# The cover letter generator

> A letter from your resume for one posting - the three tones, the two lengths, why it leaves placeholders, and why it names a requirement you do not meet.

Source: https://www.revquix.com/docs/tools/cover-letter-generator
Last verified: 2026-09-04

---

Give it your resume and one job description, and it writes a covering letter for that specific
posting. 1 credit, and it runs at [the cover letter generator](https://www.revquix.com/dashboard/tools/cover-letter-generator).

## It only knows two things

There are exactly two sources of fact: **your resume**, for anything it says about you, and **the job
description you pasted**, for anything it says about the company and the role. That is the whole
input.

It has not read the company's website, its news or its funding history, and it does not have one.

## Which is why you get placeholders

When a letter needs a sentence neither document supports - almost always "why this company" - you get
a marked placeholder such as `[WHY THIS COMPANY]` rather than a paragraph of invented enthusiasm.

> **Note** - That gap is the most valuable edit you can make
>
> It looks like an unfinished letter and it is the opposite: it is the tool declining to put words in
> your mouth about a company you may know nothing about yet. Filling it in is your job, and it is the
> one part of a covering letter that has to come from you.

## Tone

Nothing is pre-selected. Three options, and they suit different applications:

| Tone             | When to use it                                                                                                                   |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Professional** | Neutral and specific. The safe default for a large company or a formal process.                                                  |
| **Warm**         | Human without being familiar.                                                                                                    |
| **Direct**       | The shortest path from your evidence to their requirement. Suits a startup, or an application where you already have a referral. |

**Warm does not mean complimentary.** A letter that opens by admiring the company's mission, its
innovative culture or its impressive growth was written by something that had no information and
needed a first paragraph - and the person reading it has seen several hundred of those. The warm tone
is explicitly instructed not to do it.

## Length

**Short** targets about 180 words, which is roughly what a recruiter reads before deciding whether to
open your resume. **Standard** targets about 300, and is worth using when the posting explicitly asks
for a covering letter.

Short is the right default unless you are told otherwise. The report prints the real word count
against your target, so you find out whether it landed before you paste it into an application.

## It names the gap

Where the posting asks for something your resume does not evidence, the letter says so plainly - in a
sentence you can stand behind.

> **Note** - Volunteering a gap reads as confidence, not weakness
>
> If the posting wants Kubernetes and your resume shows you have deployed to it but never run a
> cluster, saying that in writing is far better than being found out in the technical round. A letter
> that claims everything is a letter nobody believes.

## What it will not do

- **Research the company.** See above.
- **Make you a fit for a role you are not a fit for.** It cannot manufacture experience, and one that
  tried would fall apart in the first conversation.
- **Fix your resume.** It works from the resume you have. If that document is the problem, start with [the readiness report](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/your-readiness-score) and [writing good bullets](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/writing-good-bullets).

## Running it again

The same resume and the same posting, at the same tone and length, is **free** - the stored letter
comes back and nothing is charged.

Changing the tone or the length is a different question, so it is a fresh charged run. That is
deliberate: comparing a warm letter against a direct one is a normal thing to want to do.

## Related

- [The outreach tool](https://www.revquix.com/docs/tools/recruiter-outreach-dm) - One message to one person, rather than a letter.

- [Matching a job description](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/matching-a-job-description) - Whether to apply at all.