Cover letter opening lines that get read
The first sentence decides whether the rest gets read. Skip the throat-clearing and lead with your strongest reason. Five formulas, with examples, and a tool that writes openers from your details.
Five opening line formulas
Lead with a result
[Result with a number] is the kind of work I want to do as your [role].
Cutting our support backlog from 1,200 tickets to under 100 in six weeks is the kind of work I want to keep doing as Northwind's Customer Support Lead.
Connection to the company
I have [used / followed / admired] [specific thing], and [why it matters for this role].
I have used Brightline's budgeting app since its first release, and the care in its onboarding is exactly why I want to join the product team.
Referral
[Name], your [their role], suggested I apply for the [role] position.
Maria Chen, your Head of Data, suggested I get in touch about the Data Analyst role after we worked together at the city's open-data hackathon.
A short story
One sentence of a real moment that shows why you do this work.
The first time a patient's daughter thanked me for explaining her father's medication in plain words, I knew patient education was the part of nursing I wanted to build a career on.
Direct statement of fit
With [X years] of [exact experience the ad asks for], I would like to [contribution] as your [role].
With five years running payroll for multi-state employers, I would like to bring accurate, on-time pay to your 800-person team as Payroll Specialist.
Write five openers for my application
If the AI is unavailable, the five formulas above work just as well by hand.
Openers to avoid
- “I am writing to apply for the position of…”
- “My name is Alex and I am…”
- “To Whom It May Concern, I saw your job posting…”
- “I believe I am the perfect candidate for…”
- “I have always dreamed of working at…”
- “As you can see from my résumé…”
They waste the one line every reader actually reads. Before the opener comes the greeting (how to address a cover letter); after it, your proof (how to write a cover letter).
Frequently asked questions
How do you start a cover letter?
After the greeting, open with the role, the company and your single strongest reason to be considered: a result, a referral, or a specific connection to the company. Keep it to one or two sentences.
Should I start with "My name is"?
No. Your name is at the top and bottom of the letter already. Use the first line to say something the reader cannot get from your résumé header.
Can I start a cover letter with a question?
You can, but it is risky: rhetorical questions ("Have you ever wondered…?") often read as gimmicky. A confident statement works better in almost every industry.