Let us be honest about the starting point: plenty of hiring managers never open the cover letter.
In Belgium, though, plenty of recruiters will not open the application without one. Both things are true at the same time, which is why the practical answer is to write one, and to write it in a way that takes four minutes rather than forty.
A cover letter has no legal format and no mandatory formalism. That is precisely the problem: every line is a judgement call, and most people fill the space with the same four sentences.
Does anyone still read cover letters?
Some do, some do not, and you rarely know which in advance.
What is consistent is when it gets read: when the CV is borderline, when two candidates are close, or when something in the CV needs explaining. A career gap, a sector change, a move to Belgium. In those three situations the letter does real work, and a missing letter leaves the recruiter to guess.
Treat it as insurance rather than as the main event.
Which language should you write it in?
Write it in the language of the job advertisement. That is the working convention in Belgium and it is the safest rule in a country where the same company can advertise in three languages.
If the ad is in English, write in English, even when you know the hiring manager is Dutch-speaking. If the ad is in Dutch or French, matching it signals you can operate in the language the team actually uses day to day.
If the ad is bilingual, use the language you are strongest in, and do not apologise for the other one.
The first two lines decide everything
Almost every cover letter starts the same way: "I am writing to apply for the position of X, which I found on your website."
The reader already knows which job you applied for. You have spent your opening telling them nothing.
Start instead with the single most relevant thing you have done, stated plainly. Something like: "I have spent the last four years migrating SAP environments for mid-sized Belgian manufacturers, which is the problem your job description opens with." That sentence earns the next paragraph.
The only structure you need
Four paragraphs, one page, no exceptions.
- Why this company. One specific thing, not a compliment. A project, a market, a technology choice, a recent move.
- What you bring. Two claims, each with evidence. This is where you quantify.
- What you are looking for. Short. It shows the move is deliberate rather than opportunistic.
- The close. Availability, notice period if relevant, and a clear next step.
If you are unsure what your notice period actually is, check before you write it down. The notice period definition covers how it is calculated in Belgium.
What to do when you have no direct experience
Do not open by apologising for it. The recruiter can see your CV.
Instead, name the closest adjacent thing you have done and make the transfer explicit. If you are moving from support into analysis, say which part of the support work was analysis. If you are changing sector, say which part of the problem is identical.
The letter is the only place in an application where you get to control the comparison. Use it for that.
Using AI without sounding like everyone else
AI writes competent, forgettable cover letters. That is the risk: recruiters now read dozens of them, and they have started to blur into a single voice.
Use it for the edit, not the draft. Write your four paragraphs badly and quickly, then ask a model to cut the length and flag vague claims. What you must not outsource is the specific detail, because that is the only part that was ever going to get you the interview.
The same logic applies to the CV, where the machine reading it is a different problem altogether: how to write a CV that passes both humans and AI filters.
The mistakes that get letters discarded
- Recycling a letter and forgetting to change the company name. It happens constantly and it is fatal.
- Rewriting the CV in prose. The letter should add, not repeat.
- Going over one page.
- Listing adjectives. "Motivated, rigorous and team-oriented" describes every applicant and distinguishes none.
- Writing about what the job will do for your career, rather than what you will do in it.
In short
Write one, keep it to a page, and match the language of the advertisement.
Spend your effort on the first two lines and on the two claims you can evidence. Everything else in a cover letter is packaging.
And tailor it. A recruiter who reads fifty applications a week identifies a generic letter in about three seconds, and a generic letter is worse than none. If you would rather have a consultant put your profile in front of the client directly, start with our open roles.
