Getting An Internship: A Resume Example

Getting An Internship: Cover Letters Are Important!

By JOE GRIMM

Why is it so hard to write a cover letter?

We can figure out which clips, images, links or videos to send, and we can get the resume down, but cover letters are darn difficult. Part of the reason is that there are so many options. This article, and the ones it links to, should help you sharpen your focus and you choose a direction.

Cover letters typically go out with resumes and clips and should be seen as complements, as part of a package.

For journalists, a good cover letter is just one page long, dated, and it has all your particulars — name, address, phone number, e-mail address — in case it gets separated from the resume.

The cover letter should be addressed to a particular person and should have that person’s title. It’s always smart to make a phone call to make sure you have those correct.

You want your letter to stand out from the rest, but you don’t want to go over the edge — of someone’s desk.

So, be specific, write well and tease the editor into your clips or back to the resume.

Here’s one approach: “I’ll eat anything for a good story.” The cover letter goes on to talk about a feature story on edible insects, ethnic cooking and a taste test of a fast-food franchise’s latest venture.

Here’s another: “They said it couldn’t be done, but I did it.” The cover letter describes a story written under extreme deadline pressure when phones and computers went out.

Another approach is to say, in an unexpected way, why you think you’d be perfect for the position. Example: One police reporter wrote that she wanted to come to a major city’s metro because it sounded like “hell with the lid off” — the perfect place for covering crime.

The secret to a good cover letter is to seize on the most interesting work you’ve done, experiences you’ve had or qualities you us and to tell about them in a brief but compelling way. Give your cover letter a strong lead. Remember to use nouns that people can see and verbs that they can feel. Show some passion.

Customize your letter by showing that you know a little something about the company you’re applying to, perhaps by mentioning it in the body of the letter, but spend most of the space talking about your accomplishments, not about everything you’ve learned about the employer.

Finally, the cover letter must be letter-perfect, of course, right down to observing media style.

Looking for a few good cover letters? You won’t find them here. The JobsPage is into strategies, not shortcuts, and we wouldn’t insult you with generic copy. If you want to download free cover letters, go to another site or get one of the jillion cover letter books at the library or bookstore.

A great cover letter is authentic and authenticity starts with originality.

This article is about some bad and great cover letter opening lines. Use them to get your creative juices going, then go write your own cover letter. In truth, we aren’t spilling the very best opening lines we’ve seen out of respect and awe for their creators.

As you look at these lines, also think of combining two into a layered approach. Hedge your bets by opening with a straightforward line that tells editors what position you’re applying for, and following with a second line that shows flair. Here’s an example:

I am very interested in your business reporting job. My clips will show you that I’m made to handle it.

OK, here are some that caught our eye. Some are here because they’re simple and straight-ahead, others are here for being different. No guarantees. The letters that push the envelope and land you an interview with one media manager will land you in another’s recycle bin.

Short, sweet, no nonsense

In response to your ad, please find my resume and clips.

Please accept my application for a photo opening at the Free Press.

I am interested in the mobile journalist position you have open. My resume, clips and references are enclosed.

Please consider my application for your Web producer’s position.

Leading with your experience

I have 20 years experience writing and editing sports.

I am an award-winning reporter …

Arson, murder, rape, torture. These are …

My most valuable lesson in four years at the …

I have covered small-town politics in Texas, crime in Atlanta and environmental issues in New Jersey. I am ready for my next challenge.

Autobiographical

Persistence and patience are two things a reporter needs.

I love my job.

I am a small-town girl with my eyes set on the world.

Every valuable lesson I ever learned about reporting I learned in a taxi — from the front seat.

In my newsroom, they call me the grammar czar. I want to be your next editor.

They said it couldn’t be done, but I …

Sympathetic

It’s a pain in the neck, going through that stack of resumes.

You: Busy editor working late and staring at a growing mountain of job applications. Me: …

No fancy cover letter here. No custom-bound clips or professionally designed resume. Just good, solid …

Let me save you some trouble …

I’m sure the ad for a (job) at the (paper) unleashed a torrent of applications …

So many candidates, so little time. Let me help you cut through the clutter.

Confident

I would be an asset to your staff because …

I meet every one of the requirements in your job posting. (Bullet points follow.)

I saw your advertisements for both a features writer and an assignment editor. If the positions have yet to be filled, please consider the brief resume which accompanies this letter.

Brimming with Confidence

If you haven’t filled the sports writing position, look no further …

Look no further …

Let me save you some trouble …

Confidence gone crazy

You would be crazy not to hire me.

Punchy

You’d have to be crazy to hire me.

The competition hates me.

People watch what I do.

Anecdotal

You never know what you might learn when …

I have been yelled at, lied to, kicked out of meetings and threatened — all in the pursuit of journalism. What a great business.

