Cover Letter Builder

Fill in your details and a few guided prompts on the left — the letter on the right updates as you type, laid out as a standard business letter, ready to print or save as a PDF.

Your details

Full name

Phone (optional)

Town or city (optional)

The role

Job title you're applying for

Employer name

Hiring manager's name (optional) Leave this blank to address the letter "Dear Sir or Madam" — the sign-off below switches to match automatically.

Draft with AI

Tell us about the job and your background

Your letter

Opening line

Why this company

Why you're a good fit

A specific achievement

Closing paragraph

Nothing you type into the fields above is uploaded anywhere — the letter is built and held only in this browser tab, and closing or reloading the page clears it. This tool formats your own words into a standard letter layout; it doesn't write or suggest wording for you, and it's not a substitute for tailoring each letter to the actual job description. The one exception is the "Draft with AI" feature above: clicking that button sends the background text you enter there, along with your name, role, employer and hiring-manager fields, to a self-hosted, open-source AI model (Llama) running on our own server to generate a draft — nothing is sent unless you click it, nothing ever reaches a third party, and the manually-typed paragraphs work exactly as before without it.

Live preview

How the letter is structured

The preview follows a standard business-letter layout: your name and contact details, the date, the employer's name and — if you give one — the hiring manager's, a salutation, your paragraphs in the order you filled them in, and a sign-off that matches the salutation. Addressing a named person pairs with "Yours sincerely"; addressing "Dear Sir or Madam" pairs with "Yours faithfully" instead. Any prompt you leave blank simply shows a faint placeholder in the preview and is left out when you print.

Should I write "Dear [name]" or "Dear Sir or Madam"?: Address the letter to a named person whenever you can find out who will read it. The National Careers Service advises trying to find out who the letter should go to — check the job advert or the company website for the hiring manager or head of department — and signing off "Yours sincerely" once you have a name. If you genuinely can't find one, "Dear Sir or Madam" is the fallback, paired with "Yours faithfully" instead. Type a hiring manager's name into the form and the preview switches between the two automatically.
Do I need a new cover letter for every application?: Yes. The National Careers Service is explicit on this: write a new one for every job you apply for, tailored to that company and that specific role, rather than reusing one letter everywhere — and keep the font and formatting consistent with your CV.
What should the opening paragraph actually say?: Introduce yourself and explain how you found the advertised job — the National Careers Service suggests mentioning the job title and reference number if there is one — and show enthusiasm for the role, before the body paragraphs get into your skills, experience and achievements.

Sources

Method: this tool only lays out the text you type into a standard business-letter structure — it doesn't generate, suggest, or check any wording, spelling or grammar for you, and nothing you type into the fields is uploaded or stored outside this browser tab. The one exception is the optional "Draft with AI" feature above the letter fields: clicking it sends your name, role, employer and hiring-manager fields and the background text you enter there to a self-hosted, open-source AI model (Llama) running on our own server, which writes the draft paragraphs — nothing is forwarded to any third party. The salutation/sign-off pairing and the tips in the FAQ above follow the guidance linked below.

National Careers Service — How to write a cover letter (addressing the letter and matching the sign-off, what to put in the opening paragraph, tailoring a letter to each role)