Example Cover Letter For An Unadvertised Internship: Fill & Download for Free

I use to do business development consulting and this was part of a $400 two day seminar I taught. (you are getting it cheap)Hope it helps.===========Let’s start with the basics. College did NOT teach you how to do your future job. Consider this - there are tens of thousands of different kinds of jobs on the market and thousands more variations in each job. One accountant or chemist or CS job may have duties that have no semblance to some other accountant, chemist or CS job at another company.By contrast, there are only a few dozen different degrees taught in college. Every variation of jobs in computer science is grouped into one degree. The same for physics, chemistry, biology, etc. So, your college degree did NOT train you for a job. It gave you the basics, the language, the general principles and history, at most.Every employer is expecting to have to train you to do the job they hired you for but they want to know you have the aptitude to understand it and the maturity and self-discipline to learn and apply it.This means that, in many cases, the technical nature of your job is not all that important. In my first job, after getting a CS and an EE degree, I was teamed with a woman with an MS in microbiology to review classified export license requests (MCTL). She and I often worked on chemical, engineering and electronic technologies.If you can show that you have the ability to learn the details of a job and know the basics and the language - the actual degree is not all that important. This is true even if you are hired within your college degree field. For instance - if your degree was in biology, how often did you use a CRISPR? Or if you got a CS degree, how much experience do you have in programming a cloud ERP system using NetSuit? Every job, any job you get will require you to learn new skills and study new knowledge and the employer expects that. What he will look for is someone that will allow him to reduce the time and effort for you to learn the job and become productive.For most jobs that are advertised in newspapers or online, there can be from 10 to 400 resumes submitted, depending on the local market, the job and the economy. In the current environment, even in a relatively small town, it would be common to receive 10 to 25 resumes for just average jobs - twice that for very desirable jobs. Remember, the resumes sent in are all from people that believe they are fully qualified for the job that has been advertised so, at a minimum, you start with a significant amount of competition.As seen from the employer side, you have to understand that you have absolutely zero credibility with the company you are applying to. They don’t know you and have no reason to believe what you say. They know that people lie on their resumes and CVs. That means that you begin the process with a high threshold to overcome just to get them to believe you enough to give you a fighting chance to get the job.The first and most important evidence of your credibility is your CV/Resume. Just as “credibility” is not really part of the technical qualifications of the job, what reflects your credibility is NOT the technical qualifications you claim you have. Credibility, at this point, is based entirely on “image”.What the HR department or hiring manager can “see” and read relates your credibility. If they see a poorly worded CV, your credibility is going to be poor. If it is on notebook paper or has misspelled words or incorrect syntax or bad punctuation, then your credibility is going to take a hit. If you use colored lettering, emojis, pictures and a lot of font changes, your credibility drops. This should indicate to you where you should initially put some effort and priorities.Statistically, the HR department or hiring manager is an initially “screening out” process. They spend, on average. 22 seconds per CV/Resume to screen out all of the less qualified. In 22 seconds, they seldom get as far as looking at actual technical qualifications. There might be as many 400 or more applicants for a given job - especially one that is advertised online. This first level of screening means that the slightest misspelling, grammar error, syntax, punctuation or failure to follow instructions is cause to be rejected. About 80% of this initial screening-out process is based on appearance, not content. Of the 400 applicants (that I am using in this example), about 50% will likely pass this first screening-out process - that leaves about 200 applicants for one job opening (or 20 out of 40 - about 50% are screened out)Keep in mind also that the employer will spend about the same amount of time on a one-sheet resume as he will on a 5 or 10 sheet resume. If you can’t grab his attention in one sheet, you greatly increase your odds against getting hired. This is true, even if you are applying to the local grocery store.The second level screening (in the HR Dept. or by a hiring manager) will look at compliance with the want ad requirements. If it said they wanted people with a BS in Business and you have a BA in Music, you are screened out. If it asked for 3 references and you gave 2, you are out. Of the 200 applicants left (in this example), about 20% will likely pass this second screening-out process - that leaves about 40 applicants for one job opening (or 4 out of 40 - about 80% are screened out)The CV/Resumes are then passed to the technical department that needs the position filled. This might be the same person in a smaller company in which case, he will not change the focus of what he is looking at on the resume. They will spend an average of 60 to 90 seconds on each candidate. They screen in layers. First pass-thru screens out obviously unqualified people based on appearance, vocabulary use, experience, name of school and applicability to the job’s needs. This will reduce the pile to perhaps 4 to 8 or roughly 10% to 20% of those left.The final screening will look for the extras. Internships, past job experience, GPAs, major/minor subjects taken, indicators of leadership, persistence, maturity, etc. 2, at most 3, will be chosen (for most jobs) that appear to be the best of the best of the total resumes submitted. The employer may or may not call the listed references at this point. Some will wait until after the interview. Those left will be invited to come in and be further screened on appearance, mannerisms, poise, articulation, ability to think, and general overall impression and to some degree on their technical qualifications to meet the performance demanded of the job. The image and personal impression you make during this interview is perhaps the most important part of the job application process. You wouldn’t get the interview if the employer did not think you were probably technically qualified for the job but now is the final opportunity to establish that all-important credibility.Note two major misconceptions most people have about this process:Your CV/Resume did NOT get you a job, It got you an