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Templates · Careers & job search

Cover letter template

For any application that accepts a letter, and cold approaches to a hiring manager. Origin: The three-part structure taught by Harvard, Yale and Stanford career services and by Bock and others in hiring: why them, why you, what next.

Start from this templateFree, no account needed. The blank is written with guidance in each section, ready to fill in.

Structure

  1. Opening that names the role and one reason for this employer
  2. One or two paragraphs of evidence matched to the role's needs
  3. A close that states the ask and next step

How a tough reader scores it

When you score a draft against this format, the Critic evaluates this cover letter. The weights add up to 100; the fixes for the weakest criteria arrive as cards in the editor.

CriterionWeight
Names the role and a specific, researched reason for this employer in the first paragraph20
Each body paragraph matches one stated requirement with one concrete example and result30
Adds something the résumé does not15
Written in plain, confident first person without hedges or clichés15
Closes with a clear ask and next step10
Under 300 words on one page, addressed to a person10

How it works in SecondPen.ai

Open the template and the editor writes the blank once, with a line of guidance under each heading that you delete as you fill it in. Write your abstract and the editor names the format it reads like. Ask for a document with a slash command and it offers to start from the matching format. When the draft is ready, the Critic scores it against the criteria above, the way this format's toughest reader would, and the three highest-leverage fixes become Editor cards.

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