Cover Letter for Internship: Examples + How to Write

Ready to write your own internship cover letter? In the following video our resident career expert Corissa breaks down how to write a cover letter for an internship, step-by-step:

Good internships aren’t easy to land, especially if you’re applying to intern at a well-known company. If you’re a student with little or no relevant experience, it’s challenging to convince employers you’re the person they should choose for the position. That’s where an internship cover letter comes in.

Attaching a cover letter to your intern application is a great opportunity to make up for your lack of experience. Your cover letter provides space for you to not only communicate your passion for the role, but also to highlight your relevant skills and education which might not be apparent on your internship resume.

Here are a few tips to help you write a cover letter for an internship that showcases your qualifications and convinces employers that you’re the right person for the job.

1. Focus on your motivation and passion

Internships are designed to be entry-level positions. Most hiring managers aren’t expecting you to have a lot of formal work experience.

Instead, hiring managers are looking for interns who have enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. These qualities show you’ll take full advantage of the training you’re given.

Communicating your passion is difficult to do through your resume. It’s essential that your cover letter conveys this passion by highlighting your motivations and convincing the employer you’re the right person for the internship.

Here are three ways to communicate your motivation to employers in a cover letter for an internship:

1. Show long-term passion by describing your relevant interests. For example, if you’re applying for a beauty internship, talk about how you’ve been giving family and friends make-overs since you were young.
2. Give an example of when you showed initiative. For instance, talk about how you took the initiative to campaign for green issues during college.
3. Express interest in the company’s business by citing specific practices or products you’re excited about or interested in working with.

Additionally, if you lack relevant work experience, you can focus on other experiences you have that qualify you for the internship.

For example, mention your any relevant college coursework, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work experience that relate to the industry you want to intern in. These examples make you appear eager to expand your knowledge, and help you seem more qualified.

List these experiences in bullet points somewhere in the body of your letter. Here’s an example of what that looks like in practice:

2. Showcase your ambition

Not all interns make coffee and organize filing cabinets. Many companies give promising interns real projects that affect the company’s bottom line. Then hiring managers at these companies offer the best interns jobs once their internship has finished.

Your cover letter should show you’re interested in doing more than just helping full-time employees out. Communicate that you’re both capable of handling the responsibilities of the job, and are also driven to excel.

One of the best ways to emphasize your ambition in your intern cover letter is by adding hard numbers. Hard numbers provide more context to your specific achievements and show the reader that you’re capable of getting results.

For example, if you were active in local politics in college and are applying for a political internship, you might write a bullet point like this:

Organized fundraising event for Congresswoman Harriet Lopez, raising $38,000 for her re-election campaign.

3. Address the hiring manager by name

When you start your cover letter, one of the best ways to impress the hiring manager is simply by using their name. Instead of writing “Dear Sir/Madam,” or “To Whom It May Concern,” do some research first to figure out the name of the hiring manager or department head.

If their name isn’t available on the company website or in the job ad, here are a couple other ways to find the hiring manager’s name:

• Call the company you’re applying to and ask for the relevant person’s name
• Search LinkedIn for the hiring manager’s name by looking through the company’s employees

Using the hiring manager’s name shows that you’re serious about the internship and willing to take the extra effort to make a personal connection with the likely interviewer. Just by knowing how to address a cover letter properly, you’ve already made your application more impressive than those submitted by other potential interns.

4. Focus on your education

If you don’t have much work experience yet, use your cover letter to focus on the qualifications you do have. Specifically, you should showcase your education.

For example, if you’re applying for a computer science internship, mention specific classes or relevant coursework you’ve taken in computer science. In particular, focus on any class projects you’ve finished and the achievements you’ve made while in your classes to provide concrete examples of what you’re capable of.

Focusing on your relevant academic background shows employers that you’re already passionate about the field. This internship isn’t just about building your resume, but is instead a way to advance your career and expand your knowledge of an industry you’re invested in.

5. Format your cover letter properly

A cover letter for an internship position should follow certain formatting. For instance, your cover letter should be four paragraphs long, and use up about one full page (but no more than that).

Although this might sound short, it’s still plenty of space to express your talents.

Simply follow the template below to learn how to format your cover letter properly:

Paragraph 1

First, formally introduce yourself, and say where you heard about the internship. Add some information about your background and explain why you’re applying.

Paragraph 2

In the second paragraph, sell your skills and the accomplishments you’ve added to your resume. If you’re writing a cover letter for a part-time job, mention your previous work experiences. Touch upon your passion for the industry, and give examples of when you’ve excelled in a professional or academic capacity.

If you’re writing an internship cover letter with no experience, focus on your academic credentials.

Paragraph 3

Here you can mention anything that makes your application unique. Do some research about the company, and describe how you’d personally be a good fit for the company’s culture. Or, elaborate on its positive impact on your community (or society at large), and explain why that attracts you to work there.

Paragraph 4

Finish your application with a call to action. Say you’re ready to be interviewed, and thank the reader for their time. Finally, close your cover letter with “Sincerely,” followed by your name.