Cover letter for an internship

For an internship, you don't have a career to write about yet, and nobody expects that. An internship supervisor wants to know what you're hoping to learn, what you already know from your coursework, and what draws you to this internship. Below is a cover letter that shows this, followed by four tips and answers to the questions students ask most often.

Sample cover letter for an internship

Dear Tim,

I'm Sanne Bakker, a third-year Communication student at Hogeschool Utrecht, and starting in February I'm looking for a twenty-week internship. At my program's internship fair, someone from your team told me what it's like to work at the agency, and after that I read your job posting for a content marketing intern. Writing for online channels and measuring whether it works: that's the direction I chose this year.

Over the past year, I wrote our student association's newsletter every two weeks, for 600 members. At first, fewer than a third of members opened it. I started testing subject lines, wrote shorter pieces, and put the most important message at the top. Within six months, the open rate rose from 31 to 44 percent. That moment, when a small change makes a visible difference, is what I enjoy most about this work.

Your job posting mentions that interns work on real client projects. That's where I want to learn how a content strategy comes together, how you decide what to measure, and how you explain that to a client. I bring my experience running my sports club's Instagram account. There I learned that posting every week pays off more than the occasional great post: followers grew from 400 to 1,100 in a year.

I'd be glad to show you a few of my newsletters and tell you what I'm hoping to accomplish in twenty weeks. My resume and some work samples are attached, so you can get a sense of how I write.

Sincerely,

Sanne Bakker

The names, the agency, and the figures in this example are made up. The letter you have written here will use your own studies and the actual internship posting.

How to approach an internship cover letter

  • In your opening, say who you are, what you're studying, and what kind of internship you're looking for: timing, length, and type. A supervisor plans months ahead and will immediately see if it's a fit.
  • Say what you want to learn, not just what you can already do. An internship is a place to learn, and showing that stands out in a good way.
  • Turn your studies into experience: a project, a part-time job, or a role at a club. Tell it as a short story, with a number in it.
  • Respond to something that's actually in the job posting, like working on client projects. That says more than a paragraph of compliments about the company.

Frequently asked questions about a cover letter for an internship

How long should an internship cover letter be?
One page, three to four paragraphs. A coordinator reads dozens of letters; whoever makes clear in ten lines what they're there to do stands out.
I don't have any work experience yet. What do I write instead?
Your education, projects, a part-time job, volunteer work, or a board position. The point is to show how you work: on time, independently, with results. Even a part-time job at the grocery store can show that.
Should I mention my grades?
Only if they're notably good or if the job posting asks for them. A concrete project with an outcome tells a supervisor more than an average grade.

Upload your resume and enter the internship posting; you'll get a letter in your tone, free to view on your screen first. Don't have a resume yet? Create one first, it only takes a few minutes.

Get your internship cover letter written

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