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Sourced intermediate / 🧭 Job Hunting Free tools

Generate Cover Letters with Local AI and Ollama

Job to be done: Generate personalized cover letters using local AI models

🇳🇬 Ways to use this in Nigeria

Ideas to get you started, adapt to your situation.

  • 9-5 employee

    Generate a tailored cover letter for a new role at a different company, highlighting your specific achievements and experience from your current 9-5 job, using local AI for privacy.

  • Student

    Create a personalized cover letter for your NYSC PPA application or a graduate trainee position, ensuring it matches the company's requirements without online API costs.

  • Entrepreneur

    Craft a custom cover letter for a remote contract role to fund your startup, matching your skills to the client's project description using your local AI setup.

What you’ll get

A personalized cover letter, written from your resume and a specific job description, by an AI running entirely on your own computer. Because the AI is local, your resume never leaves your machine and there are no per-use fees, ideal when you are firing off many applications. It is intermediate: you set up a local AI once, then it is point-and-click.

Tools you need

  • Ollama (free): runs an AI model locally on your computer. (LM Studio is an equally good alternative.)
  • Cover Letter Maker (free): the open-source web app that takes your resume and the job description and asks your local AI to write the letter.

Steps

  1. Set up a local AI: install Ollama (or LM Studio) and download a model, for example:

    ollama pull llama3.2

    Make sure the Ollama app is running in the background; the web app will talk to it.

  2. Open the Cover Letter Maker: run the web app. It is open-source, so follow the GitHub README to run it on your machine (or use a hosted version if one is offered). You should see its page in your browser.

  3. Upload your resume: choose your resume file (a PDF). The app reads it and keeps the details in your browser. You should see a confirmation that it was processed.

  4. Paste the job description: copy the full job posting text and paste it into the job-description box.

  5. Generate: click the generate button. The app sends everything to your local AI, which writes the letter (the author says about 5 seconds). You should see a finished, personalized cover letter appear.

  6. Copy and use it: use the one-click copy button and paste the letter into your application or email.

Original source

Based on a free, privacy-focused cover-letter web app by stanyy, shared on Hacker News, built to generate tailored letters with a locally-run AI instead of paid online services.

Notes & variations

  • Free-tier alternative: you could use a free online AI writing tool instead of a local one, but you lose the privacy and the no-cost, unlimited generation that are the whole point here.
  • Common pitfall: the web app cannot generate anything if your local AI is not running. Start Ollama (or LM Studio) and confirm its model is downloaded first.
  • Tip for better results: skim the generated letter for tone and make sure it picked up the key words from the job description before you send it.

Keep going

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