Cover Letter Heading Guide for 2023 (+ Examples)

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Michael Tomaszewski

Certified Professional Résumé Writer, Career Expert

Updated 11/24/2023

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The heading of your cover letter might seem like such an irrelevant detail. After all, it’s the main body that matters, isn’t it? Sure, but... The cover letter header is the first thing a hiring manager sees.

Mess it up, and it will make your whole application look sloppy and unprofessional. And yourself—unfamiliar with the business etiquette. That, for most jobs, is a dealbreaker. But don’t worry.

Using the proper cover letter header format is very easy. You’ll learn everything you need to know from this guide. But before we move on, consider this—

Want to write your cover letter fast? Use our cover letter builder. Choose from 20+ professional cover letter templates that match your resume. See actionable examples and get expert tips along the way.

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A contrasting view of the differences between a basic resume and a visually appealing, well-crafted resume produced using the Zety resume builder, featuring the Cubic resume template with a slim, full-color header section and a two-column layout that highlights the applicant's contact information and competencies on the right-hand side of the document.

Use this cover letter template

Sample Cover Letter for a Resume—See more cover letter examples here.

One of our users, Nikos, had this to say:

[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My resume is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.

Wondering how to create an email cover letter heading? The rules are slightly different. Find out more: Email Cover Letter: Proper Formatting (Examples)

To learn about the formatting of your whole cover letter, see: The Only Good Way to Format a Cover Letter

Proper Cover Letter Heading Format: Two Main Rules

Actually, all you need to know is this—

1. What to include in the cover letter header:

Your full name
Your job title (optional)
Home address (optional)
Phone number
Email address
LinkedIn profile
Other relevant social media handles such as Twitter or Github (optional)

You can write your name in a larger font than the rest of the cover letter contents.

Your contact details can be left-aligned, center-aligned, written in two columns, or in a single line, one next to the other.

There are no strict rules here, but take some time to make your cover letter header well-balanced and legible.

See these examples for reference:

Sample Cover Letter Header (Zety’s Builder)

Example of a Cover Letter Heading Made in MS Word

If you don’t feel too confident about your typographic skills, simply left-align all the contents of your cover letter header. You can copy and paste this template and fill it in with your info.

Cover Letter Header Template to Copy and Paste

[Full Name]

[99 Street Name, Apartment Number]

[Town, ZIP Code]

[999-999-9999]

[your.email@address.com]

[linkedin.com/in/yourprofileurl]

All that comes below is not part of your cover letter heading.

The rest of the contents at the top of your cover letter should be left-aligned and written in the same typeface and font size as the main body.

That includes all details that should appear right below the cover letter header:

The date and city, typed a double-space below the last line of the heading. You can write the full date (June 26, 2019), or a shortened version in the MM/DD/YYYY format (06/26/2019).
The addressee’s full name and the inside address—you can adjust the line spacing between the date and the inside address to produce a nicely-balanced page.
The cover letter salutation: typed a double-space below the last line of the inside address (followed by a colon, not a comma).

See this full example of the top of a cover letter page for reference:

Cover Letter Heading and the Addressee’s Contact Details Format

John Applicant

Customer Service Representative

135 Peonia Drive, Apt. 12

Anytown, CA 92505

521-215-9331

john.applicant@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/johnapplicant

Anytown, June 29, 2019

[any necessary space to make the page well-balanced and organized]

Ms. Anna Smith

Head of Customer Service

XYZ Corp.

199 Rose Street, Suite 132

Anytown, CA 94591

Dear Ms. Smith:

And finally, the second rule—

2. Should your cover letter have the same header as the resume?

Yes.

The heading of your cover letter should match the heading of your resume. Use the same setup, fonts, and margins. It shows your professionalism and attention to detail.

Plus, if the hiring manager prints out multiple cover letters and resumes and they get disorganized, it will be easy to spot your documents—you’re guaranteed bonus points in such case.

Speaking of resumes, no matter how great your cover letter, you still need a pitch-perfect resume. Learn how to write one from our resume 101: How to Write a Resume for Any Job

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Sample resume made with our builder—See more of our resume templates here.

Key Takeaway

There are just two things you need to remember about the cover letter header:

Include just your basic contact information: your full name, job title, home address, phone number, email address and LinkedIn profile.
Make your cover letter heading identical to the one on your resume.

If you have any more questions, drop me a line in the comments, I’ll get back to you straight away!

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Cover Letter Heading Guide for 2023 (+ Examples)

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