What Should Be in a Cover Letter: The 7-Part Structure

Q: What are the main parts of a cover letter?

Seven parts in this order: 1) header with your contact info matching your resume, 2) date and recipient, 3) salutation, 4) opening paragraph (3 sentences: the role, the hook, your strongest credential), 5) body paragraph(s) with 1 quantified proof point, 6) closing paragraph tying to why this company plus next step, 7) sign-off.

Q: How long should each part of a cover letter be?

Total 250 to 400 words across the full letter. Opening paragraph: 3 sentences. Body paragraph: 5 to 8 sentences built on the Situation-Action-Result pattern. Closing paragraph: 3 to 4 sentences. Senior roles may have 2 body paragraphs. The entire letter fits on 1 page with 1-inch margins, single-spaced.

Q: What should the first paragraph of a cover letter say?

Three sentences with three jobs. Sentence 1: state the role and one concrete reason this posting stands out. Sentence 2: name your current title, years of experience, and domain. Sentence 3: preview the single strongest proof point you will expand in the body. Skip generic openers like I am writing to apply for.

Q: How do I write the body paragraph of a cover letter?

Use the Situation-Action-Result pattern. Situation (1 to 2 sentences): what you inherited or what was broken. Action (2 to 3 sentences): what you specifically did, who you led, what you built. Result (2 to 3 sentences): the quantified outcome plus a second-order effect. Pick ONE proof point that maps directly to the biggest challenge in the job description.

Q: Should I address the cover letter to Dear Sir or Madam?

No. Use Dear First Last (addressed to the hiring manager by name). Spend 5 minutes on LinkedIn before defaulting to a generic salutation. If you genuinely cannot find a name, Dear Hiring Manager is acceptable. To Whom It May Concern and Dear Sir or Madam both read as dated in 2026.

Cover letters have 7 required parts, in a specific order. Skip any of them and the letter reads as sloppy. Add anything extra and the letter reads as bloated. Recruiters spend 30 to 60 seconds reading a cover letter when they read one at all, according to ResumeGo's 2024 survey, which means every part has to earn its line. This guide breaks down exactly what should be in a cover letter, part by part, with word counts, examples, and the mistakes to avoid.

The 7 Parts of a Complete Cover Letter

Every strong cover letter has the same 7 parts in the same order. The content changes; the structure does not.

The 7-part cover letter structure

Header (your contact info, matching your resume) — 3 lines
Date and recipient (hiring manager name + company + address) — 4 lines
Salutation (Dear Hiring Manager Name) — 1 line
Opening paragraph (the role, the hook, your strongest credential) — 3 sentences
Body paragraph(s) (the proof: one or two quantified achievements) — 5 to 8 sentences
Closing paragraph (why this company + next step) — 3 to 4 sentences
Sign-off (Sincerely + your name) — 2 lines

Total length: 250 to 400 words on a single page, with 3 to 4 short paragraphs. Anything longer loses the recruiter; anything shorter looks low-effort. See our cover letter length guide for the full word-count rules.

Part 1: The Header

Your cover letter header should match your resume header. Same font, same format, same contact info. Consistency signals that both documents are part of a single, considered application.

Header template

DANIELA RODRIGUEZ
Austin, TX | d.rodriguez@email.com | (512) 555-0147 | linkedin.com/in/danielarod

Do not include a street address. Do not include a photo. Do not include icons. Both ATS parsing and privacy best practices argue against all three.

Part 2: The Date and Recipient

Format the date in full ("April 10, 2026," not "4/10/26"). Below the date, include the hiring manager's name, title, company, and company address. If you cannot find the hiring manager's name, spend 5 minutes on LinkedIn before defaulting to a generic salutation. LinkedIn's 2023 hiring manager survey found that 63% of recruiters view "Dear Hiring Manager" letters as less effort than letters addressed by name.

Date and recipient template

April 10, 2026

Priya Nair
Head of Product
Acme Software, Inc.
500 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Part 3: The Salutation

Use "Dear [First Last]," not "Dear Ms." or "Dear Mr." Gendered honorifics are a guessing game in 2026 and recruiters actively flag them as dated. If you genuinely cannot find the hiring manager's name after LinkedIn, the company careers page, and a Google search, "Dear Hiring Manager," is acceptable. "To Whom It May Concern" is not.

