A prompt for a cover letter needs four things: your full resume, the full job listing, a length and a tone, and an instruction not to invent anything. Leave one out and that part of the letter is left to chance. Here are seven prompts to copy into ChatGPT or any other general chatbot, each with what to paste in and what to check in the reply.
After them comes what no prompt does for you.
Key points
- Paste the whole resume and the whole listing, not a summary of either.
- Put "use only facts from my resume" in every prompt, then check every fact yourself.
- Revise one thing at a time, and say what must stay the same.
- Write the sentence about why this company yourself. A prompt cannot supply your reasons.
- Take your address, phone number and referees out of the resume before you paste it.
In this guide
What makes a prompt work
A chatbot writes from what you give it. A prompt that works hands over four things:
- Your resume, in full. The details a summary drops (the size of the team, the name of the system) are what a specific letter is made of.
- The job listing, in full. Its requirements are what the letter has to answer.
- A length and a tone. Give a number of words, and describe the reader: "a formal law firm" says more than "professional but warm".
- An instruction not to invent. Every fact comes from your resume, and a requirement your resume does not cover is left out.
Weak
Write me a cover letter for a customer support job.
Strong
Write a cover letter for the Customer Support Lead role at Wrenmoor Outdoor from the resume and listing below. 300 words, in a tone for a small outdoor-gear retailer that writes plainly and informally, British spelling. Open with my strongest relevant result. Add no employer, date, tool or number that is not in my resume. MY RESUME: [full text]. THE LISTING: [full text].
The thin prompt names a kind of job and nothing else, so the letter it leads to could be sent by anyone. The complete one supplies the evidence, the target, the limits and the rule against invention.
Three prompts for a first draft
Each prompt pastes in what it needs, so it relies on nothing said earlier in the chat. Replace everything in square brackets.
1. A full first draft
Prompt 1
Write a cover letter for the [job title] role at [company], using only my resume and the job listing below. - Use only facts from my resume. Do not add or change any employer, job title, date, qualification, tool or number. - Answer the three requirements in the listing that my resume supports best, each with evidence from it. Leave out any requirement my resume does not cover. - Open with my strongest relevant result, not with the fact that I am applying. - [300] words, four paragraphs, tone for [describe the reader, for example a formal law firm], [British] spelling. - Address it to [name, or "Hiring Manager"]. MY RESUME: [paste the full text] THE JOB LISTING: [paste the full text]
Paste in: your whole resume and the whole listing. Check: every employer, date, tool and number against your resume, then whether the three requirements it answered are the ones the listing repeats or marks as essential. Then write the sentence about why this company yourself.
2. Questions first, then the letter
Prompt 2
I want a cover letter for the [job title] role at [company]. Do not write it yet. First read my resume and the job listing below. Then ask me up to five questions, one at a time, about what you need to make the letter specific: results behind the duties on my resume, why I want this job, and anything the listing asks for that my resume does not show. When I have answered, write [300] words in a tone for [describe the reader, for example a formal law firm], using only my resume and my answers. Add no fact I have not given you. MY RESUME: [paste the full text] THE JOB LISTING: [paste the full text]
Use this when your resume lists duties and few results. Paste in: the same two documents, then your answers; "I have no number for that" is a useful one. Check: that the letter has not sharpened what you said. "About a third" should still be about a third.
3. Tailoring an existing letter
Prompt 3
Below are a cover letter I wrote for another job, my resume, and the listing for a new job: [job title] at [company]. Rewrite the letter for the new job. - Keep my wording wherever a sentence still fits. - Change the opening and the evidence to answer the new listing's three main requirements. - Take new evidence from my resume only. Invent nothing. - Remove every mention of the old company and job title. - Keep it to [300] words. After the letter, list what you changed. MY EXISTING LETTER: [paste the letter] MY RESUME: [paste the full text] THE NEW JOB LISTING: [paste the full text]
Paste in: the old letter, your resume and the new listing. Check: search the result for the old company's name and job title. Then write the sentence about why this company yourself (step 5 of How to write a cover letter).
Four prompts for revising a draft
Each of these asks for a single change and says what must stay the same.
4. Rewriting the opening
Prompt 4
Below are my cover letter for the [job title] role at [company] and my resume. Rewrite only the first paragraph; leave the rest exactly as it is. Give me three openings, each under [50] words: 1. One starting with the result in my resume that best fits this job. 2. One starting with a different result or project from my resume. 3. One starting with this fact about the company, tied to my experience: [one specific thing you know about the company]. None may begin by saying that I am applying. Use only facts from my resume and this message. MY LETTER: [paste the letter] MY RESUME: [paste the full text]
Paste in: the letter, your resume and one true, specific fact about the company. Check: each opening's facts against your resume, and that the next paragraph still follows from the one you choose. How to start a cover letter has more patterns.
