Chapter 12 | Tailoring Without Starting From Scratch
You do not need to rewrite every cover letter from zero, you just need a strong base version that can be tailored; build a master cover letter version containing your professional positioning, your strongest transferable strengths, 3–5 evidence points, wording around your target direction, a clean closing paragraph.
Then tailor for each role by adjusting role title, company name, opening paragraph, key requirements mentioned, evidence selected, closing emphasis.
• Do not rewrite your whole background every time.
• Do not invent new evidence.
• Do not force the advert’s language into every sentence.
Quick tailoring method; for each role, ask:
What are the top 3 requirements?
Which 2 examples best match?
What language should I mirror naturally?
Does the opening make sense for this specific role?