Graduate cover letter example

Morgan Ellis is fictional, and so is the Keel & Co graduate scheme. Use the structure: why this scheme, two honest proofs, and what you want to learn. Do not claim a career you have not started.

If the scheme names a person, write Dear and their name, then Yours sincerely. This sample has no name on the advert, so it uses Dear Hiring Manager and Yours faithfully.

Full example letter

Fictional student and employer. The scheme is not a real vacancy.

Morgan Ellis · Nottingham · morgan.ellis@example.com · 07700 900418

19 October 2026

Graduate recruitment, Keel & Co (fictional firm)

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am applying for the operations graduate scheme. I finished a geography degree in summer 2026 and I can start immediately. I want a scheme with a proper induction, not a general promise that graduates “hit the ground running”.

My dissertation compared published last-bus times with a two-week diary of late lectures. It is a student project, and I can say exactly what I counted and what I did not. Alongside it I work weekend shifts in a cafe, where an order has to be read back when the room is noisy, and I kept the geography society grant spreadsheet for a year.

I have not worked in a professional firm. I am eligible to work in the UK, and I can attend an assessment centre in term time with notice. Thank you for considering the application.

Yours faithfully Morgan Ellis

Show potential without pretending

Potential is a method, not an adjective. A dissertation you can explain, a spreadsheet you kept, or a shift where accuracy mattered will do more than “I am a fast learner”.

Name the limit. Morgan says the dissertation is a student project. That is stronger than implying it changed a city’s transport.

If you have a placement, use it and say what you did, not what the department delivered. If you do not, do not invent one.

Tailor it to the scheme

Use the scheme’s function in the first sentence: operations, audit, software, marketing. A letter that could be sent to every scheme on a jobs board is easy to put down.

Repeat a requirement only when you have the evidence. If they ask for a language you do not have, do not add it. You can offer the thing you do have, in plain words.

Look up the closing date and the start month, and make those true. Do not describe their “culture”. You have not worked there.

A structure you can reuse

Your name and contact details, matching the CV.
The date, and the team or the named person.
Paragraph one: the scheme, your degree, and when you can start.
Paragraph two: two proofs, with the limit of each one.
Paragraph three: right to work, any practical constraint, and a short thank you.
Yours sincerely for a named person, Yours faithfully if you had no name.

Common mistakes

“As a passionate graduate I am delighted to apply” and nothing after it.
A letter that repeats every module on the CV.
Claiming you transformed a society, a shop or a research field.
Dear Sir or Madam when the scheme lists a recruiter’s name.
The wrong sign-off for that greeting.
More than one page, or a font shrunk to force one page.
A different email address from the one on the CV.

Use it on your application

FAQ

How do I write a graduate cover letter with little experience?

Use the degree, one project you can explain, and any paid or unpaid work with a real task. Say what you have not done. Do not invent a placement or a management role.

Should the letter repeat my CV?

No. The CV holds the dates and the full list. The letter should make two proofs and say why this scheme, in under a page.

Which sign-off should I use in the UK?

Yours sincerely if you wrote Dear and a name. Yours faithfully if you wrote Dear Hiring Manager because the advert gave no name.

Can I send the same letter to every scheme?

No. Change the scheme name, the function, and which proof you lead with. A letter that never mentions the employer is obvious.

A one-page checklist for any role, plus a weekly jobs email. No name, and no account.