Non-starters

Pursuant to our conversation … (English, please.)

I read with enthusiasm your classified advertisement ion JournalismJobs that that solicits applicants for community reporting positions. (Ditto.)

I am applying for an entry-level, general assignment reporter position. The reason I’m interested in working for your paper is I would like to move back to the area. (Better approach: Tell me how your knowledge of the area can benefit the newspaper. We hire people to make the newspaper better, not out of kindness. And don’t be that wordy.)

I recently spoke with a former professor of mine who sent me a list of various newspapers that are looking now, or in the future, to fill reporter positions. (Will your stories beat around the bush this way? Get to the point.)

I am John Doe and I writing to inquire about the sports reporter’s position which focuses on the coverage of State University athletics at the Sidewalk Scribe. (Ditto. It is not necessary to state the name of the paper you’re writing to — or your own — in your first sentence. These have been pretty much covered on the outside of the envelope.)

I am currently searching for a chance to enhance my skills as a reporter with another television station, and I am hoping that Action News can provide me with that opportunity. (Tell not what the company can do for you; tell what you can do for the company.)

I am a recent graduate … (Congratulations on your diploma, but weren’t you just sitting in a whole fieldhouse full of people who can say the same thing? What distinguishes you?)

With four years of reporting experience under my belt, … (Cliche alert!)

As a writer for a small daily who’s more than ready to move on to an unqualified metropolitan daily, I’m responding to your ad for reporters. (Yes, someone really wrote that.)

Getting An Internship: Cover Letter Examples

Ms. Kathy Best

Editor

The Seattle Times

1000 Denny Way

Seattle, Washington, 98109

Dear Ms. Best:

In 10^th grade, I got an offer to work for a New Jersey-based radio station as a political correspondent in Puerto Rico. Every Saturday for three years, I would go on-air for 20 minutes and report on current issues affecting the island. I was 16 years old at the time, learning by doing and trusting my gut 100 percent. That’s when I realized I wanted to be a journalist.

The radio station was more than a job — it was a school. I was assigned to follow the student-organized protests at the University of Puerto Rico. I covered and witnessed college students get arrested, maced with pepper spray and hit by the Puerto Rico State Police. This helped me understand the social role I would have in the world by being a journalist. Covering the protests taught me to become a better storyteller and to understand that no matter where I was, I needed to be ready to file or to call the station and go on-air immediately. No excuses.

I learned about the importance of understanding the community I was covering and the significance of developing strong relationships with sources who would come to me right away with news. The latter one was the hardest because of my age at the time, but I ended up gaining the respect of my colleagues and sources.

I am currently working toward a degree in journalism at Michigan State University, with a concentration in international reporting and a minor in environmental and sustainability studies. Now I am an editor for “Sustainable Stories,” a student-run blog from MSU’s Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. I co-founded the International Journalism Association at MSU, and I also am a member of the Environmental Journalism Association.

While holding various positions at The State News, MSU’s student-run newspaper, I’ve covered a range of topics from President Barack Obama’s visit to Ann Arbor, Mich., to the decriminalization of the marijuana to the DeBoer v. Snyder trial — the trial that pushed for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Michigan and one of the cases presented in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. This work involved filing on-deadline content, creating videos, posting to social media and submitting updates for the newspaper’s website.

With my diverse background in radio, newspaper, and online blogs, I see The Seattle Times internship as the next step in pushing me to become a better journalist. I am ready.

*************

Company applying for

Address line one

Address line two  

Dear name of recruiter or company if name is unavailable,

During the summer of 2014, I pictured myself reporting for Michigan State University’s premier college newspaper, The State News. But when I did not get the job, I wound up instead spending my summer driving a forklift at Lowe’s Home Improvement store.

But I did not give up. After working incredibly hard in my classes and achieving a 4.0 GPA, I once again applied was hired as a general assignment reporter the next summer.

Since then, I have worked my way up and have become one of the top reporters at The State News, being promoted twice during my five months as a reporter. I am now the East Lansing city reporter as well as the state capitol reporter. This has given me the opportunity to cover a range of stories.

While other newspapers in the Lansing area wrote about new and improved recycling practices in East Lansing, I found more than 12,000 residents without access to on-site recycling due to city ordinances. I have reported on the health of the Red Cedar River, a landmark at MSU. I sat down with MSU’s President Lou Anna K Simon and explored the plight of sexual assault victims as the university mishandled a number of cases over the past few years. I covered city council meetings, debates and this year’s election. I even rode around East Lansing in the back of an infamous monkey-covered van during my time as a reporter for The State News.

I would love to bring my passion for journalism to your organization. I have valuable experience in the field and believe I would be a great fit at the (name of company). Thank you for your time and attention to my application. I look forward to scheduling an interview with you to discuss the position, as well as my qualifications. Your organization is one I have always dreamed of working at and I believe I have the experience necessary to do so confidently.

