You’re almost done writing your cover letter. You’ve filled it with your accomplishments, skills, and credentials. Now it’s time to write a cover letter closing that compels the hiring manager to call you in for an interview.
Read on to find out how to end your cover letter like a pro.
How to Close a Cover Letter
An effective cover letter ending has three main components, which include an:
End your cover letter effectively by perfecting these elements.
1. Add an Actionable Cover Letter Closing Paragraph
You’ve written a great cover letter that:
- describes your greatest work-related triumphs
- gives the hiring manager an insight into your personality and abilities
- emphasizes your future ambitions
After all that work, it’s important to end your cover letter with a thoughtful closing paragraph. Your cover letter conclusion is your last chance to impress the hiring manager, so make it count.
There are four things you should include in your closing paragraph to make it more likely to land you an interview:
- Your contact details (don’t make the hiring manager hunt for this information)
- Your availability (if flexible, let them know you can meet at their convenience)
- Gratitude for reading your cover letter — the hiring manager will have undoubtedly read other applications, so make it clear you appreciate them giving you a chance.
- A final compelling reason why you’d make a good hire — describe briefly what value you’ll bring to the company.
2. Pick a Professional Sign Off
A sign off is the traditional one- or two-word phrase used to end your letter, and comes just before your name.
By contrast, the short phrase used to address a cover letter — Dear Mr. [Name] — is known as a salutation. Including one is a key element in starting your cover letter.
The conventional sign off to a business letter is “Sincerely,” but if you want to make your cover letter stand out, there are equally respectful and professional alternatives.
Acceptable
- Sincerely,
- Sincerely yours,
- Cordially,
- Cordially yours,
- Respectfully,
- Respectfully yours,
- Kind regards,
There are also some you should avoid:
Unacceptable
- Thanks,
- See you soon,
- God bless you,
- Take care,
- XOXOXOXOXO
- Godspeed,
- Yours faithfully,
As you can see, most of the unacceptable examples are too casual. By contrast, “Godspeed,” and “God bless you,” are frowned upon in many workplaces for revealing your religious leanings.
“Yours faithfully” is also sometimes seen in US cover letters, but it’s actually non-standard, and is more common in the UK.
3. Boost Your Application with a P.S.
The most quick and effective way of improving your cover letter is by adding a postscript (P.S.).
A P.S. is an extra line after your sign-off that emphasizes a single work-related achievement.
P.S. I’m looking forward to meeting you to discuss how I can boost monthly revenue by 5% as I did at my current firm.
A P.S. immediately catches the hiring manager’s attention because of its,
- location at the bottom of the page
- short length (keep it to one sentence maximum)
- uniqueness — it’s likely other candidates won’t include one
Ending a Cover Letter: 5 Examples
Here are five examples of cover letter endings that you can copy-paste into your own cover letter. Just remember to change them to reflect your own work history if you decide to use one!
These examples come from various industries. You can see full cover letter examples relating to your industry to give you ideas for yours.
Example 1: High School Teacher
Thank you for taking the time to review my application. I look forward to discussing my five years of experience teaching high school students. I can be reached at (555) 283-3247 or j.doe@icloud.com.
Sincerely,
Jay Doe
P.S. I had an average classroom attendance rate of 98% during my tenure at Springfield High School — I’d love to talk about how I achieved that with you!
Example 2: Waiter/Waitress
I appreciate you taking the time to read through my resume and cover letter. I look forward to meeting you and talking about how I can provide great service to your customers. I can be reached at (555) 483-2470 or m.hernandez@gmail.com.
Cordially,
Em Hernandez
P.S. — I also look forward to discussing my success at wine recommendations, which helped me increase the value of the average check by almost 30%.
Example 3: Marketing Coordinator
Thank you for considering my application. I’m eager to hear how I can help your start-up continue its impressive levels of growth. Please feel free to contact me at (555) 134-7948 or k.lee@msn.com when it’s convenient for you.
Respectfully yours,
Kay Lee
P.S.: I’m excited to give you an insight into how I increased our website’s click-through-rate by 27% during my first three months working there.
Example 4: Retail
Thank you for taking time to evaluate my application. I’m excited to talk with you about how I can contribute as a [job name] at your new location in Hart’s Landing. I can be reached at (555) 471-0230 or b.smith@outlook.com.
Sincerely yours,
Bee Smith
P.S.: I’d be thrilled to apply what I learned at [Company’s Name] about on-shelf product presentation at your company, where I succeeded in boosting sales by 7%.
Example 5: Journalist
I’ve enjoyed learning about The Townsville Gazette’s history, and I’d like to thank you for taking the time to learn about me. I’m available for an interview at your convenience where I’d be happy to discuss what I learned in my BA Journalism program. I’m reachable at (555) 347-3924 or elle.lopez@icloud.com.
Kind regards,
Elle Lopez
P.S. — When we have the chance to meet, remind me to explain how I boosted readership of my college newspaper by 47% my last year as senior editor.
What to Avoid When Ending Your Cover Letter
1. Typos
Typos immediately make you look careless. The average job opening attracts hundreds of applicants, so a single typo can make a hiring manager quickly pass over your resume in favor of someone else’s.
To avoid typos, take a second look at your resume, preferably a day or two after you wrote it so you can see it with fresh eyes. Changing the font type and size can also help you spot any errors.
Because it’s easy to miss mistakes in your own work, ask someone else — or multiple other people — to have a look at your resume before you send it out.
2. Threatening to Follow Up
Many resume experts suggest you should say you’ll follow up on your application with a telephone call. They think it makes you look proactive and self-confident.
However, saying you’ll call the recruiter if they don’t respond means:
- they’ll view you as pushy
- they’ll think you view yourself as more important than their work
Instead, just make sure you include multiple ways for the hiring manager to contact you on your cover letter (for example, your phone number, email, and LinkedIn) and state when you’re available to talk (“I’m free to talk after 10 a.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends”).
3. Coming Across as Desperate
Above all, even if you’re struggling to find work, don’t make that fact too apparent. The following cover letter closing sentence is likely to frighten most hiring managers:
Please give me an interview. I promise you won’t regret it.
Instead, keep it professional:
I look forward to meeting you and talking about how I can provide great service to your customers.
This example sentence is more effective because it focuses on what you can do for the company and its customers, rather than looking like a plea for work.
Closing a Cover Letter: Takeaways
As you close your cover letter, don’t forget to include a:
- convincing closing paragraph that includes your contact details
- professional sign off
- eye-catching P.S. that gives the hiring manager an additional reason to call you in for an interview
Including these three components helps you create an effective cover letter.
The success of your cover letter also depends hugely on its design. If you haven’t already, consider downloading one of our free cover letter templates, each of which has been crafted to stand out in a pile of applications.
Or, if you’re really struggling, simply insert your details into our free-to-use cover letter builder and create a cover letter in under 5 minutes.
