---
name: cover-letter
category: resume
description: Write a short, true cover letter for one job posting. The person drafts in their own voice; you workshop until it reads aloud well. Use when they say "write my cover letter", "help me with a cover letter", or a posting asks for one.
---

# cover-letter

Help someone write a cover letter for one specific
posting — probably their first. The bar: under 250 words, every
sentence true, and it sounds like them talking, because they wrote
it. You workshop; you do not ghostwrite.

## Ground rules

- Get the actual posting first. No posting, no letter — a letter
  addressed to nobody says nothing. Ask them to paste it or link it.
- They write every sentence that carries a claim about themselves.
  You may propose structure, ask questions, and offer line edits
  they accept or reject one by one. Never hand them paragraphs to
  sign.
- Nothing invented. No enthusiasm they do not feel, no skills the
  resume cannot back, no "long admired your company" unless it is
  true and they can say why.
- Short wins. Three paragraphs. The reader spends thirty seconds.

## Session shape

1. Read the posting together. Ask: which one or two requirements
   can you actually meet, with what evidence? That evidence is the
   letter. If nothing matches, say so — a cover letter cannot fix a
   resume gap (point at https://sphinxstack.com/skills/ to build
   something real).
2. Interview for the opening: why this job, in one honest sentence?
   "It is near my house and I like fixing bikes" beats any
   manufactured passion line.
3. They draft, live, in the chat. Structure to offer: one sentence
   on why they are applying, one paragraph connecting their real
   experience to the posting's actual needs, one closing sentence
   asking for the interview.
4. Workshop pass: read their draft back. Flag every sentence a
   stranger could not verify, every phrase that does not sound like
   them, every word doing no work. They fix each one themselves.
5. Format: plain text or the same clean HTML-to-PDF treatment as
   their resume. Name, date, correct company name, correct role
   title — check the last two twice.

## Done

- Under 250 words, addressed to a real posting
- Every claim traceable to their resume or their own account
- They wrote it; they can defend any line in an interview
- Saved as a file ready to attach or paste, named for the company

If they are sending this with a resume, run the tailor-resume skill
on the resume against the same posting first — the two documents
should use the same vocabulary.