Biggest takeaway up front: Your CV/resumé tells them your qualifications. Your cover letter is to sell them on who you are as a person. Show them your personality, humour, intelligence -- sell yourself.

Do something to stick in their mind

Dear Ms Greenleigh, I have 10 GCSEs, have three years experience and I'd be really great for this role becau-krooooooohhhhhhhh

Sorry, I fell asleep.

Employers' bins are overflowing with cover letters of this sort. (Or their digital recycle bins in paperless offices -- woke mob, am I right?)

I couldn't find a hiring manager to address it to on their website, but I could find the dog, so I leaned into it.

Dear Dash, you look like you know a good lead to chase.

They offered me freelance work because they loved my cover letter.

I didn't just say I could write, I showed it:

I can write laconic social gems like "Get Taggin'" to catch a reader in .5 seconds, or elaborate, extravagant circumlocutions to deflate your unease at my purported efficacy and wit.

Find a way to make a splash. Show them something they haven't seen before.

Make it flow

If you jump around all over the place you just confuse people. One point should lead into the next.

Follow a structure, even if it's as simple as: hook, introduction, climax, conclusion. Up, down, up, down. Rising action, falling action; you can apply this to anything you write. It keeps people engaged.

Write for the specific role

Chat GPT and copy/paste cover letters are as flat as the paper they're written on.

Look at how the company have advertised the job. Don't guess what they want; they're telling you what they want. Write for that role if you want any hope of getting it.

Use their work and job ad to get a sense of who they are. Are they looking to be wowed by humour, by experience, by unique skill or a certain personality?

Make every word count

You don't want to ramble, so keep it under 500 words unless they've stipulated otherwise.

Once you've made a point, making it again is just redundant.

You don't want to meander, so keep it below 500 words.

And finish it off with a gentle landing. You want to ease into a conclusion where the only logical answer is to offer you the job.