How Long Should a Cover Letter Be? 250-400 Words

A cover letter should usually be 250 to 400 words, fit on one page, and have three or four short paragraphs. That's long enough to show why you fit the role and short enough for a recruiter to read in about a minute and a half. Paste your draft into the free word counter to check the words and paragraphs, then trim or expand to land in the range.

Some application forms set their own limit, such as "maximum 250 words" or "2,000 characters". When they do, that limit wins over any general advice.

Why shorter usually works better

Recruiters often skim a pile of applications. A cover letter that fits on one screen gets read; one that runs to two pages often gets skimmed for the first paragraph and the sign-off. The letter's job isn't to repeat your resume. It's to answer three questions quickly:

• Which job are you applying for, and why this company?
• What's the strongest evidence that you can do it?
• What happens next?

You can answer all three well in about 300 words.

At 240 words a minute, the reading speed the word counter uses, a 300-word letter takes about 1 minute 15 seconds to read. A 600-word letter takes two and a half minutes, which is a lot to ask before someone has decided you're worth an interview.

A word budget, paragraph by paragraph

Here's a simple structure that lands at around 300-350 words:

Paragraph	What it does	Words
Greeting	"Dear Ms Rao," or "Dear Hiring Team,"	3-5
1. Opening	The role, where you saw it, one line on why you're a fit	40-60
2. Evidence	One or two achievements that match the job, with numbers	100-150
3. Why them	What draws you to this company or team, specifically	50-80
4. Close	Availability, thanks, and a clear next step	30-50
Sign-off	"Kind regards," and your name	3-5

The evidence paragraph is where the words are worth spending. "Managed social media" is weak. "Grew the college fest's Instagram from 1,200 to 9,000 followers in four months" is strong, and it costs only a few more words.

How long should a cover letter be in different situations?

Situation	Suggested length
Email body when the cover letter is the email	150-250 words
Standard cover letter attached as a PDF	250-400 words
Senior role, career change, or academic post	400-600 words
Online form with a text box	Whatever the box allows; check the character count
Internship or first job	200-300 words

For a career change, the extra words go on explaining the switch and showing transferable skills. For academic jobs, letters can run longer because they often summarise research and teaching, so follow the department's instructions.

Where a form counts characters rather than words, the free character counter shows how many you have left as you type.

How to check the length

1. Open the free word counter.
2. Paste your whole letter, including the greeting and sign-off.
3. Read Words and Paragraphs at the top. Paragraphs are split at blank lines, so a greeting and sign-off on their own lines count too (about 6 for the layout above). If you see one or two, your letter is probably a wall of text; break it up.
4. Check Reading time, which rounds to whole minutes: 300 words shows 1 min and 400 words shows 2 min. Both are fine.
5. Look at Most used words below the box. If "I" or "experience" appears ten times, vary a few sentences.

Your letter stays on your device; nothing is uploaded or saved.

Getting a long draft under 400 words

Most first drafts run long. A few cuts that rarely lose anything:

• Drop the throat-clearing. "I am writing to express my interest in the position of" can become "I'd like to apply for the".
• Don't list your resume. Pick the one or two achievements that match the job ad and leave the rest to the resume.
• Remove generic claims. "I am a hard-working team player" says less than one concrete example.
• Cut the second "thank you". Once at the end is enough.

More techniques are in how to reduce word count.

One page, and save it as a PDF

A 300-word letter fits comfortably on one A4 or US Letter page at 11-12 pt with normal margins. If yours spills onto a second page, it's too long or the margins are too wide.

Send it as a PDF unless the employer asks for a Word file. A PDF looks the same on every device, so your layout and fonts won't shift. Most editors can do this free: in Microsoft Word use File > Save As and choose PDF, and in Google Docs use File > Download > PDF Document.

If you only have a .docx and no editor handy, EveryApp's Word to PDF converter turns DOCX, DOC, ODT and RTF files into PDFs. It's a Pro tool, but you can try it free with a free account on documents up to 2 MB, which easily covers a cover letter. The document is deleted once it's converted, and the PDF is kept for an hour for you to download.

The guide on PDF vs Word for a resume explains when each format makes sense, and the job application documents checklist covers everything else you might need to send.

Check your cover letter now

Paste your letter into the free word counter and aim for 250-400 words in three or four paragraphs. It's free, works on a phone, and your text never leaves your device.