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Resume and Cover Letter Samples and Templates

Do you need to  write a resume and cover letter  to apply for a job or internship? When you're applying for jobs, it's helpful to review examples of student resumes and cover letters to get ideas for both the formatting and the content of your job search materials. Using a template to create your own personalized resumes and letters can give a professional-looking structure to your job application documents.

How to Use Samples and Templates

Designing a document from scratch can be time-consuming and difficult. Along with helping with your layout, written examples can help you see what kind of content you should include in your document. They can also give you ideas on the type of language you want to use. For example, a sample resume might show you the kind of  action words  you should include in your resume.

A template helps you with the layout of your document. Templates also show you what elements you need to include. For example, a resume template will show you some possible  sections you might include in your resume .

As a starting point for your documents, it’s a good idea to spend some time reviewing a few examples and templates.

You might use the same design elements as the sample, or order your information in the same way. However, you should always be flexible. You can change any of the elements of the sample to fit your own needs.

Don’t expect to make your document look exactly the same as an example or template. For example, if an example resume lacks a  skills section,  but you want to include one, you should definitely do so. Your documents should fit your individual work history and the requirements of the job for which you are applying. Take the time to  match your qualifications to the job , and customize the applications for every job you apply to.

Find sample resumes, cover letters, CVs, and their corresponding templates below, as well as examples of all sorts of employment-related correspondence, from application and networking letters to thank- you notes.

Resume Examples and Templates

When it comes to writing a resume, one size does not fit all. The template you should use depends upon factors including your industry, your level of experience, and whether you are considering a career change. Reviewing these resume examples and templates will give you a better idea of which format would work most effectively for you.

Resume Examples Review example resumes, including chronological, functional, targeted, and other types of resumes. Perusing samples will help you determine which format to choose for your own resume.

Resume Templates Here are resume templates to use as a starting point for creating your resume. Add your information to the template, then edit it to personalize it for each position you apply for.

Cover Letter Examples and Templates

Cover letters are just as important a part of your job application materials as your resume. They provide your first, critical impression upon an employer, and thus they should be letter-perfect and convey an appropriate and engaging “tone.” Keep in mind that if your cover letter is hastily and sloppily written, a hiring manager may not bother to even look at your resume.

Cover Letter Examples See example cover letters for a variety of occupations and employment situations. These samples can be customized to create your own letters to include with your application materials.

Email Cover Letters Email cover letter samples for jobs including formatted email cover letter messages, subject lines, and email cover letter formats and templates to use to apply for jobs.

Letter Templates Review letter templates for applying for jobs, including cover letter templates, resignation letter templates, thank-you letter templates, and other job search-related letter templates.

Resumes and Cover Letters for Students

Just because you are a student with minimal “real world” work experience doesn’t mean that you can’t impress an employer enough to offer you an interview. Have a look at these links to see how to showcase your education, internships, and extracurricular experiences in such a way that employers will sit up and take notice.

Samples for Students As a student or recent graduate, you will have some special circumstances that you’ll want to highlight in your resume and cover letters for jobs and internships. It’s helpful to see how to make those hours of volunteer work and casual jobs relate to career-world experience. Browse sample resumes, cover letters, and reference letters especially for high school students, college students, and recent graduates seeking employment.

Curriculum Vitae Examples and Templates

Curriculum vitae are structured much differently than standard resumes. The resumes submitted for most industries are qualifications-based – they emphasize the skills one can bring to an employer. CVs, however, are more credential-based, providing detailed listings of one’s education and training, publications, presentations, and professional memberships.

Curriculum Vitae (CV) Examples CVs are used in the United States when applying for international,  academic , medical, or research positions, and when seeking fellowships or grants. A curriculum vitae includes your name, contact information, education, skills, and experience. A CV also includes all research and teaching experience, publications, awards, grants and fellowships, and professional associations and licenses.

