Cover Letter Mistakes That Ruin Your Chances

Most Cover Letters Are Actively Harmful

Here's an uncomfortable truth: a bad cover letter is worse than no cover letter. When a hiring manager reads a generic, rambling, or error-filled letter, it doesn't just fail to help your application -- it creates a negative first impression that colors how they read your resume.

The good news is that the bar is remarkably low. Most cover letters are so formulaic and forgettable that even a slightly personalized, well-structured letter stands out immediately. You don't need to write something brilliant. You just need to avoid the mistakes that everyone else is making.

Mistake #1: Writing a Generic Letter

This is the most common and most deadly mistake. You can spot a generic cover letter by its opening line:

"I am writing to express my interest in the [Position] role at [Company]. With my experience in [Industry], I believe I would be a valuable addition to your team."

Every hiring manager has read some version of this sentence a thousand times. It says nothing. It could be about any job at any company from any candidate. The moment a hiring manager recognizes the template, your letter goes into the "no" pile.

What to Do Instead

Open with something specific to this company and this role. What caught your attention about the job posting? What does the company do that genuinely interests you? Why now?

A strong opening might be:

"Your job posting mentions building a recommendation engine for 50 million users. That's exactly the scale challenge I spent the last two years solving at DataCorp, where I designed the ML pipeline that increased user engagement by 34%."

This opening does three things: it proves you read the job description, it connects your experience to their specific need, and it leads with a result. That's three more things than "I am writing to express my interest."

Mistake #2: Restating Your Resume

Your cover letter and your resume are different documents with different purposes. The resume is a structured record of your experience. The cover letter is a narrative argument for why that experience matters for this particular role.

If your cover letter reads like a paragraph version of your resume ("In my current role at XYZ Corp, I manage a team of 12 engineers and oversee the deployment pipeline..."), you're wasting the hiring manager's time. They're going to read your resume anyway. Don't make them read it twice.

What to Do Instead

Use the cover letter to provide context and connection that a resume can't convey:

• Why you're interested in this specific company (not just this type of role)
• How a particular experience prepared you for a challenge mentioned in the job description
• What you'd bring that isn't obvious from your resume alone
• A brief story that demonstrates a key qualification in action

Think of it this way: your resume answers "What have you done?" Your cover letter answers "Why does it matter here?"

Mistake #3: Writing a Novel

Hiring managers spend an average of 30-60 seconds on a cover letter. If yours is a full page of dense text, it's not getting read. It's getting skimmed, at best.

The ideal cover letter is 3-4 paragraphs, totaling 250-350 words. That's about half a page. If you can't make your case in that space, you're including too much.

Cover letter structure (aim for 250-350 words total):

Paragraph 1: Hook + why this role (2-3 sentences)
Paragraph 2: Your most relevant experience/achievement (3-4 sentences)
Paragraph 3: Why this company specifically (2-3 sentences)
Paragraph 4: Close + call to action (1-2 sentences)

Every sentence should earn its place. If a sentence could be removed without losing anything meaningful, remove it.

Mistake #4: Making It About You

This sounds counterintuitive -- of course the cover letter is about you. But the framing matters. The worst cover letters read like diary entries:

• "I've always been passionate about marketing"
• "This role would be a great opportunity for my career growth"
• "I'm looking for a position where I can develop my leadership skills"

The hiring manager doesn't care about your career growth. They care about solving a problem. They have a team that needs help, a project that needs execution, or a gap that needs filling. Your cover letter should frame everything in terms of what you can do for them.

The Reframe

The shift is subtle but powerful. Instead of asking "What can this company do for me?", you're answering "What can I do for this company?"

Mistake #5: Typos and Wrong Details

Nothing tanks a cover letter faster than addressing it to the wrong company. It happens more often than you'd think -- a candidate customizes a letter for Company A, then copies it for Company B and forgets to change the name. Instant rejection.

Other credibility-destroying errors:

• Misspelling the hiring manager's name (if you're going to name them, triple-check it)
• Getting the job title wrong
• Referencing a product or initiative that belongs to a competitor
• Basic grammar errors in the first paragraph (if the first paragraph has mistakes, nobody reads the second)

Prevention Checklist

Before sending any cover letter, verify:

1. Company name is correct (search the document for any previous company names)
2. Job title matches the posting exactly
3. Hiring manager's name is spelled correctly (check LinkedIn)
4. No leftover placeholder text ("[Company Name]" or similar)
5. Read it out loud once -- you'll catch awkward phrasing and errors your eyes skip over

Mistake #6: Using Cliches and Filler Phrases

Certain phrases are so overused in cover letters that they've become meaningless noise. Hiring managers' eyes glaze over the moment they see them:

• "Results-driven professional"
• "Team player with a proven track record"
• "Passionate about leveraging synergies"
• "Think outside the box"
• "Go-getter with a can-do attitude"
• "I bring a unique combination of skills"

These phrases are the cover letter equivalent of empty calories. They take up space without providing substance. Replace every cliche with a specific fact, number, or example.

Before: "I'm a results-driven marketing professional with a proven track record of success."

After: "I grew organic traffic from 15K to 120K monthly visits at my current company by building a content strategy from scratch."

The second version is actually saying something. The first could describe anyone -- or no one.

Mistake #7: Ignoring the "Optional" Cover Letter

When a job posting says "cover letter optional," many candidates skip it entirely. That's a missed opportunity.

"Optional" doesn't mean "not valued." It means the company won't automatically reject you without one. But if two candidates have similar resumes and one included a thoughtful cover letter that explains their specific interest in the role, who do you think gets the interview?

The exception: if a posting says "do not include a cover letter," respect that. Some companies use it as a test of whether candidates follow instructions.

What a Good Cover Letter Actually Looks Like

A good cover letter doesn't need to be clever or creative. It needs to be specific, concise, and relevant. It should read like a brief, compelling argument -- not a form letter, not a memoir, and not a list of adjectives.

When you write your next cover letter, ask yourself: if I removed my name and put any other candidate's name on it, would it still make sense? If yes, it's too generic. Rewrite it until it could only be about you applying to this specific role at this specific company.

Sources

• Harvard Business Review: How to Write a Cover Letter -- Research-backed guidance on cover letter structure and tone, with insights from hiring managers on what makes a letter stand out
• Forbes: Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid -- Analysis of the most common cover letter errors, including data on how quickly hiring managers form first impressions from application materials
• SHRM: Screening by Means of Resumes and Cover Letters -- SHRM research on how recruiters evaluate application materials and the role cover letters play in screening decisions

Your cover letter explains why you're right for the role. Your resume proves it. Superpower Resume helps you build a resume that backs up every claim your cover letter makes -- tailored to the specific job you're applying for.