1The role & the employerWhich posting this letter is for — and the requisition number, if it has one.Role, employer, contact
Role titleCopy it from the posting exactly. A retitled role reads as a letter written for a different job.
Employer
Requisition / job IDThe cheapest proof in the whole letter that you did not send this to forty shops. Quote it back if the posting has one.
Where you saw the posting
Hiring contactIf the posting names someone, use it and spell it right. If not, leave this blank — the letter opens with "Dear Hiring Manager" rather than a guess.
Their title
Letter date
Your name
City & stateCity and state are enough. A cover letter does not need your street address, and it is one more thing to keep current across applications.
Phone
2Your credentialsTrade licensing is issued by state boards or municipalities — there is no federal trade licence. That is why every licence field here asks for the issuing jurisdiction: a bare number is not something a hiring manager can verify.The tier you hold, who issued it, and the hours behind it.Apprentice / registered technician
The tier you hold
The tier the posting asks forEnter what the posting actually says, not what you hope it means. This is the comparison behind the reality check below.
Licence tier checkCompares the tier you hold against the tier the posting asks for. For reference, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) requires 48 months of practical air conditioning and refrigeration experience within the preceding 72 months under a licensed ACR contractor for a contractor licence (36 months within 48 if you have held a TDLR ACR technician certification for the past 12 months). Texas issues no HVAC journeyman licence at all. Your own board's figure will differ — licensing is state or municipal, so this is an example and never a rule. Ask whether they will accept your licence from another state, or sponsor you through their board — reciprocity is decided board by board and there is no national rule, so it is a question, not something you can assert.
The posting asks for a licensed HVAC technician; you have entered registered HVAC apprentice. Do not let the letter imply otherwise.
- Say plainly that you hold a registered HVAC apprentice and that the posting asks for a licensed HVAC technician. A reader who finds the gap themselves stops reading; a reader you told is still reading.
- Name the hours you have completed toward the licence. For reference, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) requires 48 months of practical air conditioning and refrigeration experience within the preceding 72 months under a licensed ACR contractor for a contractor licence (36 months within 48 if you have held a TDLR ACR technician certification for the past 12 months). Texas issues no HVAC journeyman licence at all. Your own board's figure will differ — licensing is state or municipal.
- Ask whether they will accept your licence from another state, or sponsor you through their board — reciprocity is decided board by board and there is no national rule, so it is a question, not something you can assert.
Licence / registration number
Issuing state or cityRequired for the number to mean anything. There is no federal trade licence, so "licensed" on its own is not a claim a hiring manager can check.
Years in trade
Registered apprenticeshipA registered apprenticeship runs under 29 CFR Part 29 — registered with a State Apprenticeship Agency or DOL's Office of Apprenticeship under a written apprenticeship agreement. Worth naming because it is verifiable. An occupation is only apprenticeable if it would take at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning run time-based, and a minimum of 144 hours of related technical instruction per year is recommended — recommended, not mandated.Not registered
CertificationsCards and certifications with a year on them. Anything the posting names belongs in the requirement rows instead, where it gets a paragraph.
3The posting's requirementsWork down the posting and pull out what it actually asks for. The letter answers them in this order, so a reader holding the posting can follow straight down the page. An unanswered row produces no paragraph — it only shows up in the count.One row per thing the posting asks for. Each answered row becomes a paragraph.0 of 0 answered
Requirement 1
What the posting asks forUse the posting's own words. Echoing their phrasing back is what makes the reader recognise their own list.
Your evidenceSomething specific you have done about it — a count, a duration, a system, a card with a year on it. This becomes one paragraph of the letter, so write it as a sentence.
Requirement 2
What the posting asks forUse the posting's own words. Echoing their phrasing back is what makes the reader recognise their own list.
Your evidenceSomething specific you have done about it — a count, a duration, a system, a card with a year on it. This becomes one paragraph of the letter, so write it as a sentence.
Requirement 3
What the posting asks forUse the posting's own words. Echoing their phrasing back is what makes the reader recognise their own list.
Your evidenceSomething specific you have done about it — a count, a duration, a system, a card with a year on it. This becomes one paragraph of the letter, so write it as a sentence.
4Opening & closingHow the letter starts and ends — so two applications do not read identically.Direct · Availability
Opening
Why this employerThe one line in the letter that cannot be reused. Something true about this shop — the work they do, a truck you have seen, a person you know there. If it would fit any company, leave it blank.
Closing
AvailabilityWhen you can start, and any schedule constraint the posting raised. Answer the schedule requirement, not the reason behind it.
5The letterGeneratedThe generated draft exists to get the structure right: one paragraph per answered requirement, in the posting's order, with the tier stated honestly. The voice should be yours. Edit it and your version is what exports.Generated from everything above — and fully editable.3 paragraphs
Dear Hiring Manager,
Type in the box to take the draft over. It stops regenerating the moment you do.
6Sign offClosing, your name, and a signature if you are attaching a PDF.Unsigned
Closing
Name under the closingLeave blank to use the name from step 1.
SignatureOptional. A typed name or an uploaded image, drawn above your printed name in the PDF. Most application portals do not require a signature on a cover letter.
Name
What to keep out of the letterAn employer may not base a hiring decision on race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information, and the EEOC's position is that pre-employment information should be limited to what decides whether you are qualified. This builder therefore has no field for a date of birth, a photo, marital or family status, national origin or citizenship, a health condition, or a Social Security number — volunteering any of it puts information in front of the reader that they may not lawfully consider, and spends a line that could have answered a requirement instead.Nothing flagged
Nothing in what you have written volunteers information an employer may not lawfully consider. There are no fields for it here, so the only way it gets in is if you type it.
Before you send itWhat the letter is still missing. Nothing here is a judgement about whether you should apply.3 of 8 ready
- Role and employer namedA letter that does not name the role gets read as a form letter, because it is one.
- At least 3 posting requirements listedWork down the posting and pull out what it actually asks for. Three is the minimum that shows you read it.
- Every stated requirement answeredPaste the posting’s requirements in one at a time. Anything you leave unanswered is the thing the reader will notice.
- Licence tier stated honestly
- Issuing jurisdiction named
- No protected information in the letter
- ReachableA phone number or an email. This is a trade letter, not a portfolio piece.
- Signed offYour name under the closing.