JRN 200: No Class on Friday 11/10

Just a reminder: we will not be meeting for class on Friday, Nov. 10. Please keep working on your scheduled assignments, and we'll see you back in class on Wednesday, Nov. 15.

JRN 200: Your Homework For Wednesday 11/8

More multimedia work! Here we go:

*** For your second multimedia assignment, we will use video and blog formats like those in our first assignments, but instead of having sorta irrelevant topics, you will take all of or an aspect of one of your first two out-of-class stories, and do a video/online preview/online recap for it.

That would include:

... a 1-2 minute video, uploaded to YouTube, with B-roll and at least two source interviews on-tape;

... a 100-200-word look at one side of the issue, posted to blogger.com and done in a journalistic style, taking a look at one aspect of the issue, with at least two relevant working hyperlinks embedded in the text;

... and a 100-200-word look at the other side of the issue posted to blogger.com and done in a journalistic style, taking a look at an aspect of the issue that's complementary (and not copying) the aspect from the first post, with at least two relevant working hyperlinks embedded in the text;

For this exercise, you may re-interview sources from your previous stories or interview new sources. You may also use what you gathered and your notes from your original stories in putting together your new media news products.

Also, when I say you can do the entire comprehensive story or just an aspect of it, this is what I mean: let's say you did a story on the pros and cons of living off-campus vs. on-campus. The video may just look at one aspect, such as opinions on the issue. 

The first online story might look at the experiences of on-campus residents; with the second looking at off-campus viewpoints. Or maybe one post looks at the pros of being on-campus, with the next looking at the cons. Or the first talks to the people who run off- and on-campus housing, and the second talks to the students who live on- and off-campus.

None of the mediums necessarily have to look at the issue as broadly as you did in a traditional text story (though you may do so if you so choose).

*** Your deadline for the second multimedia assignment will be 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 16 via email to omars@msu.edu. Please put ALL your links to your work into a single email, with the subject line of MM2. 

*** Also, on Friday, Nov. 10 we will NOT have class! Please use the time to work on your upcoming multimedia work. Class will resume Wednsdat, Nov. 15.

If you need any assistance, contact me ASAP. And good luck, everybody!

OOCs: Remaining Due Dates

* The optional rewrite of the second out-of-class story will be due no later than 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15 to omars@msu.edu. Please keep in mind you get to rewrite just ONE of your out-of-class stories.

* The third out-of-class story will be due no later than 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27 to omars@msu.edu. That is the Monday after Thanksgiving, so you have a VERY long period to work on this story.

* One important note to go with the third OOC: please gather multimedia materials (URLs, B-roll, video interviews) related to your third OOC, as we will be doing online story and video story versions of OOC #3 as well. Due dates for those MM elements will be announced soon.

* The optional rewrite of the third out-of-class story will be due no later than 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 8 to omars@msu,.edu. That is the last regular class day of the fall semester.

* The optional fourth out-of-class story will also be due no later than 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 8 to omars@msu,edu. There will be no rewrite opportunity for this story.

* A surprising amount of people did NOT turn in a pitch for the optional fourth out-of-class story. A reminder: if you do the fourth one, I will use the best three grades of your four stories in determining your final grade. And nothing impacts your final grade like out-of-class stories. If you had fatals on an OOC, I strongly urge you to do a fourth OOC. I am giving you all one last chance to make a fourth pitch that will be due no later than 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 10. After that, you are out of luck.

MM #2: Some Examples From The Past

Below are links to the second video assignment from some JRN 200 classes in the past few years. Now, in looking at these don't focus too much on technical quality. Like you, they were taking their first real journalism class, and like you they were using basic equipment of varying quality.

Instead, look at the principles they're trying to establish: thorough interviews of a broad variety of sources -- everyone from direct participants to neutral experts. Good B-roll that shows what is being talked about. Frequent use of captions and attribution.

Let's take a peek, shall we? 

Here we go:

* Smoking ban video

Simple yet strong B-roll here. It's a story about a smoking ban; we show people smoking in different environments. That's all it has to be.

* Road work video

The video style here is what we call a "stand-up," which is literally that: a reporter stands in front of the camera and narrates the report. But notice the extensive use of B-roll throughout, especially within interview segments where we start with the talking head, then while the head continues to talk we switch the visual to B-roll that shows what the person is talking about, and then we return and finish with the talking head shot. Good story structure here. It's the video equivalent of pairing telling facts and quotes in print.

* Multitasking students video and blog posts:

GREAT variety of B-roll, both in terms of different scenes (working, skating, studying), mediums (video and still pics) and types of shots (wide/medium/tight). THIS is what we should be aiming for, as video is a visual medium.