What is the goal of your cover letter? Why is it a letter? What do you want it to accomplish. The goal of an internship cover letter is to get an interview. That coupled with your internship resume are the tools to get you to the next step. If you want to get noticed, why on earth would you write what everyone else is writing? Why do people think that it works to have a form letter - that never works, ever.
If the goal is to get out of the pile and into the internship interview chair, then you need to standout. I fail to understand why anyone is risk averse with their internship cover letter - this should be one of the most high risk items you can hand an emplyer. There is no second place - you either win or you lose. No point in saving face or doing an average job. There is no "B+" - the class is pass fail.
In order to pass I would offer two quick pieces of advice: get specific and/or be different. Get specific - tell me exactly what you would do in the internship. How would you do it and what would you get done. Not high level, low level stuff. The second, be different. If you are not different, chance are you will not win. Different at least gets read. Different is bulletin board material.
Think about the goal: getting the internship interview. Then go about creating a tool that gets the goal. Nothing more or nothing less. Get it done and do awesome internship work!
Enjoying your posts. It seems internship cover letter advice has remained the same over the years. How about internship cover letters for the non-student (professional)? Any tips/advice on standing out from the students and convincing the recruiter you really DO want an internship (career change step)?
Posted by: Heather | 12/14/2009 at 10:15 AM