What Is a Cover Letter and Why Do You Need It? (+ Examples)
What is a cover letter for a job application? What is the purpose of writing a covering letter? A great CV isn't enough–see what a cover letter can do for you.
Our customers were hired by:
Being a good cleaner takes more than just the ability to effectively remove dirt and grime. You need resilience, organisational and time management skills and specialist knowledge of cleaning equipment and materials.
Doing the job well takes experience and specialist know-how and in a competitive job market you need to polish your credentials to a mirror shine to get noticed. The best way to make sure your job application is squeaky clean is to write a standout cleaner cover letter.
And we’re here to help with a sample cover letter for cleaning jobs and an easy step-by-step guide on how to write the perfect cleaning cover letter.
Use the LiveCareer cover letter builder and your cover letter will write itself. Choose a professional template, answer a few easy questions and the creator will generate a professional cover letter for you with just one click.
Looking for a cover letter template for a different position? Look through these guides:
If you haven't found the right one, check the full list of expert cover letter examples.
According to data from our builder*:
*The data comes from a period of the last 12 months (September 2023-September 2024).
Eric Bailey
57 Boundary Road
London
SW17 2ND
0777 777 7777
ebaily_lcuk@gmail.com
30th November 2020
Frank Bexley
Operations Manager
Newton Property Services
64 Gillingham Lane
SW12 3FR
Dear Mr Bexley,
As a reliable cleaner with 5+ years of experience in complex environmental cleaning jobs I was delighted to see your opening for a specialist cleaning operative. I am deeply committed to my work as a cleaner and have a proud 100% customer satisfaction record. I am confident I have the skills to be successful in this role, including operating a range of specialised cleaning equipment and products, and possessing knowledge about a variety of cleaning techniques. I would love to make use of my skills to help Newton Property Services cement its reputation as one of South London’s best providers of maintenance and cleaning services.
In my current role at Eden Environmental Services I focus on the safe removal of hazardous waste. This includes sensitively and effectively undertaking crime scene cleaning work and deep cleans for domestic hoarders. I also complete initial assessments and quotes and in the last year alone the efficiency of my team’s work has helped generate £50,000 in revenue through personal recommendations. My ability to carry out high-quality work and provide friendly service was also cited in 10 official compliments from satisfied customers. I am sure that my ability to train new staff to provide excellent service whilst maintaining safe working conditions would also be an asset to Newton Property Services.
I am confident that my proven ability to tackle the most challenging of cleaning jobs will help translate to increased business and high levels of customer satisfaction. I am very well disciplined and motivated to complete my duties with attention to detail. I also possess excellent time management and problem-solving skills.
Thank you for your time, and please let me know when we could set up a time to discuss the role further and let me explain how my extensive experience can help you to continue delivering the very best in specialist cleaning.
Yours sincerely,
Eric Bailey
Now let’s take a look at how to write a cleaner cover letter that’s polished to perfection.
Your cleaner cover letter (or, call it a letter of application) should be as tidy as your work. Cover letters are, after all, a formal business document and need to be set out precisely. So starting from the top, here’s how to address a cover letter.
Write your personal details including your email address and phone number aligned to the right. Then leave a space and write the date. Switch back to left-alignment, leave another space and write the hiring manager’s contact details.
Next, start your letter off by using the right salutation. ‘Dear [hiring manager’s name]’ is best. And if you don’t have their name, go for ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ instead of ‘To Whom It May Concern’ or ‘Dear Sir/Madam’. It’s much warmer and more personalised.
Eric Bailey
57 Boundary Road
London
SW17 2ND
0777 777 7777
ebaily_lcuk@gmail.com
30th November 2020
Frank Bexley
Operations Manager
Newton Property Services
64 Gillingham Lane
SW12 3FR
Dear Mr Bexley,
You can adjust every cover letter created in the builder to meet the job requirements. Choose the name of your profession and the company to which you’re applying, and the LiveCareer cover letter builder will automatically adapt the content for you. Create a cover letter faster than you ever thought possible and apply for the job in record time.
Hiring managers are a busy bunch and if you don’t catch their attention instantly they’ll just move onto the next candidate. So your cover letter opening needs to make you stand out by highlighting an impressive professional achievement and explaining how your skills can help the employer achieve their goals. Keep this section to 40–80 words long.
As a reliable cleaner with 5+ years of experience in complex environmental cleaning jobs I was delighted to see your opening for a specialist cleaning operative. I am deeply committed to my work as a cleaner and have a proud 100% customer satisfaction record. I am confident I have the skills to be successful in this role, including operating a range of specialised cleaning equipment and products, and possessing knowledge about a variety of cleaning techniques. I would love to make use of my skills to help Newton Property Services cement its reputation as one of South London’s best providers of maintenance and cleaning services.
What to include in your cover letter body? Pick two or three standout achievements from your cleaner CV that match up with the job requirements set out in the advert. There are 1.63 million people working in the UK cleaning and hygiene sector. That’s a lot of competition, so adding those achievements to your cleaning cover letter helps put you ahead of the pack.
