How to Write a Graduate Cover Letter (+ Examples)

Graduating is an amazing sensation. That feeling of having made it and having ended a chapter in life, this time as a ‘real’ adult. More than just the end of one chapter, it’s the beginning of an exciting new one. It’s time to take that giant leap with your first graduate position, whether in the form of a job or a place on a graduate scheme. The best places are swamped with applications, though, especially when it comes to entry-level positions.

You need a graduate cover letter that puts your CV in all the right piles and gets you interview after interview. This article is here to show you how to write a graduate cover letter that does just that, with expert graduate cover letter examples and plenty of proven advice.

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Searching for a different cover letter? See these guides:

• Administrative Assistant Cover Letter
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Graduate cover letter example

Writing your first cover letter? Check out a general guide on what a cover letter is and how to write it effectively. Now, here’s how to write a cover letter, specifically a graduate cover letter, using a proven cover letter structure.

1. Make sure your graduate cover letter has a properly set-out header

You just graduated, or you soon will, you know the drill: there are certain formats and formalities to which you just have to adhere. The standard UK business letter format is one such thing and it’ll dictate the large-scale features of your graduate cover letter. See the graduate cover letter example above.

To set your header out properly, simply align to the right your full name, postal address, email address, and phone number. Leave a line and type the date of writing in the form 2nd May 2021. Leave another line and address your cover letter by aligning to the left the recruiter’s name, their job title, company name, and company postal address.

Graduate cover letter example: header

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.

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2. Start your graduate cover letter with a carefully chosen salutation

Throughout the vast majority of your time at university it’s been abundantly clear whom you should call by their first name and who prefers the title doctor or professor. Now things are a little less clear. Start your cover letter with a salutation that’s friendly, professional, and appropriately formal.

What ‘appropriately formal’ means will depend on what your background research on the company to which you’re applying tells you about its corporate culture. Check the company website first and foremost, especially its ‘about us’ section. Perform general web searches on the company and read up on any recent developments, announcements, interviews and so on. Creep around on MS LinkedIn to get a feel for the culture and the people who work there.

If your research suggests that the company is fairly progressive or even laid-back, then start your graduate cover letter with ‘Dear + first name’. If they seem a little more conservative or traditional, the go with the more formal ‘Dear + title + surname’ instead. Always use ‘Ms’ for women in such cases.

Sometimes names can leave you none the wiser regarding a person’s sex. Check online to determine your addressee’s sex before using a gendered title such as ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’. In the extremely unlikely event that you can’t do so but nonetheless want to remain formal, use the slightly awkward ‘Dear + first name + surname’.

All this has assumed you know to whom it is that you’re addressing your letter. If they’re not mentioned in the job advert, do everything you can to find the recruiter’s name and job title. Add to your bag of tricks the simple act of calling the company and asking—it’s bound to work and make a good impression.

If by some truly extraordinary circumstances you honestly can’t track down the recruiter’s details, then address your graduate cover letter to their job title, e.g. ‘Dear Regional Marketing Manager’. If you can’t pin down a job title, then address it to their function, e.g. ‘Dear Hiring Manager’.

The more specific you can be, the better. Although, nothing will work quite as well as the given person’s name. Whatever you do, stay clear of the stale and off-putting ‘To Whom It May Concern’, ‘Dear Sir / Madame’, or anything along those lines.

Graduate cover letter example: salutation

3. Include an attention-grabbing opening in your graduate cover letter

Whether you’re writing a cover letter for a graduate scheme, a cover letter for a graduate programme or applying for your first fully-fledged post-graduation job, you’ll need to grab the recruiter’s attention from the very outset. Yours won’t be the only graduate cover letter in the pile—first impressions count.

You can do this by keeping your opening paragraph short and to the point. It should efficiently get your enthusiasm for the job across, give an indication of what it is that you can offer the company, and describe how you’ll make a good fit when it comes to your values and goals.

If you have some work experience (whether paid, volunteer or as part of a placement programme), then include a relevant on-the-job achievement (more on achievements in the following section). Make sure it’s clear how this achievement is relevant to the job for which you’re applying.

