Your cover letters entire purpose is to GRAB ATTENTION and make them read your CV/Resume. Remember this throughout your entire cover letter. You should have written a great introduction which grabs the readers attention by highlighting what makes you unique as an applicant and ideally you should have shown them how you are a natural at what you do.

If you're unsure what a cover letter is, you should start with our other articles:

• What is a cover letter? (also why it's needed and guide to content)
• How to start a cover letter
• Free cover letter templates

There are 3 main parts to your cover letter - the attention grabbing cover letter start, the meat in the middle of your cover letter and then the closing sentence or two. The closing sentences of your cover letter should still be aimed at getting the reader to put your CV on the first shortlist. Here's what you need to do:

• Point out a particular part of your experience on your CV which you feel makes you perfectly suited to the role
• Restate how you are now perfectly aligned in your career for this role

Example of how to end a cover letter

For the role of _____________ (insert target role) you'll be particularly interested in my experience at ____________ (insert prior company name) where I excelled at _____________ (choose a skill they are looking for). It is this experience, in particular, that I feel now makes me perfectly suited for this role. You'll find my CV/Resume (choose CV if you're in UK else Resume) enclosed.

The purpose here is not to go into too much detail about stuff already in your CV but give them something in your CV that they should go and look at straight away. You should be trying to create intrigue in order to convince them to look at your CV and read it carefully.

Final ending of your cover letter

Finally, you should end your cover letter with a formal phrase - this phrase will depend on two things: 1) the location of the job and 2) Did you use the persons name at the beginning or did you write Sir/Madam?

• Used their name? End with:
  
  Yours sincerely, (for a U.S. audience you may optionally reverse the order here to 'Sincerely yours')
  
  (insert your full name)
  (sign it)
• US audience and used Sir/Madam?:
  
  Yours truly,
  
  (insert your full name)
  (sign it)
• Worldwide audience and used Sir/Madam?:
  
  Yours faithfully,
  
  (insert your full name)
  (sign it)

DailyWritingTips advice about formal endings

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