Cover Letter Examples UK: 3 Letters to Adapt
The three letters below were written for specific job adverts by people with ordinary careers: someone changing employer without changing job, a graduate looking for a first permanent role, and someone ready to lead a team for the first time. All three start with the advert, give evidence with numbers, and finish with the practical details.
The employers are fictional. Read each letter for its method, then rewrite it around your own background.
Example 1: Same Job, New Employer
Ross has coordinated events at a university for six years and is applying to a conference and wedding venue, writing to the operations manager by name.
Why This Letter Works
Ross opens with a detail from the advert, repeat corporate bookings, and answers it with the skill that matters most for it. The equipment story shows initiative and has a number attached, which turns "commercially aware" into something the reader can check at interview.
The gap, weddings, is named plainly and followed straight away by what transfers. Because the letter is addressed to Ms Whitfield by name, it closes with "Yours sincerely".
Example 2: First Permanent Role After a Degree
Aisha has just graduated in Geography and is applying for a graduate transport planner role at a consultancy, without a named contact.
Why This Letter Works
Aisha has no planning experience yet, so the dissertation does the work of a first job: a clear question, a method, real data and a finding. Mentioning QGIS by name tells the reader she can use the tools from day one.
The cinema job is short but relevant, since a planner deals with the public too. With no name to write to, the letter opens with "Dear Sir or Madam" and closes with "Yours faithfully", the pairing UK employers still expect.
Example 3: First Team Leader Role
Callum has worked night shifts in a distribution centre for five years and is applying for a night shift team leader role at an online grocer.
Why This Letter Works
Someone stepping up for the first time has to show they've already done parts of the job. Callum does it with training, safety responsibility and retention figures, all of which are a team leader's real work, rather than with words like "natural leader".
The letter is open about the jump from colleague to supervisor, which reads as self-awareness rather than weakness. The closing detail about the new chilled area shows he has read up on the employer.
Why an Example Isn't Enough
Each of these letters works because it answers one specific advert with one person's background. Copied under your name, Ross's letter still describes Ross: the four university buildings, the equipment business case, the £18,000. Published examples are read by plenty of applicants, and people who hire regularly start recognising the same sentences.
Tailoring a letter means rebuilding it from two things no example knows about. First the advert: the tasks, its exact wording, what the employer does and what it expects from the person it hires. If the advert says "client retention", don't write "customer service". Then your profile: your own evidence, chosen because it answers that advert, and why this role is the right next step for you now.
That's what our cover letter generator does: it starts from your CV and the job advert you paste in, and writes a letter for that advert.
Your Letter, Written for the Job You Want
Create a free account, add your CV, answer a few questions about what you're after, then paste the job ad, and we'll write the letter from your background and what the employer is asking for. On your first application the cover letter is free, download included.
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Examples by Application Type
Examples by Job
Health and Care
Office and Admin
Sales, Marketing and Communication
How to Use a Cover Letter Example
Take an example for its structure, not its sentences. The three letters on this page follow the same order: a detail from the advert to open, one or two pieces of evidence with numbers, what you want to bring or learn in the role, then the practical details. Keep that order, swap every piece of evidence for one of your own, and use the language of the advert you're answering. A useful test is to reread each sentence and ask whether it could go to another employer unchanged. If it could, it's still too general.
Examples for an Internship
If you're applying for a summer internship, a placement year or an internship after a master's, our internship cover letter examples show what changes while you're still studying: your dates, where you can work and what you want to learn.
Further Reading
This page is about examples. For the method step by step, read our guide on how to write a cover letter and our cover letter best practices. If you don't know who's hiring, the guide on how to address a cover letter without a name settles the greeting.