Job Application Samples

Many employers – especially those who solicit online applications – have their own requirements for job seekers. Here is more information about how to structure job application letters and how to answer the information fields on job applications forms.

Job Application Letters Get tips on how to write job application letters, plus job application letter samples, examples, and templates to use to write application letters to send with a resume when applying for jobs.

Sample Job Applications These sample jobs applications will give you an idea of the information you will need to complete when you fill out an application for employment.

More Employment Letters and Email Message Examples

Career searches don’t simply involve writing a resume and cover letter. You should also be prepared to write persuasive networking letters, strategic follow-up letters following an interview, and professional thank-you letters.

Follow-Up Letter Samples Follow-up letters to send after an interview, and to follow up on a resume or a job application you have submitted.

Job Search Email Messages Sample job search email messages including cover letters, thank-you letters, resignation letters, and other sample formatted email messages. Also, review job search email etiquette.

Sample Networking Letters Sample job search networking letters including referral letters, letters of introduction, and networking outreach letters.

Reference Letter Samples Sample reference and recommendation letters, letter samples for character references, a letter asking for a reference, and a reference letter template.

Resignation Letter Samples Sample resignation letters include a basic letter to say you are leaving, plus formal resignation letter samples thanking your employer.

Thank-You Letter Samples Thank-you letters for job interviews and career assistance, including how to write a thank-you letter, who to thank, how to send your thank-you letters, and sample thank-you letters.

More Job Letter Samples Do you need to reject a job offer or accept one? How about withdrawing your application for the position or making a counter offer? Here are a variety of employment-related letters you can edit to fit your circumstances. 

Key Takeaways

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL: Review multiple resume examples and templates to determine which format is going to be the most appropriate for someone in your career field and with your level of experience.

MAKE IT PERSONAL: While resume templates are invaluable in providing a ready-made format, you need to personalize each section with your own information, changing the wording to reflect your own circumstances and tone of voice. Don’t simply copy-and-paste a resume template into a job application.

TAILOR YOUR RESUME AND COVER LETTER FOR EACH APPLICATION: Although it is time-consuming, ideally you should revise and target your resume and cover letter to each job you apply for, closely matching the information you provide to the “minimum qualifications” listed on the job announcement. 

How to Write a Cover Letter in 2024 + Examples

After weeks of heavy job search, you’re almost there!

You’ve perfected your resume. 

You’ve short-listed the coolest jobs you want to apply for.

You’ve even had a friend train you for every single interview question out there.

But then, before you can send your application and call it a day, you remember that the job ad requires a cover letter.

Now you’re stuck wondering how to write a cover letter ...

Don’t panic! We’ve got you covered. Writing a cover letter is a lot simpler than you might think. 

In this guide, we’re going to teach you how to write a cover letter that gets you the job you deserve.

• What’s a cover letter & why it’s important for your job search
• How to write a convincing cover letter that gets you the job (step-by-step!)
• How to perfect your cover letter with the Novoresume free checklist
• What excellent cover letter examples look like

New to cover letter writing? Give our resumes 101 video a watch before diving into the article!

So, let’s get started with the basics!

What is a Cover Letter? (and Why It’s Important)

A cover letter is a one-page document that you submit as part of your job application (alongside your CV or Resume). 

Its purpose is to introduce you and briefly summarize your professional background. On average, your cover letter should be from 250 to 400 words long .

A good cover letter can spark the HR manager’s interest and get them to read your resume. 

A bad cover letter, on the other hand, might mean that your application is going directly to the paper shredder. So, to make sure this doesn’t happen, it’s essential to know how to write a convincing cover letter.

How does a good cover letter look, you might ask. Well, here’s an example:

Keep in mind, though, that a cover letter is a supplement to your resume, not a replacement. Meaning, you don’t just repeat whatever is mentioned in your resume.

If you’re writing a cover letter for the first time, writing all this might seem pretty tough. After all, you’re probably not a professional writer.

