How long should a cover letter be?

One page — three to four paragraphs, roughly 250 to 350 words. In Switzerland a two-page letter reads as an inability to prioritise rather than as thoroughness. When it overflows, it is almost always because it is restating the CV.

Is a cover letter still expected in Switzerland?

Yes, and more consistently than in the UK or the US. A Swiss dossier without one reads as incomplete rather than as efficient. Only a minority of adverts — mostly in tech, and mostly at international employers — say it is optional.

Should I mention my permit status?

If you hold a permit, yes — one line, and early. It answers the first question a Swiss employer asks of a foreign name, before it becomes an obstacle. If you need sponsorship, say that too: open and early beats late and surprising.

Can I write my cover letter with ChatGPT?

As a draft, yes, and no Swiss employer forbids it. It becomes a problem only when the finished text goes out untouched: the model does not know your numbers, your former employers, or what this specific advert says, and it fills those gaps with phrasing that fits anyone. What gets noticed is not the machine — it is the absence of the details only you could supply.

Should I state a salary expectation?

Only if the advert asks — and then you must, because leaving it out is a reason to filter you. Give an annual gross range rather than a single figure, and anchor it to the market rather than to your current pay.

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Standard cover letter

You are answering an advert. This is the most frequent case and the most straightforward one, because the advert has already told you what to prove: its requirements are the checklist.

The example below is a complete letter, not a skeleton. Read it for the rhythm — how the first paragraph starts from the employer's need, how the second lands a number, how the last settles the formalities without hedging.

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Example — written out in full

Application for Data Analyst, Commercial Reporting (ref. 2026-207)

Dear Ms Lang,

You are looking for someone who can turn commercial reporting from a monthly scramble into something the sales team actually uses. That is the work I have done for the past four years at Helvetia Retail Group, and it is why your advert stopped me.

There, I rebuilt the weekly sales reporting from a set of manual spreadsheets into a single automated pipeline, which cut the reporting cycle from three days to four hours and removed the reconciliation errors that had been arriving with it. I also trained six regional managers to read and query the dashboards themselves, which is what made the change stick after I moved on to other projects.

Your advert mentions the move to dbt and a Snowflake warehouse. I ran the equivalent migration in my current role, from modelling through to user training, so I know both the pitfalls and the sequence that works. On the language side: German C1, in daily business use with our Zurich and St. Gallen teams, and English is my first language.

I hold a Swiss B permit, so no sponsorship is required. My notice period is three months, which puts my earliest start at 1 December 2026. I would be glad to talk through how I would approach your first reporting cycle.

Kind regards,

Sarah Whitfield

What matters here

Take three requirements from the advert and answer them in the order they appear — the reader finds them without hunting.
One number per letter is enough, but you need one: it turns a claim into a checkable fact.
Notice period and start date belong in the letter, not the CV.
One page, never two. If it overflows, the CV is being restated.
Use the contact's name if the advert gives one. "Dear Hiring Manager" is fine, but a name shows you read.

The opening sentence — three versions that work

The first sentence decides whether the second gets read, and in nine letters out of ten it is "I am writing to express my interest in the above position". That is not an opening, it is clearing your throat.

Through the task: "You need someone to hold the handover between sales and the workshop — that is exactly the interface I ran for four years." Works whenever the advert names one clear main responsibility.

Through the occasion: "Your advert caught my attention because you are opening a second site in Winterthur." Requires that you know something about the company, and proves it in the same breath.

Through the number: "Over four years I brought the order-processing cycle down from nineteen days to twelve. That is the work your advert describes." The most direct, and the right choice when the figure is genuinely good.

All three start with the reader, not with you. "I am motivated" is about you. "You need X" is about the job — which is what this is about.

The Swiss dossier, and what applicants from abroad leave out

Switzerland usually expects a complete dossier, and the order inside it is not arbitrary: cover letter, CV, reference letters (Arbeitszeugnisse, most recent first), then diplomas and certificates. Putting the references before the CV makes the reader search — and nobody searches for long in a stack of forty applications.

The reference letters are the part that surprises applicants from the UK, the US and most of Asia. A Swiss Arbeitszeugnis is a formal written appraisal your employer must issue on request, and one is expected from every past role. If you have none because your previous countries do not issue them, say so in one line rather than leaving an unexplained gap — the absence otherwise reads as concealment.

All of it in one PDF, not six attachments, named so it can be found again: "Surname_Firstname_Application.pdf". In an inbox, the filename is the first thing anyone sees.

And a realistic note on effort: a great many applications are now put together in a few minutes, between other things. That is not a criticism — it is the reason a genuinely tailored letter stands out as much as it does. You are not competing against perfect applications, you are competing against quick ones.

FAQ

How long should a cover letter be?: One page — three to four paragraphs, roughly 250 to 350 words. In Switzerland a two-page letter reads as an inability to prioritise rather than as thoroughness. When it overflows, it is almost always because it is restating the CV.
Is a cover letter still expected in Switzerland?: Yes, and more consistently than in the UK or the US. A Swiss dossier without one reads as incomplete rather than as efficient. Only a minority of adverts — mostly in tech, and mostly at international employers — say it is optional.
Should I mention my permit status?: If you hold a permit, yes — one line, and early. It answers the first question a Swiss employer asks of a foreign name, before it becomes an obstacle. If you need sponsorship, say that too: open and early beats late and surprising.
Can I write my cover letter with ChatGPT?: As a draft, yes, and no Swiss employer forbids it. It becomes a problem only when the finished text goes out untouched: the model does not know your numbers, your former employers, or what this specific advert says, and it fills those gaps with phrasing that fits anyone. What gets noticed is not the machine — it is the absence of the details only you could supply.
Should I state a salary expectation?: Only if the advert asks — and then you must, because leaving it out is a reason to filter you. Give an annual gross range rather than a single figure, and anchor it to the market rather than to your current pay.

Free

Write a cover letter from the job advert

Paste the advert, upload your CV — the generator writes a first draft that picks up the requirements from that specific posting. Then you edit it like any other document.

Create one now