Cover letters that don't sound like a template

Recruiters can usually spot a template cover letter within a sentence or two — not because it was written with help, but because it could have been sent to any company for any role. The fix isn't avoiding a starting draft; it's making sure the specific parts stay specific.

Start with what wouldn't work for another company

A strong opening line references something true about this role or this company specifically — a product you've actually used, a problem the job description names directly, a reason this team's work is interesting to you. If your opening line would work unchanged in an application to a competitor, rewrite it.

Connect your experience to their stated need, explicitly

Don't make the recruiter do the work of connecting your background to their requirements. If the job description asks for experience scaling a support team, say directly: "I scaled a support team from 3 to 12 people over 14 months" — not just "I have team leadership experience."

A generic line, rewritten

Before: "I am a highly motivated professional with strong communication skills who is excited about the opportunity to contribute to your team."

After: "When I read that this role owns onboarding for new merchants, I thought of the onboarding flow I rebuilt at my last job — cutting time-to-first-transaction from nine days to two by cutting the form from 14 fields to 6."

The first line could open literally any cover letter for any job — it names no company, no role, no fact about you a reader could check. The second couldn't: it names the actual thing this job does and answers it with a specific number from real work. That's the difference the rest of this post is arguing for, made concrete. Farah can help you find your own version of the second line once you've pasted in the job description.

Keep it short

Three to four short paragraphs is enough: why this role, why you fit, one concrete example, a brief close. A cover letter's job is to earn a closer read of your resume, not to repeat it.

Read it out loud before sending

The fastest way to catch a line that sounds generic, stiff, or obviously templated is to hear it. If a sentence sounds like it belongs in a form letter when read aloud, it probably reads that way to the person on the other end too.

Starting from a draft — AI-assisted or otherwise — isn't the problem. Sending the draft unchanged is.