End a cover letter with a short paragraph that asks for the conversation: say what you would like to talk about, say when you are available, and thank the reader in one line. Then sign off to match your greeting, with "Yours sincerely," after a name in British usage or "Sincerely," in American usage, and put your full name underneath.
Below are twelve closing lines sorted by situation, the English sign-offs, and the formal sign-off for a job application in fifteen languages.
Key points
- The last paragraph asks for one thing: a conversation. Name what you would like to talk about and when you are free.
- In British usage a greeting with a name ends "Yours sincerely" and one without ends "Yours faithfully". In American usage "Sincerely" covers both.
- In an attached letter only your name goes under the sign-off. In an email, add your phone number and one link.
- Sign-offs do not translate word for word. Use the form that letters in that language use.
In this guide
What the closing paragraph does
The body of the letter has made your case. The last paragraph makes the next step easy to take. It does three things, in this order, in two or three sentences.
Say what you would like to talk about
Weak
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my application further.
Strong
I would like to show you the stock-count spreadsheet I built and how it could work across your three shops.
The strong version gives the interview a subject, and the subject is your best evidence. Pick the one thing from the body you would most like to be asked about.
Say when you are available
Weak
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Strong
I am free for a call on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, and my notice period is four weeks.
Days and times let the reader reply with a slot, and a notice period answers a question they would otherwise have to ask. If your diary is open, say so: "any day next week".
Thank the reader, once
Weak
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my letter. I would be extremely grateful for any opportunity.
Strong
Thank you for considering my application.
One line of thanks is polite. Two sentences of gratitude turn a letter between professionals into a plea. Put the thanks last, or leave it out.
Leave out new evidence (it belongs in the body), a summary of what you have just said, and any sentence that begins "I hope". The rest of the letter is taken step by step in How to write a cover letter.
12 closing lines, by situation
Most lines give something to talk about and then a time; where one is missing, the situation supplies it. The details are invented, so replace them with your own.
| Situation | Closing line |
|---|---|
| Standard application | I would like to walk you through the returns process I rebuilt and what I would change first in yours. I am free any morning next week. |
| Standard application | I can bring the three campaign reports to an interview. I am available on Mondays and Wednesdays, or by phone any lunchtime. |
| Standard application | I would be glad to talk through the ward handover checklist with you. I am free on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I could start four weeks after an offer. |
| Career change | I would welcome a conversation about how eight years of lesson planning carries over to your training team. I am free after 4 pm on weekdays. |
| Career change | I can show you the two dashboards I built on the course, and what ten years in retail taught me about the numbers behind them. |
| First job | I would like to tell you more about the food-bank rota I ran for a year. My exams finish on 12 June and I can start the following Monday. |
| First job | I am free for an interview after 3:30 pm on school days and all day on Saturdays. Thank you for considering my application. |
| Internal role | I would value twenty minutes to set out what I would keep and change in the team's first quarter. My manager knows I am applying. |
| Internal role | I can talk you through the handover plan for my current accounts any day this week. I am on extension 2260. |
| Speculative application | If a place opens in your site team this year, I would like to be considered. May I call on Thursday morning to ask what you look for? |
| Speculative application | I know you are not advertising. If fifteen minutes would be useful, I can come to the workshop any Friday and bring my portfolio. |
| Relocating | I move to Galway on 1 March. I can interview by video before then and in person from that date. |
Career changers and first-time applicants have their own guides: Career change cover letter and Cover letter with no experience. In a form box with a character limit, keep the availability sentence and cut the rest.
Generate a letter in Cover Letter Guru and read its last paragraph first. If the close does not fit, edit it in place or press Regenerate for a different version.
Write my cover letterEnglish sign-offs, and when each is right
The sign-off is the word or two between your last paragraph and your name. In English it follows the greeting, and British and American letters differ.
| Sign-off | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Yours sincerely, | British usage, when your greeting names the reader: "Dear Ms Hartigan,". |
| Yours faithfully, | British usage, when your greeting has no name: "Dear Hiring Manager," or the older "Dear Sir or Madam,". |
| Sincerely, | American usage, with or without a name. |
| Kind regards, | One step less formal. It fits an email, a small company, or an employer whose own writing is relaxed. |
| Best regards, | Much the same as "Kind regards". Choose one and keep to it in later emails. |
Write the sign-off with a capital on the first word only and a comma after it: "Kind regards," and not "Kind Regards". The greeting it pairs with is covered in How to address a cover letter.
Sign-offs to avoid
- "Cheers", "Thanks!" and "Best" on its own. Fine between colleagues, too casual for a first letter.
- "Warmly" and "Warm wishes". They claim a familiarity you do not have yet.
- "Respectfully yours" and "Yours truly". Correct, but stiffer than a job application needs.
- "Thanks in advance". It assumes the answer.
- No sign-off at all. A letter that stops after its last paragraph looks unfinished, even in an email.
What goes under your name
In an attached letter
Under the sign-off goes your full name, as it appears on your resume, and nothing else: your phone number and email address are already in the header. If you will print the letter, leave three or four blank lines above your typed name and sign in ink in the space. In a PDF or Word file the typed name is enough unless the employer asks for a signed copy. Layout is in Cover letter format.
In an email
When the email is the letter there is no header, so your contact details move to the bottom. Under your name put your phone number, and one link if it helps your case: a LinkedIn profile or a portfolio. Leave out quotations, logos and images. More in How to send a cover letter by email.
