To end a cover letter, write a short last paragraph that does three things: ties your strongest qualification to what the employer needs, asks for a conversation, and thanks the reader. Then sign off with "Sincerely," and your typed name. That tracks what CareerOneStop, the US Department of Labor's career site, recommends: thank the person for reading, "tell the employer how you plan to follow-up, or that you look forward to hearing from them," and use "an appropriate closing, such as 'Sincerely.'" The hard part is writing a close that fits your situation instead of the stock line every letter uses. Below is a bank of closing lines for eight common situations, the lines worth cutting, sign-offs ranked by formality, the name and contact block, and how to end a letter you paste into a form.
The pattern, in one block
Every close in this post follows the same shape. The bracketed parts are the slots; the rest is sample data.
[One sentence connecting your best evidence to their need.]
[One sentence asking for the next step.] [Thanks.]
Sincerely,
Jordan Rivera
(555) 010-0144
jordan.rivera@example.com
Two or three sentences is enough, and there is little reason to run longer. In a vendor survey of 625 US hiring managers by the resume site Resume Genius (run on Pollfish; the page gives both 2022 and 2023 as the survey year), 41% said the introduction left the biggest impression and 6% said the closing remarks did. Treat that as a vendor figure, not a measurement, but the direction matches common sense: the opening earns the read, and the close just has to land the request cleanly.
What the last paragraph has to do
Two career sources lay out the final paragraph in detail. Here is what each asks for.
| Element | CareerOneStop | University of Michigan alumni guide |
|---|---|---|
| Restate fit | Not listed | "Close with a strong reminder of why you are a good match" |
| Ask for the next step | "State your enthusiasm to meet with them to discuss the position" | "Request an interview in some way" |
| Invite a reply | "Include a statement or question that will encourage the reader to respond" | Not listed |
| Contact details | In the header | "Provide contact information" |
| Mention the resume | "Mention that your resume is attached" | "(Enclosure)" under the name |
| Availability | "If your schedule is busy, mention when you are readily available" | Not listed |
| Thanks | Thank the employer for considering your application | "Express appreciation for consideration" |
Sources: CareerOneStop and the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan's Cover Letter Guide.
Put together, that is a checklist of three required parts and two optional ones:
- Fit, in one sentence. Not a summary of the letter. Pick the single piece of evidence that matters most for this job and connect it to the employer's need.
- The ask. A conversation, a call, an interview. Phrase it as something you would welcome, not something you expect.
- Thanks. One short clause is enough.
- Optional: availability or logistics. A start date, a relocation date, an internship window, or the hours you can talk.
- Optional: the follow-up. Only if you will actually follow up and have a way to reach the person. In an application submitted through an online form, with no name and no email, "I look forward to hearing from you" is the honest version.
Closing lines by situation
Each of these is a full closing paragraph, written for this post. The people, companies and numbers are invented. Swap in your own evidence; the structure is the useful part.
1. The standard application from a posting
The reconciliation work you describe is what I did every month at my last firm, where I cut the close from eight days to five. I would welcome the chance to talk about how I could do the same for your team. Thank you for your time and consideration.
2. A referral
Dana Lee told me your platform team is halfway through its move off virtual machines, and I would enjoy hearing where it stands. I am available for a call any weekday after 3 p.m. Thank you for considering my application.
Name the referrer in the first paragraph too; the close is a second, lighter mention. The cover letter examples post has a full referral letter.
3. A career change
Eight years of teaching taught me to design a lesson for thirty people at once and check within minutes whether it worked, which is the core of the instructional design role you posted. I would welcome a conversation about how that experience carries over. Thank you for reading.
The close is where a career changer restates the bridge in one sentence. Do not apologize for the change.
4. Relocation
I am moving to Denver in January and can start any time after January 12, with no relocation support needed. I would be glad to talk at your convenience, by phone or in person once I arrive. Thank you for your consideration.
Give the date and say plainly what you need and do not need. A vague "planning to relocate" leaves the reader with questions.
5. An internship
I am available full time from June 2 to August 22 and can work on site three days a week. I would welcome the chance to discuss the internship and what your team hopes to finish this summer. Thank you for considering my application.
Internship managers plan around dates, so put them in the close if the posting has a fixed program window.
6. Cold outreach, with no posting
If you expect to hire for this kind of role in the next few months, I would be grateful for twenty minutes to learn what your team needs. I have attached my resume, and I am happy to send work samples. Thank you for reading.
A cold letter asks for a smaller step than an interview: a short call, or a name to write to instead.
7. Replying to a recruiter who contacted you
Thank you for reaching out about the role. The month-end close work you described matches what I have done for four years, and I would be glad to set up a call. I am free Tuesday or Thursday afternoon this week.
Here a specific time is appropriate, because the recruiter asked first and has a direct line to you.
8. A second application at the same company
I applied for the Data Analyst role in March and stayed interested in the team; since then I have finished the forecasting project I mentioned, which is the main skill this role asks for. I would welcome the chance to talk. Thank you for considering me again.
Say what changed since the last application. That is the only reason to bring it up.
