Cover Letter

• Study the job advertisement in detail before formulating the cover letter. Extensive Internet research on the work/internship employer is fundamental, regardless of whether it is a voluntary or a mandatory internship. This is also necessary for a speculative application!
• A well-prepared phone call increases their chances. The aim of a phone call is to arouse the recruiter's interest. Briefly summarize your strengths and qualifications for the position and ask specific questions. This will give you a good opening for the cover letter. In it, you can then thank them for the interview and pick up on the content.

The cover letter is not a formulation of the resume. Focus on the 2-4 most important points that best fit the advertised position.

Short is not rude! The cover letter should not exceed ten sentences and should not be longer than one page.

The first sentence should not consist of a repetition of the subject line. Avoid sentence blocks such as "I hereby apply...".

For each sentence, consider whether it says something about you personally. Sentences that could literally come from other applicants do not bring any advantages!

Use a writing style in the cover letter that is easy to understand. Avoid nested sentences or jumping around in content.

Donot userepeated words from the advertisement in the cover letter. Nevertheless, name qualities that correspond to the advertisement, preferably by giving examples.
So not: "I am a team player, motivated and reliable."
But: "During my internship at XY, I worked on the YZ project. I worked there in an interdisciplinary team and my tasks were XX and YY."

Sentences that start with "I am...[unspecific enumeration]" will not get you anywhere. Much better is "I have done ...[specific example]."

Do not use redundant sentences or informationless sentence fragments. Examples of such sentence fragments to avoid:
"As you can see from my resume..."
"For these stated reasons, I am applying..."
"I am seeking a challenging position..."

If you want to write about the employer, describe what interests you. For example, projects to which you can make a personal connection. Don't use standard phr ases like "innovative, international, market leader" - many applicants use these verbatim in their cover letter.

Recruiters often have not studied the subject for which applicants are being sought. If knowledge is required that you can cover analogously with very similar qualifications, you should definitely mention this in the cover letter.

No justifications, explanations, repetitions or settlements with the past belong in a cover letter.

Correct format
From a formal point of view, a cover letter is a business letter with which you present your request. The Din 5008 standard specifies the correct structure.

The salutation in the cover letter
The salutation "Dear Sir or Madam" is out! You should use the name of the contact person, especially if this person is listed in the job advertisement. If it is not there, you can often find the name on the homepage of the job/internship employer. You can call the information desk of the institution or company to be approached to ask for the name of the:the recruiter.

Name of contact person
Also have them spell out a simple sounding name of the:the contact person:in. This will help you avoid embarrassing mistakes: Mayer, Meier or Meyer? The first word after the salutation is written in lower case. Correct is: Dear Ms. Meyer, thank you....

Use correct company names
For example, do not forget the "GmbH" or "AG" in the cover letter. The company spelling using upper and lower case letters must be observed. Tip: Take over the designation in the imprint on the homepage, if this information is not to be inferred clearly from the advertisement.

Subject line
The subject line is printed in bold. It must not be forgotten. Obsolete terms such as "Betr.:", "Subject" or "Bez.:", "Bezug:" before the content "Bewerbung als..." are no longer used in the cover letter.

Font & FontSize
Cover letter and resume should be uniformly written in the same font and font size. Only the personal letterhead may deviate from this. Font size 12 is recommended; all legible types such as Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri are suitable as fonts.

Attachments
The word Attachments should be listed on the lower left margin. The word is neither bolded nor underlined. The individual attachments are not listed.

Underlining
Generally, underlining is not used in the address line, subject line or text in the cover letter.

Spaces
The correct number of spaces in the text must be observed. MS-Word has the button "show/hide all formatting characters" for checking.