Quick Answer: How to write a cover letter, in short: open with the exact role and one reason you fit it, prove that reason with one or two concrete results from your CV, connect them to what this employer needs, and close with a clear next step. Keep it to one page, roughly 250 to 400 words, addressed to a named person where possible. Recruiters read it to answer a single question: why this candidate, for this job, now?
Most cover letters describe the applicant. The ones that get read describe the job.
How Recruiters Actually Evaluate This
A recruiter does not read a cover letter the way you wrote it. They read it against the job ad, usually after or alongside the CV, and they are checking whether the letter adds anything the CV could not say on its own.
| Criterion | Weak letter | Strong letter |
|---|---|---|
| Specificity | Could be sent to any company unchanged | Names the role, the team or product, and a requirement from the ad |
| Evidence | Adjectives: "motivated", "detail-oriented", "team player" | One or two concrete results the CV can back up |
| Fit logic | Lists what the applicant wants from the job | Shows what the applicant solves for the employer |
| Form | Two pages, dense blocks, generic greeting | One page, four short paragraphs, named recipient |
The scoring logic is simple. Specificity decides whether the letter gets read past the first paragraph. Evidence decides whether it is believed. Fit logic decides whether it changes the recruiter's view of the CV. Form decides whether any of that reaches them at all.
A letter that fails the first row rarely gets a chance to pass the others.
How to Write a Cover Letter, Step by Step
A cover letter has a job to do in each paragraph. When a paragraph does two jobs, it usually does neither well.
Paragraph 1: the opening that names the role
State the role and give one reason you are a credible fit. No life story, no "I am writing to apply for".
Weak: "I am writing to express my interest in the position advertised on your website. I am a highly motivated professional with a passion for technology."
Strong: "I am applying for the Senior Data Analyst role in your pricing team. For the past four years I have built the demand models behind pricing decisions at a mid-sized retailer, which is close to the problem your ad describes."
The strong version is not more impressive. It is more checkable. Every clause points at something the CV will confirm.
Paragraph 2: evidence, not adjectives
Pick one or two achievements that map directly onto the job ad's main requirements. Describe what you did, how you did it, and what changed as a result. Use real numbers only if they are true and you can explain them in an interview.
Weak: "I have strong analytical skills and a proven track record of delivering results."
Strong: "When our forecasting process moved from spreadsheets to Python, I rebuilt the weekly model and documented it so two colleagues could run it without me. Forecast reviews went from a full day to a morning."
If you do not have a number, describe the before-and-after. A clear change is more convincing than a percentage nobody can verify.
Paragraph 3: why this employer
Show that you read beyond the job title. Reference the product, the market, a stated plan, or a requirement from the ad, and connect it to what you bring. One precise sentence beats a paragraph of praise.
Weak: "Your company is a leader in its industry and I admire your innovative culture."
Strong: "Your ad mentions expanding into the Austrian market next year. I have run price tests across two German-speaking markets and know where the data tends to diverge."
Paragraph 4: the close
Summarise the fit in one line, mention availability or notice period if the ad asks for it, and end with a plain next step. Confidence here means clarity, not pressure.
"I would welcome the chance to walk you through the forecasting rebuild in more detail. I am available from 1 January, with a notice period of one month."
Cover Letter Format and Length
The cover letter format matters less than people fear and more than they hope. Recruiters forgive a plain layout. They do not forgive a letter they have to hunt through.
- Length: one page. Around 250 to 400 words is a reliable range for most roles.
- Structure: four short paragraphs, each doing one job.
- Greeting: a named person wherever you can find one. "Dear Hiring Team" is the fallback, not the default.
- File: PDF unless the application form asks otherwise, with a clear file name such as "Lastname_Cover_Letter_Company.pdf".
- Design: match the CV's fonts and header so the two read as one application. No text boxes, no tables for layout, no images.
