How to use AI to write a cover letter

You found a job you actually want. The application asks for a cover letter, and you’ve been staring at “Dear Hiring Manager” for twenty minutes like it owes you money. Fair enough. Almost nobody enjoys writing these.

AI is decent at first drafts, and a cover letter is mostly a first-draft problem. In about 20 minutes you’ll have a tailored letter under 300 words that sounds like you on a good day. You’ll still do the final edit, because the AI has never met you.

What you’ll end up with

A cover letter draft for one specific job, under 300 words, with every claim checked against your real experience.

Before you start

The full job posting, copied into a document
Your resume as plain text. No resume yet? Start with our guide to writing a resume with AI.
One or two things you’re proud of that aren’t obvious from your resume
The hiring manager’s name, if the posting gives it. If not, that’s fine.

New to AI chat tools? Our Start Here lessons cover the basics.

Copy-ready prompts for writing a cover letter

The prompts start here: copy each one and swap the [BRACKETS] for your own details.

Step 1: Give it the raw material

The AI doesn’t know you. It doesn’t know the job either, or that you once kept a bakery running for a whole weekend when the walk-in fridge died. Tell it.

Before you paste your resume, delete your phone number, email, and home address from the top. The AI doesn’t need them to write a letter, and you’ll add them yourself at the end.

Try This Prompt

I'm applying for the job below. Write a cover letter draft for it.

Rules:
- Under 300 words, in 3 or 4 short paragraphs.
- Tone: warm, confident, and plain-spoken.
- Use only facts from my resume and my notes below. Do not invent skills, tools, job titles, numbers, or results.
- Connect 2 or 3 specific things from my background to specific things the job asks for.
- Don't say I meet a requirement unless my resume or notes clearly show it.
- Include the detail I'm proud of in a natural way.
- No clichés like "I am writing to express my interest," "I'm interested in the position," or "I am passionate about."
- Don't describe my personality or what I'd "bring" unless my notes say it.
- Address it to [HIRING MANAGER'S NAME, OR "the hiring team" IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT].
- Leave [YOUR NAME] at the end for me to fill in.

JOB POSTING:
[PASTE THE FULL JOB POSTING]

MY RESUME (contact details removed):
[PASTE YOUR RESUME]

SOMETHING I'M PROUD OF THAT'S NOT ON MY RESUME:
[ONE OR TWO SENTENCES]

What you might get back (example from ChatGPT; results vary)

Trimmed from a real ChatGPT answer (logged out, October 15, 2026). The “…” marks show where we cut.

…

I also have hands-on experience with scheduling software. In 2022, I moved our staff scheduling from paper to When I Work.

…

One experience I’m particularly proud of happened last December, when our main register system went down on the Saturday before Christmas. I set up a backup checkout using handheld card readers and kept the line moving for six hours until the system was fixed.

That last part of the prompt matters more than it looks. “I trained four new hires in a month while we were short-staffed” gives the AI something real to work with. Without it, you get a letter that could belong to anyone.

Step 2: Read it like a skeptic

The first draft will be most of the way there. Now look for anything that isn’t true. The AI sometimes “helpfully” hands you a skill you don’t have or a project you never ran.

Ask it to show its work, so you’re not hunting line by line.

Try This Prompt

Go through the cover letter above, one sentence at a time.

For each sentence that makes a claim about me (a skill, a result, a number, a responsibility), make a table with 3 columns:
1. The claim, quoted from the letter
2. The exact words from my resume or notes that support it
3. "Supported" or "Not in my resume or notes"

Don't rewrite the letter yet. Don't judge whether I'm a good fit. Only check the claims against what I gave you.

The table is a starting point, not a verdict. Read the letter yourself, too. Watch for filler as well: lines about your personality, like ‘a calm, hands-on mindset,’ that you never said. Cut them or say it in your own words. It may also ignore the cliché list and open with “I’m interested in the … position” anyway. Cut that opener yourself, or leave it for Step 3, which fixed it in testing.

Step 3: Make it sound like you

Read the draft out loud. Anything you’d never say to a person across a table goes. Then ask for one round of focused edits.

Try This Prompt

Revise the cover letter above with these changes:
- Remove every claim marked "Not in my resume or notes."
- [YOUR CHANGES, E.G. "MAKE THE OPENING LESS FORMAL" OR "CUT THE THIRD PARAGRAPH"]
- Keep it under 300 words.
- Don't add any new facts about me.
- Don't use these words: passionate, dynamic, thrilled, "team player," "hit the ground running."

Count the words yourself, or paste the letter into a word counter. Don’t ask the AI; in testing it said 156 words for a letter that was 195. Paste the letter into a document, put your contact details at the top, and save it as a PDF unless the application asks for something else.

Writing for several jobs? Run Step 1 again with each new posting.

When it goes sideways

Too long? Say “Cut this to 250 words. Remove the weakest sentence in each paragraph first.”
Too generic? Add another specific detail from your work and ask it to build the second paragraph around that.
It repeats your resume? Say “Don’t list my jobs. Tell one short story that shows why I’d be good at this one.”
It calls you something you’re not? If it says “senior” or “expert” and your resume doesn’t, point to the line and say “Use only words my resume supports.”

Where to go next

Filed under Work and job search.

What you’ll end up with

Before you start

Copy-ready prompts for writing a cover letter

Step 1: Give it the raw material

Step 2: Read it like a skeptic

Step 3: Make it sound like you

When it goes sideways

Where to go next

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