Part 4: The Opening Paragraph (3 Sentences)

Your opening paragraph has three sentences and three jobs: name the role, hook the reader, and show your strongest matching credential. Skip "I am writing to apply for..." Every recruiter has read that opening 10,000 times.

Opening paragraph template and example

Structure:

Sentence 1: State the role and one concrete reason this posting stands out.
Sentence 2: Name your current title, years of experience, and domain.
Sentence 3: Preview the single strongest proof point you will expand in the body.

"I was drawn to the Senior Product Manager role at Acme because the JD describes the exact retention challenge my team just solved at Nimbus. As a senior PM with 9 years in B2B SaaS, I have spent the last two years turning around a subscription product with a 22% annual churn rate. Today that product churns at 11% and has added $6.2M in ARR since the relaunch."

Part 5: The Body Paragraph (5 to 8 Sentences)

The body is the most important part of the letter. It expands on the single proof point you previewed in the opening. Do not list your resume in paragraph form. Pick ONE achievement that maps directly to the biggest challenge in the JD, and walk the recruiter through it: what you inherited, what you did, what happened.

Body paragraph template (the Situation-Action-Result pattern)

Situation (1 to 2 sentences): What did you inherit? What was broken?
Action (2 to 3 sentences): What did you specifically do? Who did you lead, what did you build, what did you change?
Result (2 to 3 sentences): The quantified outcome, and ideally a second-order effect.

"When I joined Nimbus, the core subscription product was losing 22% of its annual revenue to churn, with most losses concentrated in the 90-day window after signup. I led a 7-person cross-functional squad (2 engineers, 2 designers, 1 researcher, 1 analyst, and me) through a 14-week rebuild of the onboarding, in-app education, and low-engagement playbook. We shipped 11 features in 2 quarters. Annual churn dropped from 22% to 11%, and the product has added $6.2M in new ARR since the relaunch. The 90-day conversion pattern also became the template for the other 3 products in our portfolio."

For longer applications (senior and exec roles), you may have 2 body paragraphs with 2 different proof points. Keep total letter length under 400 words.

Part 6: The Closing Paragraph (3 to 4 Sentences)

The closing paragraph does three things: ties your story to why this company, proposes a next step, and thanks the reader without begging. Do not use "I look forward to hearing from you." Every letter ends that way, so it reads as boilerplate.

Closing paragraph template and example

"Acme's recent launch of the new billing platform caught my attention because the retention problem you described in the announcement is the same shape as the one I solved at Nimbus. I would welcome the chance to walk through the 90-day framework in more detail and hear where it would and would not apply to your product. Thank you for considering the application."

For the complete closing paragraph playbook including tone, next-step language, and sign-off variants, see our how to end a cover letter guide.

Part 7: The Sign-Off

Use "Sincerely," "Best regards," or "Kind regards," followed by your full name. Do not use "Cheers," "Thanks," "Warmly," or "Yours truly." Four lines of white space above your typed name if you plan to e-sign.

Sign-off template

Sincerely,


Daniela Rodriguez

Target Word Count by Part

250-400

Total words across the entire letter

3-4

Paragraphs (opening, body, closing; optional 2nd body)

Page maximum, single-spaced, with 1-inch margins

5 Common Mistakes

Restating the resume. The cover letter should NOT summarize your career; it should deep-dive on ONE proof point.
Leading with your needs. "I am seeking a role where I can grow..." is about you, not the employer. Lead with what you offer.
Generic salutation when the name is findable. "Dear Hiring Manager" when the hiring manager's name is in the JD signals low effort.
Multiple pages. Cover letters are always 1 page. No exceptions for executives. Senior roles get 1 page with 2 body paragraphs, not 2 pages.
No quantified result. A body paragraph without a number is a story without a punchline.

Next Steps

Rewrite your current cover letter using the 7-part structure above. When you are done, run your resume through our free ATS resume checker to make sure the underlying application matches the proof point you chose for the body paragraph. For more cover letter guidance, see our articles on what is the purpose of a cover letter, how to start a cover letter, how to end a cover letter, and cover letter examples.