Should You Use the Same Cover Letter for Every Job?

You can reuse a cover letter for multiple jobs, but only part of it. The structure can stay the same. The part that connects you to the specific job has to change every time.

If you're on your fifteenth application this week, you've probably wondered if anyone would notice you sent the same letter again. They usually do.

What you can keep the same

Some of your letter doesn't need to change from job to job:

• The structure. A short opening, one example in the middle, a short close.
• The greeting and sign-off.
• Your voice. The way you naturally write.

Save that as your base letter. Then you're never starting from a blank page.

What gives a reused letter away

Hiring managers read a lot of letters, and a reused one is easy to spot. Usually it's one of these:

• An opener that could be for any job. Nothing in it points to this role.
• An example that doesn't fit. You talk about training new staff when the job is all about handling customer complaints.
• A close with the company name swapped in. Same sentence, different company. Or worse, you forget to swap it.

Any one of these tells them you didn't really look at their job.

Change three things for every job

Start from your base letter, read the job description, and change these:

1. The first line. Point to the strongest link between your background and this role. Here's more on how to open a cover letter.
2. The example in the middle. Pick the one thing you've done that best shows you can handle what this job needs most. This guide covers what to put in the middle of a cover letter.
3. The last line. Name the company and the role, not just "your team."

Everything else can stay. If you're not sure how to find that link in a job description, this walks through how to tailor a cover letter to a job description.

It's still work, though. Writing a fresh letter for every job takes time you probably don't have. But a reused one is easy to spot and easy to skip.

Sending application after application is tiring, so wanting to reuse your letter makes sense. Keep the structure, change the three parts that point to the job, and you'll save most of the time without sending everyone the same letter.