Internships on Internships: Cover Letter Tips

Internships on Internships: Cover Letter Tips

Since I’m a second semester junior (crazy!!), it’s about that time where I have to start applying to social work internships for my senior year.  The School of Social Work requires all Bachelor’s students to have either a summer internship or a fall and spring internship during senior year in order to graduate.  Other majors that require internships are any major in the School of Communication and Education (student teaching), as far as I know.  Other majors can require clinical work (nursing).

In order for me to secure an internship for next year, I had to do a number of things.  First, I had to have a meeting with the Social Work Internship Coordinator.  I gave her my resume and application and just chatted with her about my future career goals.  After that, she sent me an email with two internship referrals.

My Internship Coordinator gave me two really great referrals; both work with youth and families.  I now have to apply to the agencies and send them my resume and cover letters.  I’ve been working on cover letters for these internships and summer internships all day! It takes awhile to write them because you have to gear them towards each individual agencies.

Since cover letter writing is currently fresh in my mind, I thought I’d give a few tips (thanks to my Internship Coordinator for these great suggestions!)

1. It is essential to tailor each cover letter to the specific place you are applying.  Do your research!

2. It is also essential to communicate your enthusiasm for the place/position.  Show you are very interested and happy to have the opportunity to apply.

3.  Always try to address the person by name/title.  Try to avoid “To Whom It May Concern” as much as possible.

3. There should be around 3-4 paragraphs: In the intro, you should introduce yourself, state how you heard about the position, and a sentence about why you would make a good candidate.  In the body, you should summarize your qualifications in relation to the position, further emphasizing what makes you a great candidate.  In the conclusion, you should restate your interest in the position and then provide your contact information.

4. Proofread!!! If I hadn’t proofread my cover letters a few times each, I would’ve missed a few mistakes, which would have been embarrassing.

Well, those are my cover letter writing tips.. I am definitely no expert, but with all this internship applying and cover letter writing I thought I’d share some things that really helped me.  Now, the wait for responses from these agencies begins!

Comments are closed.