Cold emailing involves sending a personalized email to someone with whom you don’t have a prior connection. If you are a fresh graduate or entry level employee, cold emailing can be necessary to gain a foothold in your industry. Internships are a good opportunity to get supervision and experience that will help you develop employable skills for your career.
So, you have your eyes set a on a few companies, and you don’t want to limit yourself to automated applications sent from job search platforms. You want to be proactive and send a personalized email appealing to the hiring manager to provide an internship. Let’s look at how to write a good cold email for an internship.
Creating a professional email address
High school and college students often create email IDs that sound funny or casual, like gamer4life@abc.com or smartypants@abc.com. Those will definitely leave a bad impression on an employer. Make sure your email ID sounds professional, and if it doesn’t, create a new one for your all your future internships or jobs. You can use your first and last name, or add your degree, profession, location or industry too, e.g., stevemillerconsulting@gmail.com.
Research and preparation
Make a list of the companies that provide the kind of internships you want. Gather details about the stipend, or any training fees you might have to pay. It is important to note that the response rate to cold emails is rather low, so you might want to make a long list of companies to expect responses from at least a handful.
As you make a list of companies, also look for the email addresses of people in that organization, like the hiring manager or the head of the department where you want to intern. On the company website, the names and contact information of people is usually found in the Our Team section. You can utilize your college alumni network to find out if they work in these organizations, or know someone who does.
Go on employee review websites to know more about the work culture. An internship may not be a long-term commitment, but it is considered a stepping stone to bigger opportunities. If you don’t adjust to the work atmosphere, learning is difficult. Office politics, discrimination, overworking employees, etc. are major red flags.
Subject line
The subject line of the email is what appears in the inbox, in possibly a long list of emails that the hiring manager or departmental head goes through. If you want to make your email stand out, you have to write a clear, concise subject line that will catch the reader’s eye, e.g., Internship Inquiry for Mr. Smith.
Introduction
Introduce yourself with your name, current educational status and major. If you have completed workshops or training programs for the skills that are relevant to this internship, mention them. Highlight previous internship and work experience. Finally, express interest in working at their organization. Here’s an example.
“I am Rasika Godbole, a second year student at XYZ University, planning to major in Political Science. I have previously interned at ABC Research Foundation, where I learnt how to conduct semi-structured interviews, and how to conduct qualitative analysis. I would like to further my knowledge and skills in this area by interning at your esteemed organization.”
Body of the email
Begin by highlighting your qualification and specific skills, elaborate on the ones you have mentioned in the introduction. If you find a webpage or an internship brochure with the details of the internship, go through the requirements.
Make sure that the content of your email aligns with what they are looking for in an intern. Connect past work experience, leadership roles, certifications to the current profile. Mention the aspects of their work culture that you find appealing, and how your values align with those. Finally, mention when you would be available for further contact. Here’s an example.
“As a student who is interested in research, I am passionate about qualitative analysis. I have completed a certificate course in Thematic Data Analysis from XYZ institute, and I have had a chance to apply my knowledge to a real-world research project under Dr. ABC at the ABC institute.
In my previous role as an intern at ABC institute, I worked with interviewees from diverse cultural backgrounds. I believe this experience has prepared me well for the challenges presented by an internship at your organization.
I am drawn to your organization because of its commitment to inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. I am particularly inspired by your analysis of the experiences of minorities in the workplace, and I am eager to contribute to the innovative work that your team is doing. I am available at your earliest convenience for an online or in-person interview.”
Conclusion
Toward the end, summarize your interest in the internship and your availability to start. Thank them for their time and consideration. End with a salutation or professional greeting. For example, you can say “I am eager to contribute to your projects, and enthusiastic about learning new skills. Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to your response! Sincerely, Rasika Godbole.”
Proofreading
Before sending the email, make sure you correct all spelling and grammar errors. If you have attached your resume and cover letter, make sure it is named appropriately. Check the recipient’s email address, check your own email address (in case you forgot to switch to your professional ID), the subject line, and the salutation at the end. It is always better to schedule your emails in the morning early in the week.
Follow up
It is not uncommon for applicants to wait weeks until they get the message that their application has been rejected. Not getting a response is worse. After a week or two, you can send a polite follow up email saying that you are still interested in the opportunity.
To sum up, writing a cold email is not a quick one-time task. It requires prior research, an understanding of your expectations and the requirements of an organization, meticulous writing and checking, and personalizing each email to the organization and its people.
At times, it might feel draining to draft so many emails. You might even struggle to come up with new content for each organization, since most of them seem to have pretty similar requirements and values. You can make a skeleton draft and use it as a base for writing new content for each organization. Aim for as many organizations as you can, narrow it down through Good luck!
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