Lines to cut, and what to say instead
| Line | Problem | Write instead |
|---|---|---|
| "I am confident I am the best candidate for this position." | You cannot know it, and the reader knows you cannot | A sentence with your strongest evidence |
| "I will call you on Monday to schedule an interview." | Presumes the interview; often there is no number to call | "I would welcome the chance to talk." |
| "Please do not hesitate to contact me." | Filler that adds nothing | Cut it, or give one specific time you are free |
| "I hope to hear from you." | Passive, and reads as unsure | "I look forward to hearing from you." |
| "Thanks in advance." | Assumes the reader will act | "Thank you for your consideration." |
| A second summary of the whole letter | Repeats what they just read | One sentence on the single most relevant point |
| Salary expectations or reasons you left a job | Rarely helps unless the posting asks | Leave them for the form or the interview |
Sign-offs that fit, and ones to avoid
Ranked from most formal to least. All of these are judgment calls about tone except the two British pairings, which follow a stated rule.
| Sign-off | Formality | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Respectfully, | Very formal | Rarely; reads stiff for most private employers |
| Yours faithfully, | Formal, UK | A British letter that opened "Dear Sir or Madam" |
| Yours sincerely, | Formal, UK | A British letter to a named person |
| Sincerely, | Formal | The safe default for any US cover letter |
| Kind regards, | Formal to neutral | Safe; common in letters and emails |
| Best regards, | Neutral | Safe; slightly warmer than "Regards" |
| Regards, | Neutral | Fine, a little curt |
| Thank you, | Neutral | Fine if the last sentence is not already a thank you |
| Best, | Informal | Better for a follow-up email than the letter |
| Thanks, / Cheers, | Informal | Save for someone you already correspond with |
| Warmly, / Love, / no sign-off | Too informal | Avoid |
The British pairing comes from the UK National Careers Service: "If you know the name of the person you're writing to, you should end the letter with 'Yours sincerely'. If you've addressed the letter 'Dear Sir or Madam', you should end the letter with 'Yours faithfully'." US employers do not follow that rule, and plain "Sincerely" works for both. Our post on how to address a cover letter has the greeting side of the pair.
The data on sign-offs. The figure people cite comes from the email tool Boomerang, which in January 2017 looked at the closings of over 350,000 email threads in the mailing list archives of more than twenty online communities. Threads ending "thanks in advance" got a reply 65.7% of the time, "thanks" 63.0%, "thank you" 57.9%, "best regards" 52.9% and "best" 51.2%, against an average of 47.5%. That is a vendor's correlation on community mailing lists, not hiring data, and it says nothing about interviews. Every common closing in that data beat the average, so it does not show that any sign-off is bad. The one point that may carry over is modest: the three closings that thanked the reader drew the most replies. A cover letter close already ends with thanks, so keep the thank you in the last sentence and use a formal sign-off below it.
Capitalization and punctuation. Purdue's Online Writing Lab says to capitalize only the first word of the closing ("Best regards," not "Best Regards,"). It also says that if a colon follows the salutation, a comma should follow the closing.
Your name and contact block
What goes under the sign-off depends on where the letter will be read.
| Where the letter goes | Under the sign-off |
|---|---|
| Uploaded PDF with a header | Your typed name only; the header already has your details |
| Printed letter | Leave space to sign, then your typed name |
| Pasted into a text box | Name, then phone and email on the next lines |
| Email body | Name, phone, email, and optionally a LinkedIn URL |
Spacing. Purdue OWL says to "leave four lines between the closing and the sender's name" for a signature. The Michigan guide says to leave three spaces. Either works on paper. In a PDF you upload, a handwritten signature is optional; the typed name does the job.
Enclosure. The Michigan guide recommends writing "Enclosure" after your name to show a resume is included. On an online application where the resume is its own upload, the line is harmless but adds nothing, and CareerOneStop's approach of saying "my resume is attached" in the last paragraph covers it.
Use the same name and contact details as your resume. If your resume says "Jordan Rivera" and lists one email, the letter should match exactly. Mismatched emails make a recruiter wonder which one to use.
Ending a letter in a text box
Many forms take the letter as pasted text rather than a file. Lever's standard application form, for example, has one optional box at the end whose placeholder reads "Add a cover letter or anything else you want to share." Our guide to writing a cover letter has counts of how Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever forms ask for letters. For the ending, the rules are:
- Keep the sign-off and your name. A letter that stops after the last sentence reads like a fragment.
- Add your phone and email under your name. The text box has no header, and the reader may copy the letter out of the application.
- Write in plain text. No bold, no bullets, no signature image. Type it in a plain editor and paste it, so quotes and line breaks survive.
- Leave a blank line between paragraphs and before the sign-off. Some boxes may collapse single line breaks.
- Cut from the middle, not the end, if there is a character limit. Drop the second proof paragraph before you shorten the close. If a letter has to lose words, how long a cover letter should be covers what to keep.
A text box version of the standard close, with sample details:
I would welcome the chance to talk about how I could do the same
for your team. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Jordan Rivera
(555) 010-0144
jordan.rivera@example.com
A last check before you send
- The close names this job or this team, not a generic "the position".
- It asks for one next step, and promises a follow-up only if you will do it.
- It thanks the reader once.
- The sign-off matches the greeting's formality, and the British pairing if the job is in the UK.
- The name and contact details match your resume exactly.
- In a text box, your phone and email sit under your name.
If you apply with ApplyEze, it writes a cover letter when the form asks for one, as PDF and DOCX. Use a dry run first to read how it closes, since it carries your name.