Sample cover letter for Internship position at Xaar

Dear XXX,

I am writing this covering email to support my application for the Xaar summer internship. Currently, I am in my first year of studying the Engineering course at the University of Cambridge, with a view of specialising in manufacturing engineering. Ideally, I would proceed to work in the product design industry once graduated, in time creating a product and business of my own. I am interested in the competitive intelligence and patenting projects that you have available, as I envisage myself doing both of these things in my future career. I have skills and interests relevant to both of these areas, as I have improves my ability in using a variety of testing equipment through labs, and have experience with Excel from my ECDL course and coursework. I have also been reading Intellectual Property Law by Holyoak & Torremans in my spare time, as this is an area of particular interest to me.

I have gained valuable skills needed for these roles so far at university. Through my coursework and project work I have acquired skills in carrying out tests of systems, processing and analysing the resulting information. Supervisions have encouraged me to think analytically about problems, including thinking about problems from different angles. Also with lectures I have gained knowledge of product design, from initial concept design through to manufacturing the final product, making me a strong candidate for this internship. However, my prior work experience has not been particularly technical in nature, although I have been working with various machines at the trophy shop that I am currently doing part-time work at. I have also gained valuable team-working and leadership skills from my past jobs and extra-curricular activities. I would be excited to work at Xaar, with its renowned reputation for supplying high quality inkjet printing.

As an undergraduate, I have balanced a rigorous course load and a number of extracurricular activities that have allowed me to enhance my skills relevant to this role. Specific to engineering, through day long drawing sessions I have developed skills in 3-D design and CAD modelling in Creo, and through lectures, question papers and supervisions I have gained knowledge in many areas of engineering, including mechanics, materials and electronics, and improved skills in carrying out various calculations. I believe my main strength is my problem-solving ability, as shown by my achieving 4 gold awards in UK Maths Challenges and being in the 2^nd place team at the Sutton Trust Design Triathlon, where we had to design and build a small glider, speedboat, and a Greenpower car. I have improved my problem-solving ability with the longer, more involved projects at University, such as designing and building both an aluminium truss and an AM radio. From my extracurricular activities such as being members of both my college’s 1^st XI football and cricket teams, I have improved upon the team-working and communication skills that are required to work at Xaar. I also have an interest in business and management, which I have explored as part of a team running a tuck shop in school, and by reading The Economist, and I would be excited to gain more knowledge of this with the internship.

I am confident that my academic record, work ethic and personal attributes would allow me to make important and valuable contributions to Xaar. I am looking for the placement to last anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks, within the period from 22^nd June to 20^th September. I look forward to hearing from you with regards to my application.

Yours sincerely,

XXX