interview. The interview will get you the job. The CV/Resume gets you passed the screening-out process. This means that your CV/Resume has to be perfect in every way just to get you to the next step.Note how much attention was paid to the non-technical aspects of the job. Give the guy in HR a smirk and you are gone. Misspell a word or use improper grammar and you are screened out. Come in for the interview with a wrinkled shirt or unshaven, or bad makeup and your visit will be very brief.You’ve got to understand that there are literally thousands of other people in exactly the same situation you are in. Many of them are trying to find jobs by taking the easy way out - doing everything online. There is certainly a chance you will eventually get a job this way but it is a small chance. Responding to a job ad with a mailed-in resume or one sent over email gives you the least opportunity to have any kind of competitive advantage against all the others that are doing the same thing. The mailed in hard copy resume at least allows you to impress with a skillfully written resume on quality stationery, but you can gain so much more if you make the effort to stand out from the pack.If you want a job, you have to distinguish yourself from the often hundreds of others that haveapplied for the same job. You can’t approach it by saying how good you are and hoping they will agree and that somehow your recent graduation or job experience is somehow better than all the others that have also applied for this same job. You have to look at it from the employer’s eyes. Out of these 400 applicants, who stands out as the best choice? Why? The one that had everything the employer wants plus something extra to offer and was mature and careful enough to make a good impression and do everything right.Begin by cutting down your resume to the minimum. What content, experience, education and qualifications that you include should all be somehow related to the job being applied for. Reword your experience in terms of the desired job. For instance - your experience as a secretary can be restated as, “self-motivated and work without direct supervision preparing important business documents and reports”. You might have a degree in humanities but you can say, “educated and skilled in adaptive human interactions and effective communications across a wide mixed population”. Anything that you can say that relates directly and specifically to the particular business, location or job title should be included, no matter how remote. Such as, “Worked at a competitive insurance company as a summer intern”. By cutting down the content, you should be able to say all that is necessary on one side of one page. The only exception to this is when the ad asks for more information. The point is that EVERY job deserves a separately worded and customized resume.If you can network or research a company that you want to work for and find out there is an unadvertised job opening or one that will open soon - send them a resume for that job. A word-of-mouth referral to a job or to someone hiring has significant built-in credibility that gives you a big boost. This is by far the most advantageous and successful approach because you often have no competition and if you are qualified, the company saves time and money by hiring you without the whole hiring process.Next, you need to make the resume a class act. Use 24 lb extra white (98-99 brightness) paper at a minimum. Using linen stationery is better with matching envelopes. Use a good laser printer in 12 pt, Times Roman font. Use standard 1.25 to 1.5 side and top/bottom margins. Do not use any colors or fancy fonts or emojis or other graphics. Don’t attach sheets that you reference unless the ad asked for something. Be sure to include references if they ask for them. If not, state that “References available”.ALWAYS include a cover letter with your resume. It should be short - at most 4 or 6 lines. Try to address it to the person that can make the hiring decision and mail your resume to him/her rather than to the HRM department, if possible. Something like this:“Enclosed is my resume in application for the recently advertised <job title> job opening. You will see that I meet all of your qualifications and can offer other related skills and experience.Not listed on my resume is that I took a 5 CEU course last year on business profit and loss analysis and reporting. I am fully qualified and highly motivated for the position and in working for <company name>.Respectfully submitted<sign and type name>”Or something like that. There are numerous online examples you can copy.If you are applying to a local store or business, then go in and ask to see the person that can make the hiring decision. Have your resume ready to hand to this person in case they do not have time to talk with you. Make a good impression.Now wait about 1 week and then call the company or go back and visit the store or company office and ask if they need any additional information. If you can’t call, then send another short letter that includes ONE sentence of some additional qualification while also asking if they need any other information, references or details. If you do walk in, then have your follow-up letter ready to hand to the hiring manager in case they don’t have time to see you.If you really want this job, repeat the weekly visits or follow-up letters until you are hired or you are told that the job is filled. There is nothing wrong with sending out multiple resumes and doing the follow-up letters or visits to multiple jobs at the same time. If you get more than one offer, pick the best and then be polite and decline the one you don’t want by saying you have accepted another offer - (don’t say you accepted a “better” offer).Keep in mind the employer’s perspective. You are NOT trying to market your skills and experience. You are trying to meet the needs of the employer. There is a difference.Good Luck

Hi,When you are applying for any unadvertised position , remember that it might not be looked into by the recruiter. Instead you can directly apply in the company's website where your data will be stored in their database. Personal e-mail won't be of much help for such positions.While drafting a resume and cover letter you should always keep these things in mind:Resume.should be of one page.It should be professional crafted.It should be zero error resume.It should be only highlighting your key points, like academic background, projects or internship done, interests, honours and achievements.Stay away in mentioning any details which you cannot defend or justify.Still if you want to send application for unadvertised positions then ensure you resume is perfectly ready for the one, and for cover letter keep this things in mind:It should be precise.The objective should be clear.It should contain all the relevant information.You can try out the following website for your reference and also you can build both resume and cover letter here:Cv makerBuild your resume in minutesResumebuilderHope this post helps.