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What do I include in my cover letter heading?

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Summary:

"Writing Your Cover Letter" is a series of short documents that walks you through the creation of a cover letter. Here you can see the information in the "Quick Tips for Cover Letters" and "Preparing to Write a Cover Letter" pages put to use. This page guides you through adapting your experiences to the content in your cover letter and its different sections.

The heading provides your contact information, the date you are writing, and the address of the company to which you are applying.

For your contact information, you will want to include the following:

  • Your name
  • The address where you can be reached (if you live at college, will it be more accessible to include the local address or your permanent address?)
  • Phone number
  • Fax number (if applicable)
  • E-mail address

Then, you will skip a line and write the full date (month, day, year). Follow this by skipping a space and writing the contact information for the person to whom you are writing:

  • Name of the specific person
  • Title of that person (if available)
  • Address of the company
The reason you write your phone/fax number and email address is to make it easy for the company to contact you. You do not need to put this information down for the company itself.

Example:

Craig M. Leroix
2987 W. Taylor Dr.
Portland, OR 45720
890-372-1262
cmleroix@anywhere.com

February 2, 2005

Amy Kincaid, Human Resource Director
Western Electric, Inc.
387 Collier Lane
Atlanta, Georgia 30051

Job seekers at Purdue University may find value in the Purdue career Wiki here.

The following are additional Purdue OWL resources to help you write your cover letter: