How to write a cover letter with no experience, with an example

The cover letter is often scarier than the résumé. You don't know what to say when you have no experience, so you fill it with stock phrases the recruiter has read a hundred times. Yet for a first job, a short, specific letter can make the difference: it is where you explain what your résumé (your CV, in the UK) cannot say yet.

What the letter is really for

Your résumé shows what you have done. Your letter says why you are applying here, and why your background, however short, makes sense for this role. The recruiter is looking for three things: that you know something about the company, that you understand the job, and that you can write clearly.

The three-paragraph structure

This structure works because it starts from the employer rather than from you.

1. Them: the role, and what draws you to the company. Name the role you are applying for in the first line, then give a specific fact: a project, a product, a way of working, a recent piece of news. Not "your market-leading company". It shows you are not sending the same letter everywhere.
2. You: what you bring. One or two experiences that answer the job's needs, with a result. Internship, placement, coursework project, part-time job, society role: it all counts, as long as it connects to the role.
3. Next: what happens now. One simple sentence suggesting an interview. No need to overdo it.

A complete example for a first job

Here is a letter for a junior project coordinator role at a company that helps local councils move their services online. The ad asks for someone who can coordinate several people, keep to deadlines and support teams who are not specialists.

Dear Ms Martin,

I am applying for the Junior Project Coordinator role advertised on your website. The online parking-permit service you launched with three councils this spring is why: helping public teams move their services online is exactly the kind of work I want to start my career in.

I have just graduated with a degree in marketing. During my placement year I coordinated three email campaigns with a designer, a copywriter and the sales team, and delivered each one on schedule; by reworking the segmentation, I also raised the click rate from 2.1% to 3.4% in three months. As treasurer of my university's business society, I kept a £4,000 budget and a termly events calendar on track with a team of volunteers.

I would welcome the chance to discuss what I could bring to your team in an interview.

Yours sincerely,

Leah Morgan

About 150 words. Every sentence serves the application, and none of them could be sent as-is to another company.

No experience: what to talk about

If you have not done a long internship, your second paragraph draws on what you do have: a coursework project for a real company, a part-time job held over several summers, a responsibility in a society. Describe them as assignments, with what they achieved, just as you would on a résumé with no experience.

What you should avoid is apologising: "although I don't have much experience yet" draws attention to what is missing. The employer already knows; show them what you have.

Phrases to avoid

Before you send it

Frequently asked questions

"Dear Hiring Manager" or the recruiter's name?

If the ad or the company's site gives the name of the person hiring, use it: "Dear Ms Martin". Otherwise, "Dear Hiring Manager" is the safe choice. Avoid "To whom it may concern", which reads as dated.

"Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully"?

In British English, "Yours sincerely" when you address a named person, "Yours faithfully" when you don't. In American English, "Sincerely" works in both cases.

Attachment or in the body of the email?

If the ad asks for a cover letter, attach it as a PDF and write a short message in the email itself. If nothing is specified, a few lines in the email can stand in for the letter.

Can I use AI to write it?

To find a structure or rephrase a sentence, yes. But a letter generated without your specific facts reads like every other one, and the recruiter can tell. The details that make a letter credible can only come from you. Some employers also ask you to declare AI use, or forbid it: check the application instructions.