The last lines of an email cover letter
[What you would like to talk about.] [When you are available.] [One line of thanks.] Kind regards, [Your full name] [Phone number] [LinkedIn or portfolio link]
The formal sign-off in 15 languages
A sign-off does not translate word for word. Each language has its own fixed form, and some are whole sentences. These are the standard formal closes for a job application.
| Language | Sign-off | What it means, and when it is used |
|---|---|---|
| English | Yours sincerely / Sincerely | "Yours sincerely" to a named reader in British usage; "Sincerely" in American usage. |
| Spanish | Atentamente | "Attentively". The usual formal close of a carta de presentación. |
| French | Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, mes salutations distinguées. | "Please accept, Madam, Sir, my distinguished greetings." A full sentence that repeats the greeting. In an email, the short "Cordialement" may be accepted. |
| Portuguese | Com os melhores cumprimentos (Portugal); Atenciosamente (Brazil) | "With best greetings" in Portugal; "Attentively" in Brazil. |
| German | Mit freundlichen Grüßen | "With friendly greetings". Your name goes underneath. |
| Italian | Distinti saluti | "Distinguished greetings". The most formal of the usual closes; "Cordiali saluti" is one step warmer. |
| Irish | Is mise le meas | "I am, with respect". Closes a formal letter, with or without a name in the greeting. |
| Russian | С уважением | "With respect", then your name. |
| Ukrainian | З повагою | "With respect", then your name. |
| Japanese | 敬具 | Roughly "Respectfully yours". Pairs with the opening word 拝啓 on the cover sheet sent with a resume. |
| Chinese | 此致 敬礼 | Roughly "With this, my respects". Written on two lines, 此致 then 敬礼, above your name and the date. Simplified characters shown. |
| Hindi | भवदीय (if you are a man) / भवदीया (if you are a woman) | A formal "Yours", used where English has "Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully". |
| Bengali | বিনীত নিবেদক (if you are a man) / বিনীত নিবেদিকা (if you are a woman) | "Your humble applicant". Closes a formal application in Bangladesh, directly above your name. |
| Arabic | وتفضلوا بقبول فائق الاحترام | "Please accept my highest respect". Closes a formal request; والتقدير ("and appreciation") may be added. |
| Thai | ขอแสดงความนับถือ | "With respect". For a letter that opens with เรียน and the reader's name or title. |
Urdu, the sixteenth language Cover Letter Guru writes in, is missing: we could not confirm one standard form, and a wrong sign-off is worse than a missing row. Punctuation after the sign-off differs between languages, so do not add an English comma by habit.
Cover Letter Guru writes a cover letter in any of its 16 languages, from your resume and the job listing. Read the last lines against this table before you send.
Write in my languageA full letter, with notes on the close
A short letter with all of it in place. The notes cover the last paragraph and the sign-off only.
A close that asks for the conversation
Payroll administrator applying for Payroll Team Leader at a housing group · Professional tone · 170 words
Dear Ms Hartigan,
Last year I ran the monthly payroll for 640 staff at Fernhollow Care without one late payment, including the two months in which we changed payroll system. Your listing for a Payroll Team Leader asks for someone who can keep pay accurate through a system change, and Tallowmere's move to a new platform next spring is the reason I am applying.
I led the testing for our switch. I ran both systems side by side for two pay cycles, traced every difference to its cause, and wrote the checklist the team still uses before each run. I also train new administrators, four so far, and cover for the payroll manager when she is away.
I would like to show you the parallel-run checklist1 and talk through how I would plan your first two pay cycles on the new platform. I am free for a call on any weekday after 2 pm2, and my notice period is one month. Thank you for reading this.3
Yours sincerely,4 Tomasz Wieczorek
Why this works
- 1The close offers one thing to talk about, and it is the evidence the body has just set out.
- 2Availability the reader can act on. A reply can propose a time without asking first.
- 3Five words of thanks, placed after the request.
- 4The greeting names Ms Hartigan, so British usage calls for "Yours sincerely". Had the letter opened "Dear Hiring Manager," it would end "Yours faithfully".
Common questions
- Should I write "Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully"?
- In British usage, write "Yours sincerely" when your greeting names the reader and "Yours faithfully" when it does not. In American usage, "Sincerely" is right in both cases.
- Is "Best regards" too informal for a cover letter?
- Not for an email, or for an employer that writes informally itself. For a formal letter sent as a document, "Yours sincerely" or "Sincerely" is the safer choice.
- Do I need to sign a cover letter by hand?
- Only on a printed copy: sign in ink between the sign-off and your typed name. For a PDF, a Word file or an email, your typed full name is enough unless the employer asks for a signature.
- Can I end with "I look forward to hearing from you"?
- You can, but on its own it leaves the next step entirely to the reader. Put a specific offer and your availability first.
Related guides
How to start a cover letter: 40 opening lines by what they prove
Start a cover letter with the most relevant thing you can prove. Forty opening lines sorted by what each proves, and the nine openings to avoid.
How to address a cover letter with or without a name: 8 cases
Who to address a cover letter to, with or without a name: eight cases with the greeting for each, the address block, and formal greetings in 14 languages.
How to email a cover letter: 12 subject lines, 3 templates
Follow the listing on whether to paste your cover letter into the email or attach it. Twelve subject lines, three templates and a checklist before you send.
How to write a cover letter in 7 steps: one letter in 3 tones
A cover letter is four or five short paragraphs that match what the job asks for to what you have done. Seven steps, a template and one letter in three tones.
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