How long does it take to write a cover letter? Time your next one

10 October 2026 · 6 min read

A tailored cover letter usually takes longer than people plan for, because the writing is only part of it. Reading the posting, researching the company and deciding which two or three things to say often take as long as the draft itself. The useful answer is your own: time one application from start to finish, split into stages, and you will know how many you can realistically send in a week.

Why the answer varies so much

The time depends on a few things you can name:

• How tailored the letter is. Changing the company name in a template is quick. Rewriting the middle paragraphs around one specific role is a different job.
• How well you know the field. A letter for a job like your current one draws on things you already know how to say. A career change means working out the argument from scratch.
• How much research the role needs. Some postings tell you everything. Others send you to the company’s site and its recent news before you know what to emphasize.
• How long you agonize over the opening. Plenty of people spend a large part of the session on the first two sentences.

None of this is a reason not to estimate. It is a reason to measure your own case instead of borrowing someone else’s figure.

The stages of one application

A cover letter goes through the same stages almost every time, and each one tends to happen in a different place on your Mac:

1. Reading the posting. Usually the browser, on a job board or the company’s careers page.
2. Researching the company. More browser time: the company’s site, product pages, recent announcements.
3. Choosing what to say. Notes, or a scratch list of the three things this role cares about and the evidence you have for each.
4. Drafting. Pages, or whatever you write in.
5. Editing and fitting. Cutting to one page, checking names, reading it aloud.
6. Submitting. Back to the browser for the application form, which often asks you to retype half of what is already in your resume.

Splitting the work this way shows where the time actually goes. For many people, stages one to three are the bulk of it, and the draft is the quick part once they know what they want to say.

Time your next application

You do not need a stopwatch. You need one honest record of a full application.

1. Pick a real posting you want. A practice letter goes faster, because nothing is at stake.
2. Do it in one sitting if you can. If not, note when each sitting started and stopped.
3. Write down the stage changes. A line in Notes is enough: “10:05 research done, starting draft.”
4. Include the form. The application form is part of the cost of applying. Leave it out and your estimate will be short every time.
5. Repeat for two more applications. One letter is a sample of one. Three gives you a range, and the range is more useful than the average.

Then do the arithmetic, shown here with made-up numbers. If three applications took 70, 95 and 80 minutes, plan on about an hour and a half each. Five strong applications is then most of a working day, not an evening.

Letting the Mac keep the count

Timing yourself by hand works until you forget to note the time, which usually happens in the middle of the most absorbing part. Punchcard keeps the count without a timer. It notices which app is in front through the day and, at the closing time you set, prints a receipt: the top five apps with the time on each, the rest as MISC, and a day total.

On an application day, the receipt lines map onto the stages above. The browser line is reading and research plus the form. Your word processor is the draft and the edit. Notes is the thinking.

If you search in Chrome, Brave, Edge or Vivaldi, you can switch on “Itemize websites” in Settings. The browser line then splits into the sites you used, so the job board, the company’s site and the application portal each get their own line. Punchcard keeps only the site name, never the full address, search terms or page title. It does not itemize Safari, Firefox or Arc; there, browser time stays on one line.

For start and stop times, use the CSV export. It has one row per session, with a start, an end, the app, idle time and seconds, which is enough to see when the draft started and how long the form took. Tracking is free and does not expire, the CSV export works without a license, and the first two receipts are free. Printing receipts after that needs the license, $9 once.

What it will not do: it does not know which application you were working on, and it has no project or tag picker. If you apply to two jobs in one day, write one line at the end of the day saying which hours went to which. Tracking a sabbatical, a job search, or a quiet month covers the wider job-search week.

Where the time leaks

When applications take far longer than they should, it is usually one of these:

• Research without a stopping point. Past a certain point, reading about the company is a way of putting off the draft. Decide in advance what you need to know: what they make, who the role reports to, one recent thing worth mentioning.
• Starting every letter from nothing. Keep a document of paragraphs you have written before, sorted by theme: leading a project, learning fast, a result you are proud of. Tailoring a strong paragraph is faster than writing a new one.
• Rewriting the opening. Write the middle first. Once you know the argument, the opening is easier.

How many applications a week is realistic

Once you have your own time per application, planning becomes arithmetic rather than hope. Multiply your per-application time by the number you want to send, then add the time for everything else in a job search: following up, preparing for interviews, updating your resume.

If the total does not fit the hours you have, choose. Fewer, better-tailored letters, or more letters with less tailoring. Either is reasonable, as long as it is a decision made with real numbers. How to get better at estimating how long a task will take shows how to sharpen that estimate over time.

Questions

Is it worth writing a cover letter if it is optional?

That depends on the employer and the field, and nobody can answer it for every case. What timing does is put a price on it. If a letter costs you an hour, you can decide whether the role is worth an hour.

Should I count the time spent on the application form?

Yes. It is part of applying, and some forms take as long as the letter. Leaving it out is a common reason job-search plans come up short.

Does it get faster?

Usually, once you have a set of paragraphs to adapt and a fixed research routine. Time your tenth application the same way as your first and compare.