Increase that impact even more by adding numbers to show exactly how effective you are and what impact you’ll have. It’s not just about the fact that you can clean, it’s about how well you can do it. This section of your cover letter should be somewhere between 120 to 200 words in length.
In my current role at Eden Environmental Services I focus on the safe removal of hazardous waste. This includes sensitively and effectively undertaking crime scene cleaning work and deep cleans for domestic hoarders. I also complete initial assessments and quotes and in the last year alone the efficiency of my team’s work has helped generate £50,000 in revenue through personal recommendations. My ability to carry out high-quality work and provide friendly service was also cited in 10 official compliments from satisfied customers. I am sure that my ability to train new staff to provide excellent service whilst maintaining safe working conditions would also be an asset to Newton Property Services.
You don’t have to create any content yourself. The LiveCareer cover letter generator will automatically suggest the best content for your cover letter with ready-made examples and expert tips.
The last paragraph of your cleaning cover letter needs to finish off strong and convince the hiring manager to take your application further. Explain how your experience and skills can benefit the employer and help produce results.
Then in a separate line below, ask to discuss how you can make a positive contribution to the business. Then sign off with the correct formal closing. ‘Yours sincerely’ if you addressed the letter to a named person and ‘Yours faithfully’ if it was addressed anonymously. Limit your cover letter ending to 60–80 words.
I am confident that my proven ability to tackle the most challenging of cleaning jobs will help translate to increased business and high levels of customer satisfaction. I am very well disciplined and motivated to complete my duties with attention to detail. I also possess excellent time management and problem-solving skills.
Thank you for your time, and please let me know when we could set up a time to discuss the role further and let me explain how my extensive experience can help you to continue delivering the very best in specialist cleaning.
Yours sincerely,
Eric Bailey
Don’t feel intimidated by this advice if you’re trying to write a cleaning cover letter with no experience. Follow exactly the same advice for your layout and formatting. And you should also follow the same advice for highlighting your skills and experience. But you’ve got no experience, you say. How’s that possible?
The key is to focus on transferable skills and experience. Think about previous jobs, education, life experience, volunteering etc. Then take a look at the job advert and make a note of the experience and skills it requires.
Then write your cleaner cover letter with no experience by using your transferable skills and experience to sell yourself as an ideal candidate. Throw in some enthusiasm for the job, a little knowledge of the company, plus willingness to learn and you’ll be set.
A cover letter should be as neat and tidy as your best cleaning work. These are the rules you need to follow for a perfect cover letter format.
Your cover letter structure and your CV structure should match—they form part of the same document.
Use a simple template and when it comes to fonts, stick to the basics and avoid anything too fancy or too small, 10–12 points is best. Tried and true classics like Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri and Garamond all make safe choices. The best CV fonts all work for cover letters too.
A neat cover letter layout should always make use of white space, the gaps between sections and paragraphs. It helps to direct the reader’s eye and makes your content easier to read. A good way of adding white space and breaking up the largest block of text is to use bullet points to highlight professional achievements in your main body paragraph.
Frame your content and further maximise white space by adding one-inch margins on each side of the page of your cleaner cover letter. If you’ve written a short cover letter you can expand this to 1.5 inches for better presentation.
The exact job requirements will differ from company to company. You’ll boost your chances if you research each job opening and target your cover letter to the company’s requirements.
When you write a cover letter from scratch for each job application you get noticed by hiring managers and have a better chance of being seen as the perfect candidate. Showing a ‘culture fit’ and that you’ve taken the effort to research the role is the best way to get hired.
Think of it this way, the UK market for contract cleaning is £5.6 billion. It’s big business, so employers want to hire people who can do the job well. Tailoring your cover letter is one of the best ways to prove it.
Our final tip—save your cleaner cover letter as a PDF unless the job advert says otherwise. It keeps your cover letter in perfect shape, preserves your formatting, and makes sure your cover letter is readable on any device.
A cover letter alone simply won’t be enough—you need an impactful CV, too. Create your CV in minutes. Just follow our wizard and fill in every CV section with ready-made content. Get started by choosing a professional CV template.
Is there anything else you’d like to know about writing a cover letter for cleaning jobs? Would you like advice on how to write a cover letter for a cleaner with no experience? Just ask in the comments section and we’ll be happy to help.
Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.
About the author
Since 2013, the LiveCareer UK team has shared the best advice to help you advance your career. Experts from our UK editorial team have written more than one hundred guides on how to write the perfect CV or cover letter.
Rate this article:
Cleaner cover letter example
Average:
What is a cover letter for a job application? What is the purpose of writing a covering letter? A great CV isn't enough–see what a cover letter can do for you.
Write a motivational letter and strengthen your application. Express your enthusiasm and hope for the opportunity with a perfect motivation letter for a job.
How to write a letter of application that'll make recruiters take notice? See letter of application example to guide you through the whole process.
Our customers were hired by: