Cover v Speculative Letters

Cover Letters vs Speculative Cover Letters

A cover letter may contain an introduction of yourself, as well as your contact details, qualifications
and it should be specific to the job role that you’re applying for in order to show your interest to the
employer.

Above is an example of a good cover letter – The applicant seems passionate, describes their long-
term goals and their past work, as well as how they believe they can benefit the company they’re
applying to.

A speculative cover letter is more focused on the job role itself; the specific position you are
enquiring about and the organisation you are applying to, as well as reasons why you would like to
work for the company.

This is a template of a speculative cover letter. As you can see, the flexible layout allows the
applicant to apply to various different companies, and provides a solid formula to begin with.
Both letters must be sent with CVs, and both discuss skills and strengths of the applicant, as well as
any other relevant personal details. The differences are that speculative letters can be written for
unadvertised jobs (ones that are not hiring), and cover letters can be edited to fit the description of
various job roles. It is important that when writing a speculative letter the applicant discusses what
job role they’re interested in, why they’re interested in the job role and how they found it.