You found a role that fits, the posting closes in ten days, and your current contract says you owe three months of notice. The question is not whether the employer will find out. It is whether that fact belongs in your cover letter, where it goes, and how it reads once it gets there.
First decision: does your availability belong in the letter at all
Most of the time, no. A standard notice of two to four weeks, the kind every recruiter already assumes, belongs in the application form or in the first screening call. Putting it in the letter spends a sentence on something nobody was worried about, and it quietly suggests you think it is a problem.
The letter earns that sentence only when your timing is long or fixed enough to change a hiring plan. The usual cases:
- A long contractual notice, such as three months for a manager or senior specialist, or anything beyond six weeks.
- A fixed end date on a current contract you intend to finish, for example a fixed-term role ending in June.
- A relocation date you cannot move, such as a partner's transfer, a visa start date, or the end of a school year.
- A planned absence right after the likely start, like surgery or parental leave, if it would overlap the first weeks.
The test is simple. If a hiring manager who learned about it in the third interview would feel misled, say it in the letter. If they would shrug, leave it for the form. How long your notice legally has to be is a separate question, covered in our guide to notice periods by country; here the only issue is whether and how you mention it.
Where it goes: near the close, never in the opening
The opening paragraph has one job, which is to make the reader want the second paragraph. If your first line is "I should mention I am not available until April," you have framed the whole letter around a constraint. Everything after it gets read through that filter.
Put the availability sentence in the closing paragraph, right before or right after your request for an interview. By then the reader has seen why you fit the role. The date lands as logistics, which is what it is.
One sentence is enough. Two if you are adding an offer, more on that below. A full paragraph turns a scheduling detail into a confession.
How to phrase it: a fact with a date, not an apology
The most common mistake is tone. Candidates write "Unfortunately, I am bound by a lengthy notice period" or "I apologise in advance for my limited availability." Both invite the reader to treat the notice as a flaw.
State it the way you would state your city. Give the actual date, or the actual length and the date it runs from. "I have quite a long notice" is vague and lets the reader imagine the worst. "My notice period runs until 31 March" is a planning input, and planning inputs are easy to say yes to.
Three lines that work:
"My current notice period is three months, which puts my start date at 2 March; I am available for interviews throughout."
"My fixed-term contract with the regional health authority ends on 30 June and I intend to complete it; I can start on 7 July."
"I relocate to Lyon at the end of August and can start on 1 September."
Notice what these leave out. No "unfortunately", no "only", no "I hope this is not a problem". The word "hope" is the giveaway: it tells the reader you expect a no.
The leverage you are probably not using
A long notice is not only a cost. To a hiring manager who recruits senior people, it is often a signal. Three-month notices exist because employers do not want key people walking out in two weeks. If you have one, it usually means you hold a role someone would struggle to cover, and that your current employer takes transitions seriously.
Managers who hire at that level already plan for it. A quarter between offer and start is normal for director and principal roles, and experienced hiring managers know the candidate who can leave on Friday is sometimes the one nobody is trying to keep. You do not need to spell this out in the letter; it would sound defensive. Let the phrasing carry it instead. "I want to hand over my current portfolio properly" says the same thing without arguing the point.
Where this leverage stops: junior roles, high-volume hiring, and anything framed as urgent backfill. There, a long notice is just a delay, and what you offer matters more than what the notice signals.
Offer something concrete
The strongest availability sentences pair the date with something the employer can use before it. Pick one, and only offer what you can actually deliver:
- Availability for interviews and calls at short notice, including during working hours. This matters more than it sounds. A candidate who takes two weeks to schedule a second round looks slow on top of late.
- Some onboarding before the official start, such as reading documentation, an introductory call with the team, or sitting in on a planning meeting. Only offer this if your current contract allows it; some do not.
- A partial start, for example two days a week during the last month of your notice, if your current employer agrees. Raise it only where it is realistic.
- An early release request. In many places you can ask your current employer to shorten the notice. You cannot promise the result, but you can commit to asking: "I will request an earlier release as soon as I have an offer and expect an answer within two weeks."
An example that combines the date with one offer:
"My notice runs until 15 April. In the meantime I can take calls at short notice, and I would be glad to join a team meeting or two before my start date."
Keep it to one offer in the letter. A list of four concessions reads as anxious. Save the rest for the interviews, and for the start date negotiation that comes after an offer, which is a different stage with different rules.
When the posting says "immediate start"
Some postings say "start ASAP" or "immediate availability required." Here you have a real decision to make, and it should be an honest one.
Ask yourself whether "immediate" is a hard constraint or a stock phrase. Clues that it is hard: a named project kickoff, a contract or interim role, cover for someone on leave, or a posting that repeats the point twice. Clues that it is boilerplate: a permanent senior role, a long list of requirements, or a recruitment process that itself takes six weeks.
If it looks hard and you are three months out, the respectful move is usually not to apply, unless an early release is genuinely possible. If it looks like boilerplate, apply, and put the date plainly in the closing paragraph instead of hoping it slips past. "I can start on 1 March" answers the question they asked. "I am flexible and will try to be available as soon as possible" does not, and they will find the real date anyway.
Leading with the date also protects your time. If the date truly rules you out, you find out after one letter, not after three interviews and a case study.
A quick check before you send
Read your closing paragraph and look for these:
- A real date, not just a duration.
- One sentence on availability, two at most.
- No apology words: unfortunately, only, hope, sorry.
- At most one concrete offer, and one you can keep.
- Nothing about availability in the opening paragraph.
If the rest of the letter needs work too, a tool such as Postulit can turn your LinkedIn profile into a CV and a first draft of the letter. The availability line is yours to add, since only you know the date.
The takeaway: decide first whether your timing could change the employer's plan. If it could not, keep it for the form. If it could, write one sentence in the close with the exact date and one useful offer, then let the rest of the letter do the persuading.