The thing is, though, you don’t need to be creative, or even any good at writing. All you have to do is follow a tried-and-tested format:

• Header - Input contact information
• Greeting the hiring manager
• Opening paragraph - Grab the reader’s attention with 2-3 of your top achievements
• Second paragraph - Explain why you’re the perfect candidate for the job
• Third paragraph - Explain why you’re a good match for the company
• Formal closing

Or, here’s what this looks like in practice:

How to Write the Perfect Cover Letter (And Get Hired!)

Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, we’re going to guide you through the process of writing a cover letter step by step. 

Step #1 - Pick the Right Cover Letter Template

A good cover letter is all about leaving the right first impression.

So, what’s a better way to leave a good impression than a well-formatted, visual template?

You can simply pick one of our hand-picked cover letter templates , and you’ll be all set in a jiffy!

As a bonus, our AI will even give you suggestions on how to improve your cover letter on the go.

Step #2 - Start the Cover Letter with a Header

As with a resume, it’s important to start your cover letter with a Contact Information section:

Here, you want to include all essential information, including:

• Phone Number
• Name of the hiring manager / their professional title
• Name of the company you’re applying to

In certain cases, you might also consider adding:

• Social Media Profiles - Any type of profile that’s relevant to your field. Social Profiles on websites like LinkedIn, GitHub (for developers), Medium (for writers), etc.
• Personal Website - If you have a personal website that somehow adds value to your application, you can mention it. Let’s say you’re a professional writer. In that case, you’d want to link to your blog.

And here’s what you shouldn’t mention in your header:

• Your Full Address 
• Unprofessional Email - Make sure your email is presentable. It’s pretty hard for a hiring manager to take you seriously if your email address is “[email protected].” Whenever applying for jobs, stick to the “[first name] + [last name] @ email provider.com” format.

Step #3 - Greet the Hiring Manager

Once you’ve properly listed your contact information, you need to start writing the cover letter contents.

The first thing to do here is to address the cover letter to the hiring manager .

That’s right, the hiring manager! Not the overly popular “Dear Sir or Madam.” You want to show your future boss that you did your research and are really passionate about working with their team.

No one wants to hire a job seeker who just spams 20+ companies and hopes to get hired in any of them.

So, how do you find out who’s the hiring manager? There are several ways to do this. 

The simplest option is to look up the head of the relevant department on LinkedIn. Let’s say you’re applying for the position of a Communication Specialist at Novoresume. The hiring manager is probably Head of Communications or Chief Communications Office.

So, you do a quick lookup on LinkedIn:

And voila! You have your hiring manager.

Or let’s say you’re applying for the position of a server. In that case, you’d be looking for the “restaurant manager.”

If this doesn’t work, you can also check out the “Team” page on the company website; there’s a good chance you’ll at least find the right person there.

Here are several other greetings you could use:

• Dear [Department] Hiring Manager
• Dear Hiring Manager
• To whom it may concern
• Dear [Department] Team

Step #4 - Write an Attention-Grabbing Introduction

First impressions matter, especially when it comes to your job search.

Recruiters get hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of applications. Chances are, they’re not going to be reading every single cover letter end-to-end.

So, it’s essential to catch their attention from the very first paragraph .

The #1 problem we see with most cover letter opening paragraphs is that they’re usually extremely generic. Most of them look something like this..

• Hey, my name is Jonathan and I’d like to work as a Sales Manager at XYZ Inc. I’ve worked as a sales manager at MadeUpCompany Inc. for 5+ years, so I believe that I’d be a good fit for the position.

See the issue here? This opening paragraph doesn’t say pretty much anything except the fact that you’ve worked the job before.

Do you know who else has similar work experience? All the other applicants you’re competing with.

Instead, you want to start off with 2-3 of your top achievements to really grab the reader’s attention. Preferably, the achievements should be as relevant as possible to the position.

