography only: how the name is cut, how far apart the lines sit, whether the first line steps in.

Choosing between them

The design is the smallest decision on this page. Nobody has been hired for their letterhead, and the half-second a design buys you is spent the moment the first sentence starts. What it can do is match the resume behind it — the builder inherits your typeface, accent colour and margins from whichever resume you draft against, so the two arrive looking like one application.

If the letter is going into a plain-text box rather than being attached — which is how a lot of applications actually arrive — take anything from the plain set and spend the time on the opening paragraph instead. That is the part that survives losing all its formatting.

The structure, once

Underneath every pattern below is the same four paragraphs. If you only take one thing from this page, take this:

1
The opening
Say what you're applying for and why you, in two sentences.
2
The evidence
Prove the claim you just made, with one specific story.
3
The fit
Show you know what this company actually does.
4
The close
Ask for the interview and stop.

The hub page covers what each paragraph is for in detail, and how each one characteristically goes wrong.

Five situations, five arguments

The standard application

You have directly relevant experience and you're applying cold through a posting or a portal.

Lead with your closest match to the posting's first requirement, stated as a fact rather than a claim.
Spend the middle paragraph on one worked example with a number in it.
Use the third paragraph to show you've read something about the company beyond its careers page.
Keep the whole thing under 300 words. A full page of prose is read less carefully than half of one.

Opening paragraph

I'm applying for the Senior Backend Engineer role. I've spent the last four years on payments infrastructure at a similar scale to yours — most recently rebuilding a settlement pipeline that was failing about 2% of transactions, and bringing that under 0.1%.

Changing career or industry

Your job titles don't match the posting and you need to explain the jump before the reader dismisses it.

Name the change in the first paragraph. Trying to obscure it makes the reader work it out themselves, and they'll conclude the worst.
Translate rather than apologise. Identify the two or three things the new role actually requires and show where you've already done them under a different title.
Give one concrete reason for the move that is about the work, not about disliking your last job.
Do not list what you lack. The reader can see your resume; your job here is to make the transferable case, not to argue the other side of it.

Opening paragraph

I'm applying for the Data Analyst role, coming from six years in clinical nursing. That's a change of field but less of a change of work than it sounds: the last two of those years were spent running our unit's quality reporting, where I built the dashboards that tracked readmission rates across 400 beds and presented them monthly to the clinical board.

First job, or no direct experience

You're a student, a recent graduate, or applying for your first role in the field.

Use coursework, projects, volunteering and part-time work as evidence. They count, and treating them as if they don't is the most common mistake in an entry-level letter.
Be specific about a project. What it did, what you built, what you'd do differently. Specificity is the only thing that distinguishes one graduate letter from another.
Show you understand what the job involves day to day. At entry level, evidence that you know what you're signing up for is genuinely persuasive.
Never open by apologising for being new.

Opening paragraph

I'm applying for the Junior Front-End Developer role. I finished my computer science degree in June, and spent the last year of it building and maintaining the booking site for a 40-person climbing gym — React and TypeScript, about 300 bookings a week, and the first production system I've had to keep running when it broke at 8am.

You were referred by someone

Someone inside the company suggested you apply, or you met someone there.

Put the name in the first sentence. A referral is the strongest signal available to you and it decays the further down the page it appears.
Say briefly how you know them and why they thought of you — that second half is what turns a name-drop into evidence.
Then write the rest of the letter exactly as you otherwise would. A referral gets the letter read; it doesn't finish the argument for you.

Opening paragraph

Priya Raman suggested I get in touch about the Operations Manager opening. We worked together on the warehouse migration at Northgate, where I ran the cutover for three sites, and she thought the scale-up problem you're solving now would be a good match.

No posting — writing on spec

You want to work somewhere that hasn't advertised a role you fit.

Open with the problem you think they have, not with a request. You're proposing something, and a proposal that starts by asking for a favour reads as a favour.
Be concrete about what you'd do in the first six months.
Name a role, or describe one. Asking whether there's anything going puts the work of imagining you onto a stranger.
Accept a low response rate and send few, carefully. A speculative letter that reads as a mail-merge is worse than none.

Opening paragraph

You've opened three new sites this year and, as far as I can tell from your careers page, no one is running logistics across them as a single operation. I've spent five years doing exactly that — most recently consolidating four regional warehouses into one network and taking about 18% out of the per-unit cost.

Common questions

What should a cover letter template include?

Your name and contact details, the date, the recipient and company where you know them, a greeting, three or four paragraphs, a sign-off and your name. That's the whole structure, and it hasn't changed in decades. What varies usefully is the shape of the argument inside it, which is what the patterns on this page cover.

Should my cover letter match my resume design?

Yes — same typeface, same accent colour, same margins. It's a small signal but it's read as attention to detail, and it costs nothing here because the letter builder inherits the settings from the resume you draft it against.

Can I download a cover letter as a PDF?

Yes, as a real-text PDF, the same export the resume builder produces. Cover letters are part of the Ultimate plan at $17 a month, or $5 a month billed yearly; building and exporting resumes is free.

Do cover letters go through an ATS?

Often they're stored rather than parsed and ranked, but treat them as parseable anyway: real text, no images, standard structure. The genuine risk is different — many portals have a plain-text paste box rather than a file upload, so keep a version whose meaning survives losing all its formatting.

Write it in the editor

Pick a design, draft from your resume, and export a real-text PDF that matches it.

Start your resume

Browse by set

Choosing between them

The structure, once

The opening

The evidence

The fit

The close

Five situations, five arguments

The standard application

Changing career or industry

First job, or no direct experience

You were referred by someone

No posting — writing on spec

Common questions

Write it in the editor