Canadian Cover Letter: Format and Conventions That Get Read

Your name and contact block at the top, matching the resume exactly. Then the date, written in full, such as October 24, 2026. Then the recipient: hiring manager name if you have it, their title, the organization and the city and province. A subject line naming the position and file number if the posting gives one. Then four short paragraphs and a close. Left-aligned, single column, standard margins, no coloured panels and no photo. If you cannot find a name, address the letter to the hiring committee or the department rather than writing a generic greeting to nobody in particular.

• Opening – the role, where you saw it, and one sentence on why you fit.
• Evidence – your two strongest, most relevant achievements with numbers.
• Fit – what you know about the organization and how you would contribute in the first six months.
• Close – availability, work authorization if relevant, and a clear invitation to interview.

Keep the whole letter under 350 words. A hiring manager reads it in under a minute, and anything longer reads as a restatement of the resume.

Canadian business writing is plain and polite rather than formal. Use Canadian spelling consistently: colour, centre, organize, cheque, and licence as a noun with license as the verb. Do not open with a long statement about how the company inspires you, and do not repeat the resume bullet for bullet. Leave out your date of birth, marital status, photo, religion and a full street address; none of these belong in a Canadian application and several create human rights exposure for the employer. Salary expectations stay out of the letter unless the posting explicitly asks for them.

Keep a master letter with three movable parts: the opening sentence, the evidence paragraph and the fit paragraph. For each application, change all three and check the employer name twice, because a letter addressed to the wrong company ends the application immediately. Name the person if the posting or the company site reveals one, and refer to the unit, branch, store or team you would join. Print-ready PDF, file name that includes your name and the role, and the same header as the resume. If a portal only accepts text, paste the paragraphs without formatting and confirm the line breaks survive.

Read the letter aloud once before submitting it. Sentences that run past two lines, or a paragraph that restates a resume bullet, are the two things a recruiter notices first. Industry vocabulary helps: a warehouse posting expects pick rate and inventory accuracy, a clinic expects patient flow and confidentiality, and a public service competition expects the screening criteria addressed in order. Use the posting as a vocabulary list rather than as a template to fill in.

Submit a print-ready PDF whose file name includes your name and the role, with the same header as your resume. Where a portal accepts only pasted text, drop the formatting, confirm the line breaks survive and read the preview before submitting.

For a French-language competition, write the letter in French rather than translating an English draft word for word; a literal translation reads as machine output to a francophone hiring panel. For a posting in a regulated profession, name your registration status in the closing paragraph so the reader does not have to look for it.