Blog
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When the Draft Cites a Recent Announcement
An assistant will happily supply a company fact it has no source for. Why that error survives your proofread, and the one question that catches it.
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The Company Fact That Was True Two Years Ago
Specificity beats enthusiasm, but a stale detail is worse than none. Where a checkable fact about an employer comes from, and how to put a date on it.
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Writing to a Company With No HR Department
At a nine-person company the founder reads applications themselves, between other jobs. What that changes about your letter's length, tone, and argument.
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The Anything-Else Box on an Application Form
Application forms end with an optional free-text field. When to leave it empty, what belongs in it, and why pasting your cover letter there backfires.
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Writing a Supporting Statement, Criterion by Criterion
Some applications ask you to address a list of criteria instead of writing a letter. It's a scored answer sheet, not prose, and it rewards opposite habits.
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Applying for a Job at Your Own Company
The internal cover letter has one job: argue the move, not yourself. What changes when the reader already knows you, and what never to put in writing.
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When Someone Has Already Referred You
A referral buys your letter a careful read and nothing more. How to name it in the first line, match what your referrer said, and not waste the advantage.
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When a Posting Says the Cover Letter Is Optional
"Optional" is a signal, just not the one most people read it as. A thirty-second test for deciding, and what to do with the field when you skip it.
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Write a First Sentence Only You Could Write
The test for an opening line is whether another applicant could have sent it. If they could, it does nothing. Weak and strong pairs, and how to fix yours.
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How to Use AI on a Cover Letter Without It Showing
Drafting with an assistant is normal. Sending its output unedited is self-defeating. The difference, and a workflow that keeps the judgement yours.
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Cold Outreach to a Hiring Manager
You applied through the portal and heard nothing. A short message to the person who'd manage the role is the highest-leverage thing left.
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Cover Letters When There Is No Job Posting
The speculative letter is a different form with different rules — and often a better response rate. What to write when nobody advertised anything.
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The Four-Paragraph Cover Letter
A structure where each paragraph has one defined job, with a complete example letter — so you never stare at a blank page again.
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What a Cover Letter Is Actually For
It isn't your resume in prose and it isn't a declaration of enthusiasm. The one job only this document can do — and why that makes it easier to write.
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The Closing Paragraph and What to Ask For
Most letters end by thanking the reader and asking for nothing. What the last paragraph should do instead, plus sign-offs that aren't embarrassing.
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How to Read a Job Posting Before You Write
Most of the work of a cover letter happens before you write a word. How to find the one requirement worth answering and the sentence nobody else noticed.
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Tailoring a Cover Letter Without Starting Over
A tailored letter is not a rewritten letter. Which parts must change for every application, which can be reused, and how to keep the reuse invisible.
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Should the Cover Letter Go in the Email Body?
Attachment, email body, or both? How the channel changes the letter's length and shape, plus what to put in the subject line and the file name.
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How Formal Should a Cover Letter Be?
Formality is not the same as professionalism, and stiffness is the most common way a letter fails. How to find the right register for a specific reader.
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Who to Address a Cover Letter To
How to find a real name without guessing, which greeting to use when you can't, and why "To Whom It May Concern" is the one to retire first.
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The Paragraph That Shows Judgement
The part of a letter a resume cannot carry: what you learned from doing the work. How to find yours when you are convinced you haven't got one.
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Answering "Why This Company" Without Flattery
You need the job and have no strong feelings about the employer. What to write instead of invented admiration — and why the honest version reads better.
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The Letter That Explains a Career Change
Moving between fields, the letter is the only document that can make the move make sense. Where to put the explanation, and how long to spend on it.
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Writing to an Employer When You're Overqualified
The reader's worry is that you will leave, be bored, or want their job. What the letter has to answer, and the sentence most applicants get wrong.
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When You Don't Meet One of the Requirements
Whether to name the gap, how to name it without apologising, and the difference between a missing requirement and a disqualifying one.
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The Letter When You're Applying From Abroad
Applying across a border raises three unspoken questions. Answer them in two sentences so the rest of the letter can be about the work.
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How to Ask Someone for a Referral
The message that makes it easy to say yes: what to include, what to attach, and how to ask someone who barely remembers you without it being awkward.
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Outreach in Three Hundred Characters
Connection notes, tiny form fields, and messages with a hard character limit. What survives when there is only room for one sentence and a reason.
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Answering a Recruiter Who Contacted You
They wrote first, so the letter's job changes. What to ask before you send anything, and how to reply when you're interested, unsure, or not looking.
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What to Write After a Rejection
A short reply after a no is the cheapest thing in a job search and the least sent. What to say, what to ask, and what never to ask for.
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What to Give an AI Before It Drafts Your Letter
A generic draft is usually an input problem, not a tool problem. The five things to supply, in what order — and the parts no assistant can supply for you.
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What to Cut When the Letter Runs Long
A cutting order that works every time: the phrases to delete first, the paragraph that is redundant, and how to lose a third without losing anything.