Your Longest Cover Letter

[Lyam B]

Yesterday, a client posted a very detailed posting so I responded with an equally detailed cover letter. My word count was just under 1,200.

Just wondering. How many words do your cover letters usually contain? Usually, my cover letters range from 300-500 words. Also, if you know, what was the word count of your longest cover letter?

-Lyam

[Santiago G]

I don't know the exact lengths of my cover letters. But I been seeing it as: the longer and more relevantly detailed they are, the better. Some clients use the cover letter as the requested sample too. They just don't tell anyone!! And there's always other clients that request a "sample of your writing" and primarily look at that. That pretty much got me my most fun job as a writer here!!

But I'm pretty sure it was my longest cover letter to date is what got me my highest paying job as a writer here.

The other half of the story is that I have created much shorter cover letters and still got the job too. So there's almost always a luck shot in it.

I just wish more real deal clients would put much more detail into their job posts as you mentioned you found and applied for.

[Marissa S]

Wow.. that's really long, like a blog.  I write cover letters in 3-5 sentences which is quite long for me already. Sometimes, I would simply do a salutation, a sentence, complimentary close and my first name.  It works for me so far 

[Cristian-Adrian F]

I believe a cover letter should let the client know that you at least read 90% of their description, and it should contain only pinpoint specifications regarding the requirements stated. 3-4 paragraphs made of a maximum 5 lines each it's surely sufficient to drag his/her attention, whereas 1.2k words is overkill already. I don't have a deep knowledge of W&T domain, but some might prefer the stereotypical quality over "quantity". If you can achieve both at a time, then yes that would be an asset, but I still believe quality and nothing else is just enough.

[Sandra T]

Not really on topic, but I remembered something while reading this thread:

A while ago, I posted a job offer on the local online job board in my city as I was looking for somebody to come and clean my windows (preferably a student).

Not only did I receive a few dozen application emails. Some people wrote lengthy application letters, quite a few attached CVs and two actually sent a scanned version of their university degrees!

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On topic - mine is usually 4-5 paragraphs and 10-12 lines in total.

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I don't hire often here on Upwork, but when I do, I usually mention one thing I particularly want to see addressed in the cover letter, and usually who does that in the shortest and most precise manner, gets the job.

[Preston H]

re: "...and two actually sent a scanned version of their university degrees!"

Sheesh. What kind of windows do you have?!

[I'm kidding, of course. Sounds like you encountered spam job applyers, just like we have on Upwork... although we have them less now that Connects are in place.]