On applicant tracking systems: many employers collect the cover letter through the same system as the CV, and a human reads it. Clean formatting keeps the text readable wherever it lands. There is no algorithm to beat here, only a reader whose time is short.
How It Differs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
If you are applying into DACH, the cover letter is the Anschreiben, and it follows a stricter form than the English-language versions most internationals learned. The logic of the four paragraphs still holds. The frame around them is different.
| Element | International cover letter | German Anschreiben |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Flexible | Business-letter layout, usually following DIN 5008 conventions |
| Header | Name and contact details | Your address block, the recipient's address block, then place and date on the right |
| Subject | Often none | A subject line in bold stating the role, without the word "Betreff" |
| Greeting | "Dear Ms Keller," | "Sehr geehrte Frau Keller," followed by a sentence that starts in lower case |
| Tone | Can be conversational | Formal "Sie", factual, evidence first |
| Sign-off | "Kind regards" | "Mit freundlichen Grüßen", no comma, then your signature |
| Length | One page | Strictly one page |
| Extras | Rare | Salary expectation (Gehaltsvorstellung) and earliest start date if the ad asks for them |
A few conventions matter more than the rest:
- Photo and date of birth belong on the Lebenslauf, if you include them at all. They do not go on the Anschreiben.
- Academic titles are part of the name. In Austria in particular, addressing someone as "Frau Mag. Huber" or "Herr Dr. Weiss" is expected when the title is known.
- Switzerland often uses "Motivationsschreiben" for the same document, and Swiss German spelling drops the ß: "Freundliche Grüsse".
- Arbeitszeugnisse (employer references) are usually attached to a German application. The letter does not summarise them; it points to the evidence.
- Language: write in the language of the job ad. An English ad from a German employer is an invitation to apply in English, and the formal frame still applies.
A growing number of employers, especially larger ones with online application forms, now make the Anschreiben optional or replace it with a few questions. When it is optional, a short, specific letter still helps an international application, because it explains what a foreign CV cannot: why you, why Germany, why now.
Why Reading Your Own Letter Is Not Enough
You cannot read your own cover letter the way a stranger does.
You know what "led the migration project" means because you lived it. The recruiter sees four words and no scale. You know why you want this company. The recruiter sees a sentence that could apply to its three closest competitors.
Three things close that gap:
- Comparison against the ad. Put the job ad next to your letter and mark every requirement you answered with evidence. Unmarked requirements are the ones the recruiter will notice.
- A cold reader. Someone who does not know your career will ask the questions a recruiter silently asks.
- Repetition. The first letter is slow. The fifth, written against five different ads, is where the structure becomes automatic and the specifics get sharper.
Builders such as TalentVP's cover letter tool take the job title, the company and the pasted job ad and draft a letter in English, German or Turkish, but a draft only knows what you give it. The evidence still has to come from your CV and your own words.
Your 7-Step Plan
- Read the ad twice. The first time for the role, the second time to list the three requirements that appear most prominently or most often.
- Match evidence to each requirement. For each of the three, find one concrete example in your experience. If one is missing, say how you are closing the gap rather than hiding it.
- Find the recipient. Check the ad, the company's careers page and professional networks for the hiring manager or recruiter's name.
- Draft the four paragraphs. Opening with the role, evidence, why this employer, close. One job per paragraph.
- Cut to one page. Remove every adjective that is not backed by a fact in the same sentence.
- Apply the local frame. For DACH: business-letter layout, subject line, formal greeting, "Sie", salary and start date if requested.
- Check it against the ad and the CV. Every claim in the letter should be findable in the CV, and every major requirement in the ad should be answered somewhere.
Related Guides
- What is a cover letter, and when do you need one, the definition, the variants and when to skip it
- Cover letter examples by role, finished letters to compare your structure against
- German CV rules and format, the Lebenslauf that sits next to your Anschreiben
- Signing a German CV and application, place, date and signature conventions
- ATS check for your CV, make sure the CV the letter points to is readable
