Cover letter format: the details that decide whether it gets read
Formatting won't rescue a weak letter. It will absolutely sink a good one — a letter that parses badly into an applicant tracking system is a letter nobody reads. These are the settings that work, and the ones that break.
Page setup
| Setting | Use this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1 page, 250–350 words | Second pages get skimmed or dropped |
| Margins | 1 inch all round (0.8" minimum) | Anything tighter reads as cramped and may be clipped when printed |
| Body font | 11–12pt serif or sans | Calibri, Garamond, Georgia, Arial, Helvetica. Not a display face |
| Line spacing | 1.0–1.15 | 1.5 looks like a school essay; single is standard |
| Paragraph gap | One blank line, no first-line indent | Indents plus gaps read as an old letter template |
| Alignment | Left, ragged right | Justified text creates rivers of white space and parses worse |
| Colour | Black text, no coloured headings | Grey text at 9pt is the most common "why is this unreadable" mistake |
| File | PDF, under 1 MB | Word if the portal insists; see the FAQ |
The header block
Three lines at the top, then a blank line, then the date, then the recipient. No logos, no photo, no border. In the US, do not include date of birth, marital status, nationality or a photo — those belong to other markets and will get the application discarded by some US employers.
If you can't confirm a name, use the company instead of inventing one:
Dear Hiring Team at Northwind Labs,. For a named person, use the title they use —
Ms. / Mr. plus surname is safe in the US; Dr. if they have
one and you know it. Never Dear Sir or Madam; it reads as a mail merge from 2009.
What applicant tracking systems actually do
An ATS converts your file to plain text and tries to fill fields. It is not grading your prose. It fails on things that look like design:
- Text boxes and tables — content inside them is frequently dropped entirely
- Headers and footers — often invisible to the parser; keep your contact details in the body
- Images of text — a scanned signature is fine, a scanned letter is not
- Columns — reading order gets scrambled, so the letter arrives shuffled
- Unusual fonts — substituted on the recruiter's machine, sometimes with different widths
The test that takes ten seconds: open your PDF, select all, copy, paste into a plain text editor. If the pasted text is in the right order and the paragraphs survive, a parser can handle it. If it looks like confetti, start again with a simpler layout.
Line breaks and length on screen
Assume the first screenful decides it. That's roughly the first 120 words on a laptop preview. The role and the proof should both be visible before the reader scrolls — which is another argument for the short structure when you're pasting into a portal.
Signature
"Sincerely," then your name on the next line, with a blank line between if you're printing. "Best regards" is fine and slightly warmer. "Yours faithfully" is British and only correct without a named recipient. Skip the scanned signature; in 2026 it reads as a personal-brand affectation in most US industries.
Related: how to write the letter itself, three structures, and annotated examples.
PDF or Word?
PDF, unless the portal or the recruiter asks for .docx. PDF keeps the layout on every machine. The exception is older applicant tracking systems that parse .docx more reliably — if the application form says "Word documents only", believe it.
Do I need a date on the letter?
In the US, a date is conventional and harmless. Include it if you're sending the letter as a standalone document; leave it out if you're pasting into a portal field, where it usually looks like an artefact.
How should I name the file?
Firstname-Lastname-Cover-Letter-Role.pdf. No spaces, no "final", no version numbers. Recruiters download dozens of files into one folder; make yours identifiable without opening it.
Should the letter match my résumé visually?
Match the typeface and the name treatment at the top, and nothing else. Identical documents look like a mail merge; a shared header looks like a pair.
What if the application is a single text box?
Drop the address block, the date and the signature. Keep the salutation, three paragraphs and the ask. Paste as plain text, then check that line breaks survived — some systems collapse them.