How to write a cover letter that is specific to the job

Answer why this work, and why your experience fits

A specific cover letter connects the work an employer needs with something you have actually done. Name the role, explain a considered reason for applying, and support your fit with a small number of examples. Follow any application prompts first; they may ask for something more focused than a conventional letter.

MIT presents the letter as an opportunity to explain your interest and the connection between your experience and the position. Harvard recommends concise, factual writing supported by examples. Neither approach needs grand claims about being the perfect candidate.

Build a small evidence map before drafting

Use this working method: choose two requirements that matter to the role. For each, write down a relevant situation, your own contribution and the evidence you can share. Then add one reason the employer’s actual work interests you. Use its published work or the vacancy, and check that you understood it correctly.

Suppose a vacancy asks for someone who can simplify a complex product and work with support teams. A useful example might be a settings redesign where you reviewed support questions, tested alternative wording and shipped the chosen design. A list of tools would leave the important connection unexplained.

• Requirement: what does this role need the person to do?
• Experience: when have you done something relevant?
• Contribution: what did you personally decide, make or coordinate?
• Evidence: what result, artifact or observation supports the account?

Write the connection in plain language

The following example is invented to show the method. It makes the role connection visible without inventing a metric. Your own version should use the vacancy’s real requirements and your own experience.

Make every paragraph do a job

Open with the role and a reason for applying that could survive a follow-up question. Use the middle to connect selected evidence to the role. Close with a clear expression of interest and any information the application requests. Avoid retelling your entire résumé.

MIT recommends using examples to demonstrate qualifications rather than asserting them. A concise letter gives those examples room to be understood. Where a single page is appropriate, stop when the useful connection is clear instead of filling the remaining space.

Run the employer-name test

Cover the employer’s name. If the whole letter could go to an unrelated company unchanged, inspect the reason for applying and the experience you selected. You do not need to mention the company in every sentence; you need a meaningful connection to its work.

Check the final file against the résumé, vacancy and application form. Remove invented familiarity with the team, unsupported outcomes and sentences you would not say in an interview. If you use an AI editor, give it verified facts and review every change yourself.