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Sample cover letter for Internship position at ADVICE
Cover Letter Description
PURPOSE
The purpose of your cover letter, in combination with your resume, is to persuade an employer to interview
you. The letter should not merely be a recitation of your prior experiences. Rather, your cover letter should
highlight two or three particular experiences or skills, and relate those experiences or skills to the work of the employer
or to the job description. Your cover letter is your opportunity to tell a potential employer why you would be a
good fit for his or her organization.
RESEARCH
Before you begin writing your cover letter, educate yourself about the employer through simple internet
research. Do a search on Google, Martindale.com, PSJD.org, LinkedIn.com, and the employer’s own site to
learn the following:
your letter?
MECHANICS
Your cover letter is one of the very few documents on which an employer will base the decision of whether
or not to interview you. After you write your letter, you should read it out loud to yourself, and have your
career counselor read it. There is no worse feeling than pressing “Send” to your dream job and realizing
that you spelled the employer’s name wrong.
There is no absolute standard format for a cover letter, but you must be consistent. That is, you may use
block paragraph form or indent the first line of your paragraphs; just make sure that every paragraph is in
the same form. You should use the same margins, font size and font type as your resume; we recommend
Times New Roman, Garamond, or Perpetua.
Your address – Your name, address, email address, and phone numbershould be at the top of the page.
This header should be center-justified, and be identical to the one on your resume; this creates the look of
professional letterhead.
Date - The date that you send the letter should be below your address. This should be left- or rightjustified.
Recipient –Address each letter to a specific person. If a name is not listed on the job posting, conduct
online research to find the name of the hiring partner, supervising attorney, or human resources contact.