If you don’t have any work experience, then include a belief statement instead. A belief statement is what you use to explain how your values line up with the company’s stated values (usually available on its website) and how your goals line up with its mission and business goals. 

Were you referred to this position? Did someone within the organisation suggest that you apply? Did your thesis supervisor or one of your lecturers suggest you apply? Do they have ties to the organisation? If so, then this is where you should mention the fact. Hiring referrals is a win for you and the company.

Your opening paragraph needs to do a lot, as you can see, but it also needs to be short: 40–80 words only. The main things you need to focus on are displaying your enthusiasm, showing what you have to offer the company, and describing how it is that you’d make a great fit going forward.

Graduate cover letter example: opening paragraph

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4. Showcase what you have to offer in your graduate cover letter

As you saw in the previous section on writing an opening paragraph, being able to show what you’ve achieved for previous employers is a great way of indicating what it is that you’d be able to achieve for this employer. It doesn’t matter if you previous work was performed on a volunteer basis.

An achievement in this sense boils down to a description of an action you took in a work context and the benefits that you employer gained as a result. Such actions are most often taken in response to a problem or challenge. Quantify the scale of your actions and especially the benefits whenever possible.

If you don’t have any (or many enough) such achievements, then take a similar approach to your relevant academic and extracurricular achievements. Likewise quantify everything you can and be as specific as you can. Use something like the STAR method to structure both work and non-work achievements.

The main body paragraph(s) of your graduate cover letter will be little more than a series of 2–3 achievements. You should aim for 120–200 words in one or two paragraphs. You could also use bullet points to boost readability even more. Slip some of your research regarding the company in where you can.

Graduate engineer cover letter example: main body paragraph

5. Wrap up your graduate cover letter and end with a bold CTA

Take around 40–60 words to wrap up your graduate job or graduate scheme cover letter. Don’t introduce any new achievements at this point. Just wrap up any loose ends. Sometimes there are no loose ends to wrap up, in these cases don’t needlessly repeat yourself or belabour any points.

For your cover letter's closing, summarise and tie your achievements and skills back into clear benefits for the company. Find a way to slip more of your background research regarding the company into your closing paragraph. Take every opportunity to demonstrate your enthusiasm for this exact job at this particular company.

Graduate scheme cover letter example: closing paragraphs

6. Sign off from your graduate cover letter the right way

This will be perhaps the least challenging part of writing a graduate cover letter, which is what makes it all the more important that you don’t get it wrong. Use ‘Yours Sincerely’ if you addressed your cover letter to someone by name and use ‘Yours Faithfully’ if you didn’t and referred to their role instead. 

Graduate cover letter example: sign-off

Keep these things in mind before clicking ‘send’ on your graduate cover letter

You might be tired of the rigours of submitting assignments, with all the nitpicking formatting and word-count restrictions that entails. The bad news is that you’ll need to pay at least as much attention to those things when submitting your job application. The good news? At least you haven’t got rusty yet.

Attention to detail is a quality that’s important in any graduate job. Your graduate cover letter has to scream attention to detail and conscientiousness. The layout should be clear and easy to follow with subheadings and plenty of white space demarcating subsections. Break monolithic text-chunks down into smaller ones.

Choose a font that’s easy to read, professional-looking, and understated. Something like Noto, Garamond, Arial, Liberation or even Calibri will be fine. Keep the size at a readable 11–12 points. Leave margins at the standard 2.5 cm. Your graduate cover letter should be short and nicely fill an A4 page without going over.

The overall look of your graduate cover letter and CV should match to reflect the fact that they constitute a single application together. This means aligning fonts, margins, general layout, and your chosen colour scheme (if any). Protect all this formatting by saving in PDF, unless asked for something else. That's how you make a perfect cover letter!

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.

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Congratulations on graduating! Whether you have already or are due to do so soon, I hope this article helps you step out onto the labour market in style. Is there anything I’ve covered that you’d like more information on? Please leave your comments, questions, and experiences down below.

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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.