Plan: what is a cover letter How to write a cover letter

6. Sign-off (“Sincerely,” and your name below)

Wrap up your cover letter with a professional closing salutation:

7 cover letter sign-offs to use

• 
  Sincerely
  
• 
  Best
  
• 
  Regards
  
• 
  Thank you
  
• 
  Respectfully
  
• 
  Kind regards
  
• 
  Best regards
  

Finally, make two spaces between the salutation, and type your full name.

Tip

For some professional (but optional) flair, include a scanned version of your written signature below your typed name.

Reviewing your cover letter

Before you send off your newly written cover letter, you should review it. Here are a few extra things to consider to make sure your application is perfect when you send it out:

Cover letter formatting

A professional cover letter is normally 200–350 words, single-spaced, and uses either US Letter (USA) or A4 (Europe and elsewhere) page size. It should be typed with a standard cover letter font like Arial or Calibri, and the font size should be between 10.5 and 12 points.

Additionally, your cover letter margins should be between 1″ and .5″ on each side to make sure it’s easy to read. And all of the content should be left-aligned except for your own contact details, which can be centered.

Your cover letter’s format won’t win you the job, but it can lose you the job if done haphazardly.

Make a copy of this checklist to ensure your cover letter formatting is perfect.