Cover letter templates, matched to your resume
A cover letter and a resume that arrive in the same envelope set in two different typefaces look like two different people wrote them. Each template here is the same Theme as the resume it pairs with — same face, same name treatment, same accent — so choosing one is not a second decision.
This is one letter in eight settings, not eight letters. A cover letter is four paragraphs of prose, so every template prints the same words in the same order — what changes is the type, the spacing and the margins. Measured on with a real 203-word letter.
Not sure you need one at all? Most applications do not, and the honest answer is worth reading before you pick a typeface.
Classic
Source Serif 4 · 10.5pt · 0.75in margins
1.45 line height · one page at every density
It is the least distinctive setting in the gallery. Beside a resume set in anything else it will look like a different person wrote it, so pick this only if your resume is Classic too.
Modern
Inter · 10pt · 0.75in margins
1.45 line height · one page at every density
Being unremarkable is the whole point, so it will not carry a letter that is trying to demonstrate taste. Design, brand and editorial roles should look further down this list.
Minimal
Inter · 10pt · 0.7in margins
1.5 line height · one page at every density
The open setting makes a short letter look thin. Under about 200 words there is more white space than text, and that reads as not having much to say.
Executive
Source Serif 4 · 10pt · 0.6in margins
1.4 line height · one page at every density
Tight margins and a tight line height together are the least forgiving combination here. It looks deliberate at 300 words and cramped at 320.
Column
Lato · 10pt · 0.6in margins
1.45 line height · one page at every density
That warmth is a register, and registers can be wrong. It will feel out of place in a formal application to a large institution.
Timeline
Inter · 9.8pt · 0.75in margins
1.45 line height · one page at every density
At 9.8pt this is the smallest sans body text in the gallery. On a letter read at arm's length on paper it is a size below comfortable.
Editorial
Merriweather · 9.6pt · 0.65in margins
1.5 line height · one page at every density
Merriweather is a wide face and this is the smallest body size here; the two decisions are pulling against each other, and it is the pairing most sensitive to going over the length band.
Azure
Poppins · 9.8pt · 0.75in margins
1.42 line height · one page at every density
Poppins is a geometric sans with a large x-height, which is confident on a resume header and slightly loud across four paragraphs of body text. It is the least neutral setting here.
How you actually write one here
A letter is written from a job, not from a blank page — so it starts at the posting rather than at the template.
- 1. Paste the posting into Tailor, pick the resume you are sending, and press Save this job — the company and the role are read out of the posting for you.
- 2. That saves it as an application, with the posting and the resume already on it. (You can also add one by hand under Applications.)
- 3. The Cover letter panel is right there. It drafts four paragraphs from that posting and that resume, which you edit before anything downloads — in the template that matches the resume, so the choice on this page is already made for you.
Cover letters are included with the resume they go with. There is no separate cover-letter product and there will not be one: buy a resume and every letter written against it downloads free, with no per-letter charge and nothing to renew.