Perhaps I’m a little too ambitious or maybe I just really want the summer internship of my dreams. This semester, I will be applying to as many sports internships available within a 50-mile radius of my reasonable summer locations, i.e. Miami, Florida or Seattle, Washington. With so many applications, I am bound to get in somewhere, despite not fitting the ideal candidate profile for most of these internships. Without a doubt, my least favorite question in the applications is, Are you pursuing a bachelor’s degree in marketing or administration? In which case, I must answer, “No, unfortunately, I am not pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Marketing nor in Sports Administration; however, I have acquired comparable skills with my education and work experience.”
This is where my cover letter comes in and hits a home run. I have to dispel their misconceptions of non-marketing/administration majors – I need to show the recruiters that I possess the same if not better skills than their preferred degree-seeking candidates. Last week, I met with Valinda Lee at CP&R and went over cover letter techniques and suggestions. After submitting my first cover letter and resume, I was utterly exhausted. A week later, the thought of writing at least seven more cover letters and changing my resume to fit different descriptions literally darkened the skies as I ran to the library, trying to avoid the looming rain.
Consequently, I embarked on a mission to find an easier and more efficient way to write a cover letter without wasting time, mulling over examples time after time. Eureka! On Thursday, I attended a CP&R workshop – “Making the Best of your On Campus Job” and Valinda enlightened the attendees with what CP&R refers to as an idea bank for interview questions. While I am not at that stage yet, I can adapt the basic idea bank concept for cover letter/resume purposes. I have set up a two-column table: Column 1 lists desirable skills employers seek and Column 2 lists brief examples where I have demonstrated to have those skills. Note: I am listing the examples by previous jobs so that it helps me construct the accompanying resume quicker.
| Desirable Skills | Examples of skills |
| detail oriented | – TF650: running accounting audits; running delinquency reports; reconciling accounts;
– FITS: marketing items; – HOM: reviewing grant proposals; – 5CA: coding & designing website |
| listening and organization skills | – TF650: addressing resident complaints; maintaining lease/re-sale files;
– FITS: faculty websites; phone/in-office support; – R&S: fundraisers; – HOM: processing applications; – RT: creating curriculum; managing weekly tutoring sessions; |
A few words should do the trick, making it easier to write compelling examples – all I have to do is look at my list and pull out examples. The painstaking application process has suddenly transformed into something less tedious and a lot more manageable.
Yay, the story bank was helpful! So sorry I didn’t think to mention it while we were in our session together, I usually just think of that in terms of interviewing, but you’re right. It’s perfect for cover letters, too.
I definitely use something like that when I’m writing cover letters; it really helps me pull apart what duties mean and how I’ve done things that would address that need.