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Free Professional Cover Letter Templates + Tips
These professional cover letter templates can help you elevate a standard resume and application with your personality, wit, and professionalism.
- Featured In:
This template uses elegant borders and traditional fonts to elevate a simple cover letter outline. This template is ideal for experienced job seekers in finance, law or business.
This universal template is ideal for job seekers at any stage of their careers. The design balances text and white space to help streamline your name and work history to make it pop.
Our builder’s most popular design, this simple template relies on a classic design and layout to elevate your experience. Use this if you’re applying to a sales or retail opportunity.
This classic cover letter template uses a tried and true design to introduce your professional skills and accomplishments. It’s perfect for first-time job seekers as well as experienced professionals.
The bold borders and customizable color themes help you appeal to hiring managers. The bulk of this letter template is dedicated to your work history, making it a strong choice for mid-to senior-level job seekers.
The boldest of our Resume Builder’s professional templates, this cover letter still uses simple design elements to appeal to conventional hiring managers. Use this template for academic- or sales-related jobs.
Free Professional Cover Letter Templates
All cover letters follow the same general structure. You can lend this document aspects of your personality by using a downloadable template. The following free templates feature simple but straightforward designs that can help elevate your cover letter.
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Vocational cover letter
This free professional template uses a traditional san serif and a simple outline to let your message stand out. -
Vibrant cover letter
This simple template uses soft pastel hues to differentiate your letter against other job candidates. -
Upfront cover letter
This template’s creative use of orange helps your name and contact information stand out. Use this to appeal to creative hiring managers. -
Time-honored cover letter
This professional template plays with vintage typewriter fonts and elements to appeal to traditional hiring managers. -
Testimonials cover letter
This elegant template uses minimal borders and font colors to create a slightly elevated cover letter. -
Texture cover letter
This professional cover letter uses a simple san serif font, bright font colors, and specialized header treatments. -
Spotlight achievement cover letter
This cover letter template borrows newspaper design elements and creates a distinct border to elevate your name and contact information. -
Slated job cover letter
This bold template uses various colored borders and to create a visual flow throughout your cover letter. -
Skillful cover letter
The simple large font and pops of colors help elevate this ordinary cover letter. -
Score card cover letter
The pops of blue lend a playful air to this template's professional serif font and standard cover letter layout. -
Personal touch
This template uses minimal color and design elements to highlight the document’s whitespace, making this letter easy to read on screens. -
Multitasking cover letter
This professional template uses a two-column approach to separate your contact information from the body of your letter, making it easy to communicate with you if your appeal lands.
Who Should Use a Professional Cover Letter Template?
Although a professional cover letter template is appropriate for most job seekers, these formal designs are more effective in traditional and formal workplace settings found in legal, banking or sales-related careers.
Job seekers in marketing, design or advertising would benefit from using a creative template to showcase their talents. In contrast, members of trade would benefit from simple designs that highlight their technical field skills.
Legal
Lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants should opt for professional templates. These offices tend to follow traditional methods of business attire, conversation and office structure. Since these offices tend to be more formal, your application materials should reflect that business tone. Professional cover letter templates help you establish that tone.
Banking
Like the legal offices we mentioned before, bank branches and offices impart a strict and conventional environment. With our professional cover letter templates, bank tellers, financial advisors and loan officers can reflect their workplaces’ sparse and severe tones.
Accounting
Accountants work behind the scenes to manage daily budgets, annual business expenses, and quarterly earnings. Although the office environment might vary based on the field of business, accountants are responsible for the financial health of a company and should reflect the serious nature of their work through use of a professional cover letter template.
Sales
This customer-facing career relies heavily on presentation and appearances. A sales representative is both an advocate and extension of the product they’re promoting and need to convey trustworthiness to establish long-term clients. These cover letters help reflect the professional personality necessary to inspire product trust.
Professional Cover Letter FAQ
How do I format my professional cover letter?
Your professional cover letter needs to follow the same basic structure as a business letter. According to Purdue University’s Writing Lab, you format your one-page cover letter with the following structure:
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
[SINGLE SPACE] - Hiring Manager Name
- Address
- Phone Number
[SINGLE SPACE] - Salutation
[SINGLE SPACE] - Introduction paragraph
[SINGLE SPACE] - Body paragraph
[SINGLE SPACE] - Optional body paragraph
[SINGLE SPACE] - Optional body paragraph
[SINGLE SPACE] - Concluding paragraph
[SINGLE SPACE] - Salutation
[SINGLE SPACE]
[SINGLE SPACE]
[SINGLE SPACE] - Typed Signature
What should a professional cover letter include?
Your professional cover letter needs to include the following sections:
- Name and contact information (address, phone number, professional email and website)
- Hiring manager’s name and professional contact information
- Date of writing
- One introduction paragraph
- One to three skill-focused paragraphs
- One concluding paragraph
How do you show professionalism in a cover letter?
You can demonstrate professionalism through your cover letter by showing your attention to detail. For example:
- Spell check: It’s difficult to trust and hire someone who didn’t care enough to edit and revise their application before submitting it, which demonstrates a lack of care and attention.
- Tailor your cover letter: It’s one thing to use a cover letter template and update it for each job. It’s another to use the same letter for each job application and ignore each unique position's specific requests and requirements. The first demonstrates efficiency so long as you still personalize the letter before submission. The second reflects a lack of care and sincerity.
Why should I use a cover letter template for my job application?
Not all hiring managers will read your cover letter, but the few who do often state that it’s a major deciding factor in whether they hire a candidate or not. A cover letter template can help you make a compelling first impression and add context to the information on your resume.
What’s the best professional cover letter template?
The best professional cover letter template is:
- Simple and easy to read.
- Limited to one page.
- Refers to the accomplishments and skills on your resume.
- Clearly outlines how hiring you benefits the potential employer
Remember, this cover letter isn’t about you. It’s about how you can help your next employer address a hiring need.
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