Produce a British covering letter on A4 with a day-first date, the correct sign-off for your greeting, and 200–350 words that answer the person specification. Free, with no sign-up.
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United States · cover letter
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Sets the paper size, date format, layout and length recruiters in United States expect.
Use United States conventions
Writes the local greeting, sign-off for a cover letter.
Off: an international English letter on United States paper. Turning it on writes the local greeting and sign-off below.
Preview — cover letter
Dear Hiring Manager,
Sincerely,
Add the hiring manager's name to personalise the greeting.
Tone
Measured and businesslike. The safe default for corporate, finance, legal and public-sector roles.
Career level
2–7 years. Leads with ownership and delivered results.
Letter length
240–320 words. The length most recruiters expect. In this market letters usually run 250–400 words.
Layout
Meridian · US & EU
Technology, product, marketing and most corporate roles.
Single column, plain text, no tables or images.
Paste the job description to begin.
Vocabulary
Using the wrong word for the document is the first small signal that an application was not written for United Kingdom. These are the terms you will see in job adverts.
covering letter
British English
The everyday British name; 'cover letter' is also understood and increasingly common online.
letter of application
British English
Used by the NHS, universities and local government, often against a person specification.
supporting statement
British English
Public-sector variant: a longer document that answers the person specification point by point.
The conventions
In Britain the document is a covering letter and it covers a CV, not a resume. The difference is more than vocabulary: the British letter is shorter than the American one, more formal in its frame and more restrained in its claims. Two hundred to three hundred and fifty words on a single A4 side is the norm, and a letter that runs to a second page is read as an inability to summarise.
One rule is enforced by anyone who went to school here: the sign-off must match the greeting. If you opened 'Dear Ms Alvarez' you close 'Yours sincerely'; if you opened 'Dear Sir or Madam' you close 'Yours faithfully'. Mixing them is the most commonly spotted error in a British application, and it is exactly the kind of small carelessness a covering letter is supposed to disprove.
Recruitment here is also more specification-driven than in the United States, particularly in the NHS, universities, local government and the civil service. Those employers publish a person specification with essential and desirable criteria, and the letter — sometimes retitled a supporting statement — is expected to walk through the essential ones with evidence. In the private sector the same discipline simply takes a shorter form: pick the two or three requirements that matter most and answer them.
At a glance
What recruiters expect
01
Named recipient → 'Yours sincerely'. Unnamed recipient ('Dear Sir or Madam', 'Dear Hiring Team') → 'Yours faithfully'. The generator applies this for you when you fill in the hiring manager's name or leave it blank, which is the single easiest way to look like a local applicant.
02
Three paragraphs: why you are writing and what you do now; one or two pieces of evidence against the specification; a close that asks for the interview. British recruiters read hundreds of applications per vacancy and reward economy.
03
Where a specification exists, mirror its wording. 'Essential: experience managing stakeholder budgets' is answered with 'I managed a £1.2m capital budget across three sites', not with a general claim about financial skills.
04
Organise, specialised, programme, centre. Honourifics take no full stop (Mr, Ms, Dr), single quotation marks are traditional though doubles are now common, and dates run day-month-year without ordinal suffixes in business letters.
05
The British register distrusts superlatives. 'I reduced processing time by 30%' lands harder than 'I dramatically transformed operations'. Let the number carry the emphasis and keep the adjectives.
06
Since 2022 employers must check right to work before employment begins. If you hold settled status, a graduate visa or ILR, one clause near the close removes friction; if you need sponsorship, say so plainly rather than letting it surface at offer stage.
Paragraph by paragraph
The generator follows this order. You can see it in the preview before you export anything.
Traditional British letters carry your address top right (or top left in modern usage), the date below it, then the employer's address on the left. For emailed applications most of this is dropped and the date alone remains.
The role, where you saw it (including any reference number), and one line on why you are a credible candidate. If a contact referred you, name them here.
Two or three essential criteria, each answered with a specific example and a measurable outcome. Public-sector applications expand this into the supporting statement.
One line of interest in the organisation, one line asking for an interview, then 'Yours sincerely,' or 'Yours faithfully,' and your full name.
The shape on the page
Layout only — the generator fills this with your own facts, never with placeholder text you have to remember to delete.
Jane Doe
jane.doe@email.com · 07700 900123 · Manchester
16 September 2026
Dear Ms Alvarez,
[Opening: the post, the reference number if there is one, and your current role in one line.]
[Evidence: two or three essential criteria from the person specification, each with a specific example and a measured result.]
[Close: why this organisation, and the request for an interview.]
Yours sincerely,
Jane DoeReady to use
Copy one straight into the letter — the generator already uses the greeting and sign-off for this market when conventions are on.
Named recipient
Dear Ms Alvarez,
The standard opening; note there is no full stop after Ms.
No name found
Dear Sir or Madam,
Formal British fallback — and it obliges you to close 'Yours faithfully,'.
Team-level, modern
Dear Hiring Team,
Private-sector and start-up roles; closer is 'Yours faithfully,' or the less formal 'Kind regards,'.
Sign-off, named
Yours sincerely,
Always, when the greeting used a name.
Sign-off, unnamed
Yours faithfully,
Always, when the greeting did not.
Subject line
Application for Marketing Executive (ref 4471) — Jane Doe
Include the reference number where the advert has one.
Specification opener
Your person specification asks for three things: budget control, stakeholder management and Salesforce. I have done all three at Northwind Health.
Public-sector and NHS-style applications.
Referral opener
Priya Sharma suggested I apply for the analyst post.
First sentence, when referred.
Before you send
Finding the posting
NHS Jobs / Trac
Supporting statements against the person specification are expected and often scored.
UK private-sector standard; the letter usually goes in a single text field.
Indeed UK
Volume channel; keep to three short paragraphs.
Civil Service Jobs
Behaviours and strengths are assessed explicitly — mirror the advert's headings.
Questions
Both are understood. 'Covering letter' is the traditional British form and what most UK recruiters write; 'cover letter' has become common through international job boards. Using 'covering letter' in the text of a British application is a small, harmless signal that you know the market.
Only when your greeting did not name the person: 'Dear Sir or Madam', 'Dear Hiring Manager', 'Dear Hiring Team'. If you wrote 'Dear Ms Alvarez', the sign-off is 'Yours sincerely'.
Two hundred to three hundred and fifty words on one A4 side. Public-sector supporting statements are the exception: they follow whatever length the advert specifies.
For a formal letter sent as a PDF, a short address block is still conventional. For an emailed application or a portal text field, your name, email and phone in the letterhead is enough.
No. Photographs, dates of birth and marital status are omitted to keep the process within equality law, and including them can disadvantage the application.
Send one anyway unless the portal has no field for it. Where an employer says 'no covering letters', respect it — that instruction is itself a test.
Applying elsewhere
Each guide sets the generator up for that market: paper size, date format, layout, length and the local greeting.