Quick Answer
Use a clean, single-column layout with your contact header matching your resume. One page maximum, 10-12pt professional font, 0.5-1 inch margins. Save as PDF unless told otherwise.
Formatting is not where you win the job, but bad formatting can lose it for you. A cover letter that looks sloppy, cramped, or unprofessional creates a negative first impression before the hiring manager reads a single word. The goal is simple: make your letter easy to read and visually clean.
UC Berkeley’s Career Center states that “the cover letter should have the same format style as your resume, including the header with your contact information, same font and font size, and same margins.” MIT’s Career Advising and Professional Development office adds that a cover letter should be “no longer than one page with a font size between 10-12 points.”
Those two guidelines cover most of what you need to know. Here is the rest.
Every professional cover letter follows the same basic structure. Here is each section in order, from top to bottom:
Your name, phone number, email address, and optionally your LinkedIn profile URL or city and state. This should match your resume header exactly — same layout, same font, same styling. If your resume has your name in bold 14pt Calibri with your contact details below in 10pt, your cover letter should do the same.
The date you are submitting the application. Write it in full format: March 15, 2026. Place it below your header with a line of space above and below.
The hiring manager’s name (if you know it), their title, the company name, and the company address. If you cannot find the hiring manager’s name, skip the name and title lines and start with the company name. Do not guess.
“Dear [Name],” if you have it. “Dear Hiring Manager,” if you do not. Avoid “To Whom It May Concern” — it sounds outdated. Never use “Hey” or “Hi” unless the company culture is explicitly casual and you are certain about the tone.
State the position you are applying for and why you are interested in this role at this company. Keep it to three or four sentences maximum.
Make your case. Connect your experience, skills, and achievements to the job requirements. Use specific examples with measurable results when possible. This is the substance of your letter — everything else is scaffolding around it.
Restate your interest, summarize your strongest qualification, and include a call to action. Thank the reader and express your availability.
“Sincerely,” followed by your full name. Other acceptable options: “Best regards,” or “Respectfully.” Keep it simple and professional.
The font and margin choices are straightforward, but getting them wrong makes your letter look either cramped or empty.
Font: Use a professional, easy-to-read font. The best options are Calibri, Arial, Garamond, Cambria, or Times New Roman. Avoid decorative fonts, script fonts, or anything you would not see in a business document. The font should be invisible — if someone notices your font choice, you chose the wrong font.
Font size: 10-12pt for body text. If your letter feels too long at 12pt, go to 11pt. Do not go below 10pt — it becomes difficult to read and signals that you are trying to cram too much onto one page. If you need to go below 10pt, your letter is too long. Cut content instead.
Margins: Between 0.5 inches and 1 inch on all sides. Standard is 1 inch. If you need a little more room, 0.75 inches works without looking cramped. Never go below 0.5 inches — it creates a wall-of-text effect that discourages reading.
Line spacing: Single-spaced within paragraphs, with one blank line between paragraphs. Do not double-space the entire letter — it wastes space and looks like a school essay.
Alignment: Left-aligned for all text. Do not center your body paragraphs or justify the text. Left alignment is the standard for business correspondence and is the easiest to read.
Consistency across your application materials matters. When your resume and cover letter look like they belong together, it signals professionalism and attention to detail.
Here is what to match:
The easiest way to ensure consistency is to build both documents from the same template. The JobScoutly resume builder and cover letter builder use matching templates so your application package looks unified without any extra formatting work.
Default to PDF. A PDF preserves your formatting exactly as you designed it, regardless of what device or software the recipient uses. Font substitutions, margin shifts, and layout breaks do not happen with PDFs.
Use Word only if asked. Some applicant tracking systems (ATS) specifically request .docx files. If the job posting says “submit in Word format,” follow their instructions. Otherwise, PDF is the safer choice.
File naming. Name your file clearly: FirstName-LastName-Cover-Letter.pdf. Avoid generic names like cover_letter_final_v2.pdf or document1.pdf. The hiring manager may download dozens of cover letters — make yours easy to find.
File size. Keep it under 2 MB. A one-page text-based PDF should be well under this limit. If your file is larger, you may have embedded high-resolution images or unnecessary elements in your template.
How you deliver your cover letter depends on the application method.
When applying through a job portal, careers page, or ATS, upload your cover letter as a separate PDF alongside your resume. Use the format described above with full header, date, and employer information. This is the standard approach for most applications.
When a job posting asks you to email your application directly, you have two options:
Option 1: Paste into the email body. Remove the contact header (your email signature covers that), skip the date and employer address, and start with the greeting. Keep the same content but adapt the formatting for email — shorter paragraphs, no indentation, and your resume attached as a PDF.
Option 2: Attach as a PDF. Write a brief email body (two to three sentences introducing yourself and stating what is attached) and attach both your resume and cover letter as separate PDFs. This preserves your formatting and keeps the email clean.
Option 1 is better when the employer specifically says “send your cover letter in the body of the email.” Option 2 is better when they simply say “email your application.”
Whichever method you choose, proofread the email itself. A well-formatted cover letter attached to a sloppy email with typos undermines the effort you put into the letter. Build your cover letter with the JobScoutly cover letter builder to get the structure and formatting right, then focus your energy on customizing the content for each role.
Learn how to write a cover letter that complements your resume, shows employers why you're the right fit, and gets you more interviews.
Find out the ideal cover letter length — from word count and paragraph count to formatting tips that keep it concise.
Find out when a cover letter is required, when it's optional but recommended, and the rare cases when you can skip it.
Learn how to write a cover letter opening that grabs the hiring manager's attention — with formulas, examples, and what to avoid.
Use JobScoutly's free tools to create an ATS-optimized resume and check how well it matches your target job.
