How to Write a Good Cover Letter ― Helpful Advice for All Occasions

When searching for a new job, you must write a cover letter to present all the qualifications and skills to persuade a potential employer that you are the only person worthy of this position. It is a business card that highlights the strong sides of the applicant and emphasizes only important professional information. In other words, it is a ticket that may lead you to a better and more prosperous job, so it is crucial to ‘find’ the right key to open the door to new opportunities. So, in this article, you will find everything you need to write an expert cover letter and pay attention to writing a cover letter for an internship with no experience.

What Is a Cover Letter?

Before discussing the main points of writing and compiling, let’s look at what a cover letter is and why it is important to write it correctly. An application letter is another cover letter, a one-page document usually attached to your CV or resume as a part of a job application.

The task of such a letter is to accentuate your skills, experience, and achievements that prove you a suitable candidate for this position. Unlike your CV, it gives a more detailed description of your career history and professional development. What is more, if you submit several applications to different organizations and in different positions, your cover letter must be customized to each one. Moreover, an internship cover letter, along with a reference, application form, and resume, may also be required when applying for an internship. Remember, you should impress your employer and help you to stand out from the army of applicants.

What to Include in a Cover Letter?

Obviously, a cover letter has definite writing rules and a distinct format. So, it is compulsory to study all the requirements before writing. Remember that it is an attachment to your CV but not its replacement. So, it is unnecessary to duplicate the same information in both documents. It may seem challenging if you are a first-time writer since it is not creative writing. Instead, you have to stick to a certain plan and follow structure.

When an employer takes your application letter, they should immediately understand what position you are applying for. You should indicate all your qualifications, skills, and other aspects connected directly with the desired position. So, include the following information in your job application or cover letter for the internship.

• Personal information. Make a block of data that covers your contact information (name, home address, phone number). Place it on the top of the paper on the left margin.
• Indicate the date of writing as you always do in business letters.
• Employer contact information. Write a name, title, employer, and address in a block form to facilitate your job application delivery to the hiring manager.
• Appropriately address the contact person (Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms or dear prospective employer if the name is not indicated)
• Opening paragraph. In this part, you must indicate where you got the information about the position (advert, the Internet, personal referrals, etc.)
• Middle paragraph. It summarizes your background knowledge and critical skills that demonstrate your qualification.
• Second middle paragraph. Provide a list of your soft (persuasive) skills.
• Third paragraph. Indicate why you are the best candidate but without exaggeration.
• In the final part, tell me when you may be available for the job and contact a manager to discuss further details. Demonstrate your anticipation of the meeting and thank the addressee for spending time on your application.

There are numerous samples of different positions on the Internet, so try to find an appropriate cover letter template for an internship or job, depending on your situation. Remember that there could be slight differences in skills and experience description since the application letters of a person with years of experience differ from a cover letter for a student internship.

How Important Is a Cover Letter Prewriting Preparations?

Before diving into the writing process, you should consider some crucial issues so as not to put the job of your dream at stake. So, there are some points to take into account in the prewriting stage:

• Sort out the experience and skills required and useful for this position. What talents may be beneficial not only for you but bring perks for the company? Moreover, when writing an internship application letter for different positions, an applicant will indicate other skills since a cover letter for a marketing internship definitely differs from a nursing internship cover letter.
• Think about how to present the source where you got the information about the job opportunities. If it is a personal recommendation, indicate the person who suggested you and their title.
• What is the point of a cover letter to consider as a demonstration of your craving to work there? It must not be a simple phrase, such as ‘I like your company/brand/ products!’ Try to make this phrase more sophisticated, namely, ‘I like the mission of your business for social needs,’ or ‘I admire that the company is eco-friendly and it corresponds to my life position,’ etc.
• Consider how to address a cover letter. Research a little to find the name of the HR manager, or write, ‘Dear Human Resources.’

Remember that a good outline is halfway to success and gives you more chances to create a promising application letter, which is especially crucial for people writing it for the first time. A summer internship cover letter may become the first working experience and good practice for application letter writing.

How to Write a Cover Letter for an Internship?

Applying for an internship, you should also know how to write a good cover letter for an internship to convince your employer to read your CV and give you a chance to try yourself in a new area and gain new experience. So, we offer you some helpful tips on how to make a cover letter for an internship and showcase that you are the number one candidate. Follow this step-by-step guide to reach success and straightforward writing.

