Cover letter
A short letter accompanying your resume that explains why you fit a specific role.
Definition
A cover letter is a short (~200-300 word) letter that accompanies your resume in a job application. It's your chance to explain in your own voice why you fit THIS specific role at THIS specific company — beyond what the resume's structured bullets can convey.
Example
3-line opener that works: (1) "Saw the announcement of your Open Banking partnership last month" — specific recent thing. (2) "That's exactly the wedge into SMB lending I've been writing about" — why it matches. (3) "I've spent two years building risk models on similar data — would love to talk about what your team is solving for in 2026" — what you'd contribute.
Why it matters
For three years cover letters were "dead." Then 2026 happened: hiring managers, drowning in AI-generated resumes, started reading cover letters again as the differentiator. The catch: most AI cover letters are obviously AI-generated and get filtered in 5 seconds. The 3-line opener structure is what beats default ChatGPT output.