Writing a Cover Letter That Doesn't Sound Generic

A cover letter that just repeats your resume in sentence form wastes the one thing a resume can't do well: explain why. Why this role, why this company, why now, and why you specifically care — that's the actual job of a cover letter.

Open with something specific

Skip "I am writing to apply for..." — a hiring manager already knows what role they posted. Open with the single most relevant thing about your background relative to what this specific role needs, in one sentence.

Connect your experience to their actual problem

Job descriptions usually hint at a real problem the team is trying to solve (scaling a system, building a function from scratch, cleaning up technical debt). If you can point to a time you solved something similar — briefly, concretely — that does more work than a paragraph of adjectives about being a 'hard worker'.

Keep it short

Three to four short paragraphs is plenty. A cover letter's job is to earn the next five minutes of attention on your resume, not to contain your entire career story.