Cover letter check: explain fit without repeating the resume
A cover letter should explain why this opportunity makes sense and support that explanation with relevant evidence. Follow the employer’s instructions about whether one is required. Do not assume every system scores cover letters or that an independent score predicts shortlisting.
Use the vacancy as the brief
Identify the role, its central responsibility and one reason the organization’s work interests you. Replace statements that could be sent unchanged to any employer. If the application asks for a supporting statement against criteria, answer that request instead of substituting a general letter.
Add a compact evidence paragraph
Illustrative structure: name a relevant problem, describe your contribution and connect it to a task in the vacancy. Do not paste the full resume chronology. If you are switching careers, explain the bridge and acknowledge a gap without claiming experience you have not had.
Review factual and practical details
Check the employer’s name, role title, references to its work and the dates. Verify links and remove confidential information. AI-assisted wording still needs your review; polished sentences do not make invented achievements or motivation accurate.
What a checker can and cannot establish
A review can identify vagueness, inconsistency and unsupported claims. It cannot know a hiring manager’s private preferences or certify how every ATS treats the document. WisGrowth’s resume scanner reviews resume evidence; use it for the resume, and apply this checklist separately to the letter.
Check whether the letter adds anything
Read the letter beside the resume and mark passages that merely repeat the same facts. Identify one relevant explanation the letter can add, such as why the role’s work interests you or how an unusual background connects to its responsibilities. Support it with an accurate example.
Then replace the employer’s name with another organization’s name as a private editing test. If every sentence still fits unchanged, the letter may be too generic. Add specific, verified context rather than flattery or copied mission statements. Restore the correct name and verify the details before sending. This checks usefulness and accuracy; it does not establish a universal ATS cover-letter score.
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Sources and further reading
Editorial review: 13 October 2026. Examples are illustrative; results depend on the information supplied.