• State the position you strive to apply for. If there are several internship positions in the company, you should create several cover letters instead of one versatile.For instance, it is wrong to indicate in your cover letter for a congressional internship that if you are not a suitable candidate, you agree to a law internship position. Write a separate cover letter for a law internship to demonstrate your serious attitude to both vacancies.
• Consider keywords. Employers pay attention to the keywords you use in your cover letter. For instance, in a cover letter finance internship, you may indicate such qualities as responsibility, attentiveness, and being good at accounting instead of creativity. You may use a job description or adverts to find clues.
• Indicate relevant courses. You may not have sufficient experience, so you may compensate for this gap by providing information about coursework you currently undergo or completed. For instance, when writing a computer science internship cover letter, you may state the presence of computer courses you recently visited.
• Tell about your skills crucial for this industry. It is one of the parts of your application letter, and you should indicate your knowledge and expertise relevant to the position you are applying to. If, unfortunately, you cannot boast professional skills, you may highlight general but not least important things like time management and speaking skills in your cover letter for a political internship.
• Reveal your expectations. Companies often organize internship programs to help students understand if they are in the right place since many learners have no clear image of the challenges they may face when working full-time in certain positions. So, share with the employer your vision and expectations from work. For instance, when writing a research internship cover letter, you may want to participate in all the tests, research, and investigations as a part of the research team. In such a case, you will let them know that you are ready to take part but not to observe all the processes.
• Revise before submission. When employers receive your cover letter, it is the first step in your conversation and cooperation. So, when sending your application letter, try to make it perfect and demonstrate all the seriousness of your attitude to the vacancy. Proofread your cover letter considering spelling, punctuation, format, and structure. A cover letter for an accounting internship with foolish mistakes in each line will not persuade an employee that you are attentive and meticulous with calculations.

Do not worry that writing a cover letter for the first time will be a long and tedious process since, like any other business letter, it requires practice and attention to detail. But it is the first step to your dream and new experience.

Writing a Cover Letter for an Internship: Crucial Points

A cover letter format internship is similar to the standard application letter, but many questions always arise. Students are often interested in the scope, components, dont’s of a cover letter, and differences, for instance, between the engineering internship cover letter and psychology cover letter internship. Let’s discuss the most troubling issues.

How Should Cover Letter Look?

Remember that there are some writing rules, and after looking at them, an employer should define what sort of document it is. As a rule, it is not longer than 1 page with strict formatting requirements:

• 1 ½ margins
• Font style: Courier, Helvetica, Times
• 10-14 points
• Use bold type, italics, or underlining but not much.

Remember to separate each part of the cover letter and organize your contacts, employer contacts and sign off in blocs but not readable text. The body of the letter must be logically organized in separate 3-4 paragraphs.

How Long Should a Cover Letter Be?

How many words should a cover letter be? It should not exceed 200-400 words since it is not a story of your life. It is a short description of your qualities and qualifications relevant to a certain position. So, do not try to impress somebody with long text that repeats information from your resume, provides general information, or irrelevant details. Remember that HR receives tons of applications and is overwhelmed with information. So, your task is to provide data about your strong points briefly.

How to Address a Cover Letter?

When you are looking for a job or internship and find an announcement in the newspaper or Internet, you may miss some information about the contact person. It is mistaken to start your letter with, ‘Dear company’ since there are certain rules of how to address a cover letter without a name.

First, let’s discuss your actions when you have information about the contact person. Like in any business letter, you may start with Mr/Mrs/Ms and first+last name of the person.

Do not risk writing a name if you do not know the name or are not confident in spelling. In such a situation, you may try to find information on the official source of the company or address using standard phrases like ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ or ‘Dear Human Resources.’

How to End a Cover Letter Strongly?

If HR decides to read your application letter to the end, you should remember how to sign the cover letter correctly and end it strongly to be memorizable. You should show your gratitude for the devoted time to reading and attention, express your enthusiasm and interest, demonstrate your value, and finish it with a formal sigh like, ‘Best regards’ or ‘Sincerely.’

Remember that you should emphasize what you can do for the company’s benefit rather than what it can do for your prosperous living.

Conclusion About Cover Letter

There is no guarantee that you will write such a letter, as there is no guarantee that you will write it only once during your life. So, be patient since practice makes perfect! It makes you feel more confident if you possess enough background knowledge and understand the importance and necessity of an application letter for your employment.