How to Write a Cover Letter That Doesn't Sound Generic

A cover letter's job isn't to summarize your CV — the reader already has that. Its job is to answer one question the CV can't: why this role, at this company, specifically, and why you.

The generic opener ("I am writing to apply for...") wastes the one paragraph you're guaranteed will be read. Open with the specific thing that connects you to the role — a project the company shipped that you'd want to work on, a problem in the job description you've solved before, anything that couldn't be copy-pasted into a different application.

Pick one or two achievements from your CV and go one level deeper than the bullet point allows — the context, the decision you made, the actual outcome. A cover letter that just re-lists three bullet points from the CV in sentence form has added nothing.

Address it to an actual name whenever you can find one. "Dear Hiring Manager" isn't wrong, but a name signals you did five minutes of research most applicants skip.

Keep it under a page, ideally three to four short paragraphs. A cover letter's length should be inversely proportional to how well-known the company is — a well-known company gets a shorter, sharper letter; a niche role you're genuinely excited about can support a bit more detail on why.