Application letter for employment in the Philippines: parts, tips, and 3 samples

What an application letter does

An application letter, also called a cover letter, asks an employer to consider you for one specific job. It goes with your résumé or CV. The résumé lists your full history; the letter picks the two or three things that make you fit this job and asks for an interview.

The parts of an application letter

Use a simple business-letter layout. From top to bottom:

• Date: the day you send it, written in full, for example 28 September 2026.
• Employer's details: the name and title of the person named in the posting, then the company or agency and its address. If no name is given, write to the HR manager or hiring manager.
• Salutation: "Dear Ms. Villanueva:" if you have a name; "Dear Hiring Manager:" or "Dear Sir or Madam:" if you do not.
• Opening paragraph: the exact job title, any reference or plantilla item number, and where you saw the posting.
• Qualifications (one or two paragraphs): the skills, training, license, or results that match the posting, with one or two concrete examples.
• Closing paragraph: when you can be interviewed or start, what you have attached, and your mobile number and email address. Thank the reader.
• Complimentary close and signature: "Respectfully yours," "Very truly yours," or "Sincerely," then your signature over your printed full name.

Practical tips

Before you send it:

• Keep it to one page, three or four short paragraphs.
• Tailor it to each job: use the job title and key words from the posting, and name the company or office.
• Attach everything the posting asks for, and list the attachments in your closing paragraph.
• Proofread the names, job title, and company, and ask someone else to read it.
• When you email it, send the letter and résumé as PDF files with clear names (for example, Santos-Maria-Application-Letter.pdf) and a subject line such as "Application for Junior Data Analyst - Maria L. Santos".
• Use a professional email address, and keep every claim truthful.

What to leave out: your age and sensitive personal information

The Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act (RA 10911) makes it unlawful for an employer, including the government (Sec. 3(b)), to require the declaration of age or birth date during the application process, to decline an application because of age, or to publish job notices suggesting preferences, limitations, specifications, and discrimination based on age (Sec. 5(a)). The Act allows age limits in the cases listed in Sec. 6, such as when age is a bona fide occupational qualification, or when the Secretary of Labor and Employment certifies the action. Violations carry a fine of ₱50,000 to ₱500,000, imprisonment of three months to two years, or both (Sec. 7).

Under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173), personal information must be collected for specified and legitimate purposes and must be adequate and not excessive in relation to them (Sec. 11). Sensitive personal information, which includes marital status, age, religious and political affiliations, health, education, and information issued by government agencies such as social security numbers and tax returns (Sec. 3(l)), may be processed only in the cases listed in Sec. 13, such as with your consent specific to the purpose.

In practice, mention your education and license, because they are your qualifications. Leave your age, birth date, religion, health, marital status, and ID numbers such as your SSS number out of the letter.

Applying for a government or LGU job

Under the CSC's 2025 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions, agencies publish vacant career service positions on the CSC Job Portal and post them in at least three conspicuous places for at least 10 calendar days, or at least 15 for LGUs (Rule VII, Sec. 24). Some positions, such as contractual and casual ones, are exempt (Sec. 27). The CSC does not accept applications for these jobs; you apply to the agency in the posting.

The Personal Data Sheet (PDS) is CS Form No. 212, now in a Revised 2026 version (CSC Memorandum Circular No. 05, s. 2026). Some postings still name the Revised 2025 form, so use the one your posting names. The CSC's guide says to fill it out on a computer using the Excel file from the CSC website, to write N/A instead of leaving entries blank, and to attach a Work Experience Sheet listing only experience relevant to the position. It warns that misrepresentation shall cause the filing of administrative or criminal cases.

Requirements vary, so check the agency's posting. The postings we checked in September 2026, from a national department, a water district, and provincial and municipal governments, asked for an application letter addressed to the head of office, warned that applications with incomplete documents shall not be entertained, and listed these attachments:

• A fully accomplished PDS with Work Experience Sheet and a recent passport-sized or unfiltered digital picture, signed digitally or electronically (one posting also required it to be notarized)
• Performance rating in the last rating period, if applicable
• Proof of eligibility, rating, or license
• Transcript of records

Fresh graduates: free government documents under RA 11261

Under the First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act (RA 11261), government agencies, GOCCs, LGUs, and government hospitals may not charge a first-time jobseeker fees for documents usually required for employment. You can use this only once (Sec. 3), and you must present a barangay certification that you are a first-time jobseeker (Sec. 5). Your local Public Employment Service Office (PESO) is tasked to help you get the documents (Sec. 7).

The waiver does not cover the PRC licensure examination, a passport, DFA authentication, the Career Service Examination, or a driver's license (Sec. 8). Jobstart Program beneficiaries, and others with similar exemptions under other laws, cannot use it (Sec. 10). Covered documents (Sec. 4) include:

• Police, NBI, and barangay clearances
• Medical certificate from a public hospital (laboratory tests and other procedures are not free)
• Birth and marriage certificates
• Transcript of records from state colleges and universities
• TIN and UMID card
• Other government-issued documents that employers may require from applicants

When you get an offer

Get the offer in writing before you resign from a current job: position, pay, start date, and schedule. Then give your current employer written notice. If you resign without a just cause, the Labor Code asks for at least one month's notice (Art. 300, formerly Art. 285), unless your employer agrees to a shorter period.

If you are hired on probation, the Labor Code limits probation to six months from the day you start working, unless an apprenticeship agreement sets a longer period. You may be let go for a just cause, or for failing to qualify as a regular employee under reasonable standards made known to you when you were engaged. If you are allowed to work after probation, you are a regular employee (Art. 296, formerly Art. 281).

Changing jobs? A certificate of employment from a past employer backs up the experience in your letter.

Common questions