Most cover letters follow the same dead formula: I am writing to express my interest in the [Role] position at [Company]. I believe my skills and experience make me an excellent candidate...
Hiring managers have read this sentence 400 times this week. They stop reading after the first line.
Here's how to write a cover letter that actually gets read — and gets you called back.
The Three-Paragraph Formula
Paragraph 1 — The Hook (2-3 sentences)
Open with something specific about the company or role that shows you actually researched them. Not "I've always admired your company" — that's nothing. Something real.
Example: I've been using Notion for the past two years to run my freelance projects, and when I saw you were hiring a Product Designer, I immediately thought about the redesign of the mobile app that shipped last month — specifically how you handled the complexity of the sidebar navigation collapsing cleanly on small screens. That's the kind of detail-obsessed problem solving I want to work on every day.
You just showed: you're a real user, you pay attention to details, and you're specific. That's three points in two sentences.
Paragraph 2 — The Evidence (3-4 sentences)
Pick your single most relevant achievement and write about it in detail. One strong story beats a list of five vague claims.
Example: At my last role, I redesigned the onboarding flow for a B2B SaaS platform with 40,000 users. The original flow had a 61% drop-off rate at step 3. After four rounds of user testing and iterative redesigns, we brought that down to 22% — a change that directly contributed to a 14% increase in paid conversions over the following quarter.
Numbers, context, process, result. That's what a hiring manager wants to see.
Paragraph 3 — The Close (2 sentences)
Don't end with "I look forward to hearing from you." Everyone ends with that. Be direct and confident.
Example: I'd love to walk you through the onboarding project and show you my full process. Would you be open to a 30-minute call next week?
You're proposing a specific, low-commitment next step. That's confident, not pushy.
Common Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid
Don't summarize your resume. They can read your resume. Use the cover letter to explain why you're the right fit in a way a resume can't.
Don't address it "To Whom It May Concern." Spend two minutes on LinkedIn finding the hiring manager's name. This small effort stands out.
Don't go over one page. Three strong paragraphs. That's it. If you're going over one page, you're saying too much.
Don't write about what the job will do for you. "This role excites me because I can develop my skills" is the wrong angle. Write about what you'll do for them.
When to Skip the Cover Letter
If the application explicitly says it's optional and you have a very strong resume, you can skip it. But if there's a text box asking for one — fill it. A blank cover letter field signals low effort.
Use AI the Right Way
AI can write a cover letter in seconds. The problem is it also writes the same generic letter for every other candidate using the same tool.
The right approach: write your own hook (only you know what genuinely interests you about the company), then use AI to refine the evidence paragraph and tighten your language. The result feels personal because it is — AI just polished it.
Arcenly's AI cover letter tool takes your job description and experience, and generates a draft that you can edit into something genuinely personal. Start there, then make it yours.