16 Cover Letter Mistakes That Kill Applications (And How to Fix Them)
Hiring managers see the same errors every day. Avoid these common cover letter mistakes and give your application a real chance at standing out.
Here’s a humbling truth: most cover letters are bad. Not catastrophically bad - just quietly, passively, forgettably bad. They don’t make hiring managers angry; they make them indifferent. And in a competitive application pile, indifference is a death sentence.
The mistakes that cause this aren’t random. They show up again and again, across industries, experience levels, and job types. And they’re almost always fixable.
We’ve collected the 16 most common cover letter mistakes - the ones that hiring managers notice, wince at, and use to move an application to the no pile. For each one: what the mistake is, why it’s a problem, and exactly how to fix it.
Mistake 1: Starting With “I Am Writing to Apply For…”
Why it’s a problem: This opening tells the reader nothing they don’t already know. You are, in fact, applying for the position - that much is clear from the fact that you sent a cover letter. Opening with this phrase is the written equivalent of beginning a conversation with “I am about to speak to you.”
How to fix it: Lead with your most relevant credential or a compelling hook. Make the first sentence do real work.
Instead of: “I am writing to apply for the Marketing Manager position at Acme Corp.”
Try: “Three years ago I took a B2B content programme from 2,000 to 47,000 monthly organic visitors - and I’d like to bring that same approach to Acme Corp’s content team.”
Mistake 2: Repeating Your Resume Word-for-Word
Why it’s a problem: The hiring manager already has your CV. If your cover letter is just a prose version of it, you’ve added nothing and wasted their time. A cover letter that simply recaps your resume signals a lack of strategic thinking - you haven’t asked yourself what the letter is for.
How to fix it: Use your cover letter to do what your resume can’t: tell the story behind your experience, explain why specific achievements matter for this role, and demonstrate genuine interest in the company. Add context, not repetition.
Mistake 3: Making It About You, Not About Them
Why it’s a problem: The cover letter is read by a hiring manager who is fundamentally asking one question: “What can this person do for us?” A letter that focuses exclusively on your ambitions, your career goals, and what you hope to gain from the role answers the wrong question.
How to fix it: Every paragraph should implicitly answer: “Here’s what I’ll contribute.” Instead of “This role would help me develop my leadership skills,” try “I’d bring the leadership skills I developed managing a cross-functional team of twelve to a role where that capability is clearly needed.”
Mistake 4: Using a Generic, One-Size-Fits-All Template
Why it’s a problem: Experienced readers can spot a templated letter in three seconds. The telltale signs: vague references to “your industry-leading company,” skills that don’t match the job description, and a complete absence of anything that could only have been written for this role.
How to fix it: Every cover letter needs at least three things that couldn’t appear in a letter for a different company: a reference to something specific about the organisation, the exact job title they’ve used, and your most relevant credential framed in the context of their stated needs. If your letter passes a word-swap test (you could change the company name and it would make just as much sense), rewrite it.
Mistake 5: Not Addressing a Specific Person
Why it’s a problem: “Dear Hiring Manager” is fine. “Dear Sir/Madam” feels like a 1997 fax. Neither is as strong as a named salutation. Using a name signals that you did a basic level of research, which many candidates don’t.
How to fix it: Spend 60 seconds on LinkedIn looking for the hiring manager, head of department, or relevant team lead. In most cases, you’ll find a name. If you genuinely can’t, “Dear [Team Name] Hiring Team” (e.g., “Dear Design Hiring Team”) is more specific than “Dear Hiring Manager” and shows awareness of the team structure.
Mistake 6: Going Over One Page
Why it’s a problem: Cover letters that exceed one page signal poor editing and an inability to prioritise. A hiring manager spending 30–60 seconds per letter will not read a second page. Anything on page two is invisible.
How to fix it: Set yourself a strict 350–450 word limit. This forces you to be selective about what earns its place in the letter. If you find yourself going over, ask: “Is this paragraph answering their most important question? Or am I just including it because I wrote it?” Cut ruthlessly.
Mistake 7: Typos and Grammar Mistakes
Why it’s a problem: A single typo can disqualify an otherwise excellent application. It signals carelessness - and most roles require attention to detail in some form. If you can’t proofread a document you’ve written specifically to make a great impression, what does that suggest about your day-to-day work?
How to fix it: Read the letter backwards (it breaks your brain’s pattern-completion habit and forces you to see individual words). Read it aloud. Use a grammar checker. Then have someone else read it. Do all three. The stakes are high enough to warrant it.
Mistake 8: A Weak, Passive Closing
Why it’s a problem: “I hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience” is the written equivalent of trailing off mid-sentence. It’s passive, forgettable, and puts all the agency on the reader. A weak close undermines everything that came before it.
How to fix it: Close with confidence and a specific call to action. Something like: “I’d welcome the chance to discuss how my experience in content operations translates to what you’re building at Acme - I’m available for a call any time next week.” You’re not demanding anything; you’re being clear about your interest and making it easy to act.