So now, let’s make our previous example shine:

My name’s Michael and I’d like to help XYZ Inc. hit and exceed their sales goals as a Sales Manager. I’ve worked with Company X, a fin-tech company, for 3+ years. As a Sales Representative, I generated an average of $30,000+ in sales per month (beating the KPIs by around 40%). I believe that my previous industry experience, as well as excellence in sales, makes me the right candidate for the job.

See the difference between the two examples? If you were the hiring manager, which sales manager would you hire, Jonathan or Michael?

Now that we’ve covered the introduction, let’s talk about the body of your cover letter. This part is split into two paragraphs: the first is for explaining why you’re the perfect person for the job, and the latter is for proving that you’re a good fit for the company.

So, let’s get started...

Step #5 - Explain why you’re the perfect person for the job

This is where you show off your professional skills and convince the HR manager that you’re a better fit for the job than all the other applicants.

But first things first - before you even write anything, you need to learn what the most important requirements for the role are. So, open up the job ad and identify which of the responsibilities are the most critical.

For the sake of the example, let’s say you’re applying for the position of a Facebook Advertiser. You scan the job ad and see that the top requirements are:

• Experience managing a Facebook ad budget of $10,000+ / month
• Some skills in advertising on other platforms (Google Search + Twitter)
• Excellent copywriting skills

Now, in this section, you need to discuss how you fulfill these requirements. So, here’s how that would look for our example:

In my previous role as a Facebook Marketing Expert at XYZ Inc. I handled customer acquisition through ads, managing a monthly Facebook ad budget of $20,000+ . As the sole digital marketer at the company, I managed the ad creation & management process end-to-end. Meaning, I created the ad copy , images, picked the targeting, ran optimization trials, and so on.

Other than Facebook advertising, I’ve also delved into other online PPC channels, including:

• Google Search

Are you a student applying for your first internship? You probably don’t have a lot of work experience to show off in this section. Learn how to write an internship cover letter here.

Step #6 - Explain why you’re a good fit for the company

Once you’ve written the last paragraph, you might be thinking - I’m a shoo-in for the job! What else do I need to write? I’ll just wrap up the cover letter and hit that sweet SEND button.

Well, no. You’re not quite there yet.

The HR manager doesn’t only look at whether you’ll be good at the job or not. They’re looking for someone that’s also a good fit for the company culture.

After all, employees that don’t fit in are bound to quit, sooner or later. This ends up costing the company a ton of money, up to 50% of the employee’s annual salary . 

Meaning, you also need to convince the HR manager that you’re really passionate about working with them.

How do you do this? Well, as a start, you want to do some research about the company. You want to know things like:

• What’s the company’s business model?
• What’s the company product or service? Have you used it?
• What’s the culture like? Will someone micro-manage your work, or will you have autonomy on how you get things done?

So, get to Googling. Chances are, you’ll find all the information you need either on the company website or somewhere around the web.

Then, you need to figure out what you like about the company and turn that into text.

Let’s say, for example, you’re passionate about their product and you like the culture of innovation / independent work in the organization.

You’d write something like:

I’ve personally used the XYZ Smartphone, and I believe that it’s the most innovative tech I’ve used in years. The features such as Made-Up-Feature #1 and Made-Up-Feature #2 were real game changers for the device. 

I really admire how Company XYZ thrives for excellence for all its product lines, creating market-leading tech. As someone that thrives in a self-driven environment, I truly believe that I and Company XYZ will be a great match.

What you don’t want to do here is be super generic for the sake of having something to write. Most job seekers tend to mess this one up. Let’s take a look at a very common example we tend to see (way too often):

I’d love to work for Company XYZ because of its culture of innovation. I believe that since I’m super creative, I’d be a good fit for the company. The company values of integrity and transparency really vibe with me.

See what’s wrong here? The example doesn’t really say anything about the company. “Culture of Innovation” is something most companies claim to have. 

The same goes for “values of integrity and transparency” - the writer just googled what the values for the organization are, and said that they like them.

