Free cover letter checker
Paste your letter and the job ad. The checker lists what a recruiter will notice in the first read: a missing role name, no numbers, words the ad repeats that your letter skips, and an opening that could go to any company. Your letter stays in this tab.
01Company and role named
02A greeting to a person
03Template gaps left in
04Paragraphs and a clear ask
05Length, 250 to 400 words
06A result with a number
07Key words from the job post
08Stock phrases and hedges
How this works
- The check finds the greeting, the body paragraphs and the sign-off, then looks for the company and the job title. With a job post it takes both from the post. Without one it looks for a name after "the role at" or "join".
- Six parts make the score: job match, how personal the letter is, structure, length, specific examples, and clichés and tone. Job match counts only when the job post is at least 120 characters. About 60% of the post's top ten key words earns full marks, since a letter should read as a letter, and a paragraph that lists more than eight skills is flagged.
- Each issue shows what was found and what to change. Stock phrases such as "I am writing to apply" and "team player" get their own rewrite notes.
- It reads text only and runs in your browser. It does not check spelling or grammar, and it cannot tell whether the story is true.
Before and after
01 Opening
Before
I am writing to apply for the position advertised on your website.
After
I'd like to bring five years of retail pricing work to the Data Analyst role at Northwind.
02 Proof
Before
I am a hard-working team player with a passion for data.
After
At Bluefin I built a markdown dashboard that store managers used to cut losses by 12% in two quarters.
03 Close
Before
I look forward to hearing from you.
After
Could we talk next week? I can walk you through the dashboard and how the tests were set up.
Questions
- What does the cover letter checker look for?
- Whether the letter names the company and the role, greets a person and has no template gaps left in. It also checks paragraph count, length, a closing ask, a result with a number, stock phrases and hedges. With a job post, it counts how many of the post's key words your letter uses.
- Does it check grammar?
- No. It reads structure and wording, not spelling or grammar. After you make the fixes here, run the letter through a grammar checker or the one built into your word processor.
- Is my letter saved?
- Your letter stays in this browser tab and is not sent to Dossier. The job post is kept in this browser so the ATS checker can reuse it. If you open the letter in the cover letter maker, it moves within this tab, never in the link.
- What is a good cover letter length?
- Most letters work at 250 to 400 words in three to five short paragraphs, which fits on one page. Under 150 words rarely says enough, and over 500 usually repeats the resume. A letter sent as an email body can be shorter.
- Should my cover letter repeat my resume?
- No. Pick two or three results that match what the job post asks for, and tell the story behind one of them: the problem, what you did and what changed. The resume holds the full list.
- Do ATS systems read cover letters?
- Some systems store cover letters and let recruiters search them, and many do not. A person reads the letter once it is opened, so use the job post's words where they fit naturally instead of listing them.