Mistake 9: Burying Your Best Credential at the Bottom
Why it’s a problem: In a 30-second scan, most readers never make it to the bottom of a cover letter. If your most impressive or relevant achievement is in your final paragraph, most hiring managers will never see it.
How to fix it: Lead with your strongest card. Identify the single credential or achievement that is most directly relevant to this specific role and put it in the first paragraph. Everything else is supporting evidence.
Mistake 10: Using Clichés
Why it’s a problem: Phrases like “team player,” “fast learner,” “detail-oriented,” “passionate about,” and “results-driven” have appeared in so many cover letters that they’ve become invisible. They communicate nothing because everyone uses them. They’re placeholders that take up space where specific evidence could live.
How to fix it: Replace every cliché with a specific, concrete example. Instead of “I’m a fast learner,” write “I picked up our CRM system and reduced onboarding time by 40% within my first three months.” The example does the same work as the cliché - but actually proves it.
Mistake 11: No Specific Company Research Visible
Why it’s a problem: If your letter contains nothing that could only have been written about this company, you’ve told the reader you’re playing the numbers game. There’s no investment, no genuine interest - just an application that happens to be addressed to them.
How to fix it: Include one or two sentences of genuine, specific company knowledge. A product feature that genuinely impresses you. A recent press mention that relates to why you’re applying. A specific challenge the team is publicly working on. This signals interest, initiative, and the kind of self-motivation that hiring managers prize.
Mistake 12: Wrong Formatting for ATS
Why it’s a problem: If your cover letter is submitted as a Word document or PDF, ATS systems need to parse the text. Multi-column layouts, tables, text boxes, fancy fonts, headers/footers, and decorative elements can all confuse parsing algorithms - causing your letter to appear garbled or incomplete in the system.
How to fix it: Use a simple, single-column layout. Standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Georgia, Times). No tables, columns, or text boxes. If you’re attaching the letter, test that copy-pasting the text gives clean, readable output. Formatting should serve the reader, not impress them.
Mistake 13: Explaining Why You Want to Leave Your Current Job
Why it’s a problem: Your motivations for leaving a current role are irrelevant to the hiring manager. At best, it’s information they didn’t ask for. At worst, mentioning conflict, boredom, burnout, or difficult managers creates an immediate negative association with your application.
How to fix it: Frame your motivation entirely in terms of what you’re moving toward, not what you’re moving away from. “I’m excited about this role because…” is always better than “I’m looking to leave because…” Keep the present-role discussion neutral and brief.
Mistake 14: Including Salary Requirements (Unless Asked)
Why it’s a problem: Mentioning salary in a cover letter when it hasn’t been requested signals negotiating inexperience and can preemptively eliminate you if your number is too high - before you’ve had the chance to demonstrate your value. It also shifts the conversation to compensation before you’ve established fit.
How to fix it: If the application specifically requests salary expectations, include a range in your cover letter or the designated form field. Otherwise, leave salary entirely out of the letter and address it if it comes up during the interview process.
Mistake 15: Being Too Humble or Too Arrogant
Why it’s a problem: Both extremes lose the reader. Excessive humility (“I know I’m probably not the most qualified candidate, but…”) signals a lack of self-awareness and makes the reader question your confidence. Excessive arrogance (“I am exactly what this company needs and you’d be lucky to have me”) creates immediate friction.
How to fix it: Strike a tone of quiet confidence backed by evidence. State your capabilities clearly and support them with facts. You don’t need to claim you’re the best candidate - just demonstrate, specifically and credibly, that you can do the job well. Let the evidence carry the weight.
Mistake 16: Not Proofreading for the Right Company Name
Why it’s a problem: This is the single most embarrassing - and most common - cover letter mistake. Sending a letter addressed to “Acme Corp” when you’re applying to “Initech” is an immediate disqualifier. It tells the reader you don’t care, you’re not paying attention, and you sent this same letter to fifty other companies without checking.
How to fix it: Make the company name check part of your final review ritual. Before you hit send, read the first line of your letter and confirm the company name. Then search the document for every mention of the company and verify each one. It takes 30 seconds and has saved countless applications.
The Pattern Behind All These Mistakes
Look at this list as a whole and you’ll notice something: almost every mistake comes back to the same two root causes.
Generic, templated thinking. Writing a letter that could be sent to anyone, without investing the time to speak specifically to this role and this company.
Passive, hedged language. Opening weakly, closing weakly, using clichés instead of evidence, apologising for your background instead of owning it.
The antidote is equally simple: be specific, and be confident. Specific about what they need. Specific about what you’ve done. Confident that your experience is genuinely relevant. Confident enough to close with a real ask.
Every item on this list is fixable. The good news is that most of your competition isn’t fixing them - which means even modest improvements to your cover letter process will move you materially up the pile.