Any hiring manager that reads this will see through the fluff.

So, make sure to do a lot of research and come up with good reasons why you're applying.

Step #7 - Wrap up with a call to action

Finally, it’s time to finish up your cover letter and write the conclusion.

In the final paragraph, you want to:

• Wrap up any points you couldn't in the previous paragraphs. Do you have anything left to say? Any other information that could help the hiring manager make their decision? Mention it here.
• Thank the hiring manager for their time. It never hurts to be courteous, as long as you don’t come off as too needy.
• Finish the cover letter with a call to action. The very last sentence in your cover letter should be a call to action. You should ask the hiring manager to take some sort of action.

And now, let’s turn this into a practical example:

So to wrap it all up, thanks for looking into my application. I hope I can help Company X make the most out of their Facebook marketing initiatives. I'd love to further discuss how my previous success at XYZ Inc. can help you achieve your facebook marketing goals.

Step #8 - Use the right formal closing

Once you’re done with the final paragraph, all you have to do is write down a formal “goodbye” and you’re good to go.

Feel free to use one of the most popular conclusions to a cover letter:

• Best Regards,
• Kind Regards,

And we’re finally done! Before sending off the cover letter, make sure to proofread it with software like Grammarly, or maybe even get a friend to review it for you.

Does your cover letter heading include all essential information?

• Professional email
• Relevant Social Media Profiles

Do you address the right person? I.e. hiring manager in the company / your future direct supervisor

Does your introductory paragraph grab the reader's attention?

• Did you mention 2-3 of your top achievements?
• Did you use numbers and facts to back up your experience?

Do you successfully convey that you’re the right pro for the job?

• Did you identify the core requirements?
• Did you successfully convey how your experiences help you fit the requirements perfectly?

Do you convince the hiring manager that you’re passionate about the company you’re applying to?

• Did you identify the top 3 things that you like about the company?
• Did you avoid generic reasons for explaining your interest in the company?

Did you finalize the conclusion with a call to action?

Did you use the right formal closure for the cover letter?

5+ Cover Letter Examples

Need some inspiration? Read on to learn about some of the best cover letter examples we’ve seen (for different fields).

College Student Cover Letter Example

Middle Management Cover Letter Example

Career Change Cover Letter Example

Management Cover Letter Example

Senior Executive Cover Letter Example

Want to discover more examples AND learn what makes them stand out? Check out our guide to cover letter examples .

Next Steps in Your Job Search - Creating a Killer Resume

Your cover letter is only as good as your resume. If either one is weak, your entire application is for naught. 

After all, a cover letter is just an introduction. Imagine going through all this effort to leave an amazing first impression, but flopping at the end because of a mediocre resume.

...But don’t you worry, we’ve got you covered on that end, too.

If you want to learn more about Resumes & CVs, we have a dedicated FREE guide for that. Check out our complete guide on how to make a resume , as well as how to write a CV - our experts will teach you everything you need to know in order to land your dream job.

Or, if you’re already an expert, just pick one of our resume templates and get started.

Key Takeaways

Now that we’ve walked you through all the steps of writing a cover letter, let’s summarize everything we’ve learned:

• A cover letter is a 250 - 400 word document that convinces the hiring manager of your competence
• A cover letter goes in your job application alongside your resume
• Your introduction to the cover letter should grab the hiring manager’s attention and keep it all the way until the conclusion
• There are 2 main topics you need to include in your cover letter: why you’re the perfect candidate for the job & why you’re passionate about working in the company you’re applying to
• Most of the content of your cover letter should be factual , without any fluff or generalizations

At Novorésumé, we’re committed to helping you get the job you deserve, every step of the way! Follow our blog to stay up to date with the industry-leading advice. Or, check out some of our top guides…

• How to Write a Motivational Letter
• How to Write a Resume with No Work Experience
• Most Common Interview Questions and Answers

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