Speculative cover letter, with no advertised vacancy
A speculative letter arrives at a desk that was not expecting it, from someone answering a question nobody posed. It is therefore read for about ten seconds, and it survives only if the first two lines make the reader think about their own problems rather than about you. Which means the letter has to be aimed at something specific the company is doing — and has to ask for something smaller than a job.
The letter, in full
Copy it, then replace the facts with your own. The notes below say what each paragraph is there to do.
Version texte, prête à coller
Idris Bamigbola Glasgow · idris.bamigbola@email.com · 07700 900 168 Kelvin Fabrication Re: application for the position of Welder Dear Ms Docherty, You are not advertising, so I will be brief. I am a coded welder, and I noticed you have taken on the handrail and balustrade work for the Clydebank development, which is the kind of run I have spent four years on. I am coded to ASME IX for TIG on stainless, tested in March and current. Most recently I was two years with Ardmore Metalwork on architectural stainless: balustrades, handrails and glass-fixing brackets, working from drawings, with my own weld inspections logged. I left when the contract they had ended in August, and I have a reference from the works manager. I know a speculative letter usually arrives at the wrong moment. If you have nothing now, I would still be glad to be on file, and I would rather you have my coding on record than find out about me from an agency in six months. If it is useful, I could come in for half an hour, at whatever time suits the shop, and do a test piece. I am in Glasgow and I can be there the same day. Yours sincerely,
What each paragraph does
Admit in the first line that nobody asked
It is disarming and it buys the next twenty seconds. Pretending to answer a vacancy that does not exist is the fastest way to be filed, because the reader knows exactly what they have advertised.
Point at something they are actually doing
A named contract, a new site, a piece of published work. This is the sentence that separates a speculative letter from a circular, and without it the reader has no reason to believe you chose them.
Lead with the qualification that removes their risk
A current coding, a licence, a certificate with its date. In trades where a ticket is a legal or contractual requirement, it is the first thing checked and the only thing that cannot be talked around.
Ask for less than a job
Half an hour, a test piece, a place on file. A small ask can be granted by someone who has no vacancy, and it keeps you in the room until they do.
The mistakes specific to this case
Sending it to “the recruitment department”
A speculative letter with no name goes nowhere, because nobody in particular is responsible for it. One phone call to reception, asking who runs the shop or the team, changes the odds more than any rewriting.
Writing a letter that would suit any employer
Because there is no advert, the temptation is to be general — and general is exactly what makes it a circular. Everything specific in the letter has to come from them, not from you.
Asking for a job outright
It puts the reader in the position of refusing, and most people refuse by not replying. Asking for a conversation, a test, or a place on file lets them say yes to something that costs them almost nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth writing when there is no vacancy?
Yes, particularly in trades and in small firms, where a good deal of hiring never reaches an advert. The letter is not competing with other applicants — it is competing with the effort of recruiting, which is why it sometimes wins.
Who should I send it to?
The person who would manage you, not the HR inbox. In a small firm that is often the owner or the works manager, and a two-minute phone call to reception will usually get you the name and the spelling.
Should I follow up?
Once, by phone rather than email, about a week later, and keep it to thirty seconds. Speculative letters are frequently read, put aside with good intentions, and forgotten — a short call is what turns them back into a decision.
How is it different from answering an advert?
There is no list of requirements to answer, so the structure has to come from their situation instead. You are proposing a use for yourself rather than matching a specification, and the letter is shorter for it.
What changes from country to country
United Kingdom
Speculative approaches are normal in trades, hospitality and small firms, and are often preferred to agencies because they cost the employer nothing. Naming a current ticket or coding is what gets the letter kept.
United States
The equivalent is usually a networking approach rather than a letter: a short message to a named person, often on LinkedIn, asking for a brief conversation. The structure is the same, but the ask is smaller still.