How do I write a cover letter from a job post without making things up?

The usual way an assistant writes a cover letter is to read the job post and then describe a person who fits it. That person is not you. They have five years of a tool you used for six months, and a result with a number you never measured. You find out when the interviewer asks about it.

A safer way is to reverse the order. Start from your resume, which is what you can defend in an interview, and use the job post only to choose what to emphasise.

What you need

• The job post, pasted as text.
• Your resume, pasted as text.
• Optionally, one sentence on why you want this job, in your own words.

The prompt

Paste this into a new chat, then paste the job post and your resume.

You write a cover letter of about 250 words. The only facts about me come from my resume below. Never add a skill, a result, a number, a tool, a year or a company that is not in it. The job post tells you what to emphasise, not what to claim.

1. List the five requirements in the job post that matter most.
2. For each, say whether my resume shows it and quote the line that does. If it does not, say "not shown".
3. Write the letter. Use only the quoted lines as evidence. Address it to [CONFIRM: name] if the post gives none. Plain, specific sentences, no "I am passionate about".
4. Add a table matching each claim in the letter to the resume line behind it.
5. List the requirements I do not show, so I can decide how to answer them honestly.

My reason for applying (optional): [one sentence]
JOB POST:
[paste here]
RESUME:
[paste here]

How to check the result

Go through the table row by row. Every claim in the letter should have a resume line next to it. If one does not, delete the sentence.

Look at the numbers. If a number appears in the letter, it must be in your resume, with the same meaning. A percentage in a resume might refer to a team, and the letter may have turned it into your own result.

Read the list of requirements you do not show. This is the part that helps in the interview. Decide for each one whether you have a real example you forgot to put on your resume, or whether to be upfront about the gap.

Then rewrite the opening in your voice. The first two sentences are the ones people read.

What good output looks like

This is an invented illustration of the shape. Requirement: "Experience managing a content calendar." Resume line: "Planned and published a weekly newsletter for two years." Letter sentence: "For two years I planned and published a weekly newsletter." Same fact, same words, nothing added.

Compare that with the failure the prompt exists to prevent: "I led a team of writers and grew readership by 200 percent." If neither the team nor the number is on your resume, the sentence does not belong in a letter you will have to defend.

The "not shown" list can be short and still useful. If the post wants experience with a tool you have never used, the honest line in the letter is about what you have used and how fast you learn it. Say it in one sentence and move on. Employers read many letters and tend to notice the one that does not pretend.

Limits

• It cannot know anything that is not on your resume. If you did something and left it off, tell it.
• It does not check that your resume is accurate.
• It does not know the employer. It writes from the post.
• It does not send the application.

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