The norm of writing an internship letter would be something like this: you google some samples of internship letters online, pick one that suit your format and needs, add some spice and tweaking here and there, and use the same skeleton over and over to send you letter to various companies, praying one or two would call you up to offer that long awaited internship opportunity.

For each letter you send, you only need to change the company’s name and address. The rest of the content maintains the same, regardless of industry and specialization of company. Sound simple.

Is there a better way to write an internship letter? There is.

Try to put your feet in the employer’s shoes, and try to think the same way they do. Some of their needs and consideration can be the following:

• They need additional headcounts (growth is the most prevalent reasons, but they can also be other reasons for this), but prefer those who can come at much cheaper price (yes, admit it that interns don’t get too much pay. I know, this is lame…). Talk about operational cost
• With internship and graduate training program, they can cut slack their statutory obligations e.g. income tax. They may even be able to claim some compensation from the government
• The are thinking about growth, and are in need of a group of people for short to immediate term to lay down some ground works. Internship is a good way

Address the arguments above and see how you can subtly entice the employers into believing that you can be part of their internship program (even they have not had any of such thing before). Show that you’ve been doing some homework about the company by reading up the latest news.

Say this company, Intel which you found it planning to start new research facilities close to your area in the next few months. Surely, when a company is to run a new operation, the need for new headcounts and staff will be inevitable. An internship program can be a pretty decent solution for them. They could really use the extra people on board.

Think of where you can fit into this plan, based on your background and expertise. Have you been introduced to the new microprocessor machine recently installed in your college lab? The products may not be the same as Intels’, but at the very least, there will be some degree of familiarity with the skills and workmanship required.

Tell the employer you have been exposed to other various technological facilities, that would enable you to handle Intel machines with ease, and that adapting to their platforms would be natural. Make sure you pick the companies that could really capitalize what you have learnt in the college or university.

The key to writing a good internship (cover) letter is to make proper research and due diligence, and to write the letter in a way the employer want to read it and see how you can fulfill their needs and wants.