5. Shortening to a word limit
Prompt 5
Shorten the cover letter below to [200 words] or fewer. - Keep the opening result, the two strongest pieces of evidence and the request for a conversation. - Cut first: any sentence that would be true of most applicants, anything said twice, and long thanks. - Shorten by cutting, not by rewriting. - Do not add any fact or change any number, name or date. After the letter, list the sentences you removed. MY LETTER: [paste the letter]
Paste in: the letter and the limit, in words or (for a form box) characters. Check: count the result yourself, and read the list of removed sentences in case one carried evidence. How long should a cover letter be? shows one letter at three lengths.
6. Changing the tone
Prompt 6
Rewrite the cover letter below in a [friendly] tone. The reader is [for example: the founder of a twelve-person design studio]. Change only how it sounds: sentence length, word choice and how directly it asks for the interview. Keep every fact, number and name exactly as it is and in the same order. Stay within 20 words of the original length. Do not add enthusiasm that no fact in the letter supports. MY LETTER: [paste the letter]
Paste in: the letter and a description of the reader. Check: that every number, name and date is the same in both versions. Tone changes how a letter sounds, never what it claims, as one letter in three tones shows.
Cover Letter Guru has four tones built in (professional, friendly, confident, creative), and Shorter and Longer buttons with an Undo.
Choose a tone and write7. Checking the facts
Prompt 7
Check the facts in my cover letter against my resume. Do not rewrite the letter. Go through the letter one sentence at a time and list every factual claim: employers, job titles, dates, numbers, qualifications, tools, and anything said about the company I am applying to. Beside each claim, quote the line of my resume that supports it. If no line supports it, or the two differ in any detail, mark it NOT IN RESUME. End with a list of only the claims marked NOT IN RESUME. MY COVER LETTER: [paste the letter] MY RESUME: [paste the full text]
Paste in: the finished letter and your resume, after every other change. Check: the check itself. Confirm in your resume that each quoted line is there, and read what the letter says about the company against the listing.
Where the prompts fall short
Five things stay with you whatever you type.
- A chatbot cannot know what you have not told it. The project you left off your resume and your reason for wanting the job do not exist for it.
- A chatbot can fill a gap with a detail that is plausible and untrue: a rounded-up number, a tool you have never used. Check every fact against your resume, whatever the prompt said.
- A thin prompt gives a generic letter. With no resume or listing to draw on, the only letter possible is one any applicant could send anywhere.
- Length, layout and the file are yours. Count the words, then set the header, the spacing and the file type the employer asked for: see Cover letter format.
- Personal details deserve a thought before they go into any online tool. Take out what the letter does not need, and read what the tool says it does with what you type.
A checked draft may still not sound like you. How to make an AI cover letter sound like you is a ten-minute pass for that, and Can recruiters tell a cover letter was written by AI? covers detection.
The same jobs in a tool built for cover letters
Every prompt above does the same jobs by hand: pasting in the resume and the listing, setting a tone, forbidding invention. A tool made for cover letters is built around those jobs. Here is how each goes in ours.
| Step | With a prompt, you | In Cover Letter Guru |
|---|---|---|
| Your resume | Supply it in every prompt | Uploaded as a PDF, Word or text file |
| The job | Supply it in every prompt | A link to the listing, or the listing pasted in |
| The facts | An instruction you write and a check you run | It writes only from what is in your resume; you still read it against your resume |
| Tone | Described in your own words | Four: professional, friendly, confident, creative |
| Language | Named in the prompt | 16 languages, among them Spanish, Arabic and Japanese |
| A new version | A follow-up prompt | Regenerate, Shorter and Longer buttons, with an Undo |
Upload your resume, add the job link and choose a tone. The first letter is free and needs an account but no card.
Write my first letter freeCommon questions
- Is it acceptable to write a cover letter with ChatGPT?
- Yes, as a first draft from your own resume and the real listing, which you then check and edit. You answer for every fact in it at interview. If the listing says anything about using AI, follow it.
- What should I paste into ChatGPT to get a cover letter?
- The full text of your resume and the job listing, a word count, a tone, and an instruction to use only facts from your resume. Leave out your address, phone number and referees.
- Why does the letter mention things that are not in my resume?
- A chatbot can fill a gap with a detail that sounds right, and a requirement your resume does not cover is a gap. Tell it to leave such requirements out, then run prompt 7, correct what it marks NOT IN RESUME, and confirm that the lines it quotes are in your resume.
- Do these prompts work in chatbots other than ChatGPT?
- They are written to. Each one pastes in everything it needs and asks for nothing particular to one tool. Whichever you use, the checks under each prompt stay the same.
Related guides
How to make an AI cover letter sound like you: a 10-minute edit
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How to write a cover letter in 7 steps: one letter in 3 tones
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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.
Write yours in a couple of minutes
Upload your resume and paste the job listing. Cover Letter Guru writes the letter from both, in the tone you choose. Your first letter is free.