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ResumeGuru
Free tool · India

How to start a cover letter.

The first line of a cover letter has one job: to make the reader want the second line. Most people waste it on "I am writing to apply for the role", which tells the reader nothing they did not already know.

  • Open with a specific hook: a referral, a result, or a real reason this company.
  • Name the role and the company, so it never reads like a form letter.
  • Say something only you could say. A generic opener is a closed letter.
  • Never open by restating the job posting back to the person who wrote it.

Pick your situation below, add the role and company, and get an opener to make your own.

Generated cover letter openers

Two cover letter openers updated. The first is 160 characters.

Opener one

[referrer] suggested I write to you about the [role] role at [company]. After reading the posting I could see why they thought of me: [one line on why you fit].

Opener two

I was talking with [referrer] about [company]'s work on [what they do], and they pointed me to your [role] opening. It is the role I would most like to do next, because [reason].

The one job

The first line earns the second.

A reader decides whether to keep going within a sentence, so the first sentence is the whole battle.

A hiring manager reads the opening line and makes a snap decision: this person has something to say, or this is another form letter. "I am writing to apply for the position of X" loses that decision instantly, because it spends the most important line repeating what the reader already knows. Open instead with the one thing that is true only for you and this job: who sent you, a result that matches, or a real reason you want this company and not just any job.

By situation

Different starts for different doors.

How you open depends on how you arrived at the role.

A referral changes everything

If someone inside the company pointed you here, lead with their name. A referral in the first line is the strongest opener there is, because it borrows trust you have not had to build. Name them, name the role, and get to your fit fast.

A cold application has to earn attention

With no contact, the opener has to do the work alone, so lead with a result or a genuine reason for this company. Skip the throat-clearing. The reader owes you nothing yet, and the first line is where you change that.

The opener gets you read. The letter closes the deal.

A strong first line buys you the rest of the page. Then the resume does the real work.

When the letter is written, the free review checks the resume it goes with, and if you want the full letter drafted, the cover letter generator writes it from your Career Story.

Questions

Common questions.

How do I start a cover letter?
With a specific hook, not a statement of intent. Lead with a referral, a result that matches the role, or a real reason you want this company. Name the role and the company in the first two lines so it never reads like a form letter.
Should I say 'I am writing to apply for'?
No. It spends your most important line on something the reader already knows. Cut it and open with the one thing that is true only for you and this job.
How do I open a cover letter with a referral?
Lead with the person's name in the first line. A referral borrows trust you have not had to build, so it is the strongest opener there is. Name them, name the role, then move quickly to why you fit.
How do I start a cover letter with no experience?
Lead with a project, an internship, or coursework, and a concrete result from it. As a fresher your evidence is what you have built and learned, so open with the clearest example rather than an apology for what you have not done yet.
How long should the opening be?
One or two sentences. The opener earns you the paragraph that follows; it is not the paragraph itself. Make the point and move into your evidence before the reader loses interest.
Does this tool write the letter with AI?
No. It gives you an opener skeleton with the role and company filled in and the personal parts left as prompts, because only you know your real results. It composes a frame in your browser, stores nothing, and needs no account.

A strong first line. A resume that backs it up.

The free review reads the resume your letter is attached to, free, in about a minute.

One drop. Sixty seconds. The whole diagnosis.Drop the resume and see exactly what is wrong, and what fixes it.

No resume handy? Skip it and build your story with Vale →