Cover Letter Templates found online can seem like a godsend to a job searcher looking for a quick way to get a letter out.  Using these letters is not completely without risk, though. If any of the following starts happening to you, you might be better off going another route.

1. Too Many Changes.

The whole point of a cover letter template is to make things easier. If you have a template in which all the information in the letter has to be changed to match your information, then you’ve defeated the whole point of the process. In this case, you’d be better off just writing a letter from scratch.

2. Stale Words

Some free templates have been kicking around for years, decades even. If something about how the cover letter template is worded seems a little old-fashioned or familiar, then you would be better off writing something fresher for yourself.