How to write a cover letter for an internship or graduate job?

Direct answer: No. The two documents do different jobs. Prospects (Smith, 2025) says a cover letter should "complement your CV but not duplicate it". The CV lists what you have done; the letter argues why that history fits this particular role and employer, using one or two chosen examples.

Princeton University Center for Career Development (n.d., p. 2) is blunt about the trap: "A cover letter is more than a resume in paragraph form." Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs makes the same point with an exclamation mark: "Don’t match or narrate your resume in your cover letter!" (Ercole, 2022). Both US offices say "resume" where UK and Australian employers say "CV", and the advice transfers directly.

A practical test is to read your finished paragraph two and ask whether a reader could have learned the same thing from your CV alone. If so, the paragraph is not yet doing the letter's work. Choose one experience, say what the task was and what you did, and connect it to a line in the advert. Ercole (2022) also recommends giving quantifiable information whenever possible, so a vague line about running a society event is stronger when it carries your own real figure.

Does every application need a letter at all? Prospects (Smith, 2025) says applications should include one unless the advert says otherwise, and the National Careers Service (n.d.) says you should always include one when you apply with a CV. The Oxford Careers Service (n.d.) adds that you should take the chance to submit one whenever you are given it. If you are weighing a statement of purpose against a letter for a different kind of application, our guide to statement of purpose versus motivation letter covers that decision separately.

Direct answer: UK guidance sets one side of A4 at most. Smith (2025) allows one page, while Princeton University Center for Career Development (n.d.) is stricter: "Keep it to half a page, approximately 250-300 words" (p. 2). Treat the two as a range, and let the job advert's own instruction decide.

The figures look different, but they do not conflict. Prospects (Smith, 2025) says a cover letter should not exceed one A4 page, and the Oxford Careers Service (n.d.) says to aim for no longer than one side of A4 unless the organisation gives its own instructions. Columbia's office also says to keep cover letters to one page (Ercole, 2022). Princeton's half page is the stricter end of the same advice.

For an internship, aiming near the shorter end is a sensible default, because an intern letter has less work history to cover. For a graduate role, a full page is acceptable if every sentence is earning its place. In either case, a shorter letter that is specific beats a longer one that is general.

Direct answer: Use a named person if you can find one, and end with "Yours sincerely". If you cannot find a name, "Dear Sir or Madam" is acceptable and the matching sign-off is "Yours faithfully". Prospects (Smith, 2025) and the National Careers Service (n.d.) give the same rule.

Finding a name is worth a few minutes, and the advert is the first place to look. The National Careers Service (n.d.) lists "Dear Sir or Madam" with "Yours faithfully" as the fallback when no name can be found. Princeton (n.d., p. 3) adds an email detail: if you send the letter by email, include a subject line such as "Candidate for [Job Title]" and avoid opening by introducing yourself by name.

Two further rules from Prospects (Smith, 2025) are easy to forget. Mention your current salary or salary expectations only if the employer has specifically asked. And use the same font and size as your CV, so the two documents look like one application.

Direct answer: The structure stays the same; the evidence changes. An internship letter leans on coursework, society roles and part-time work, and shows why you want to learn this employer's work. A graduate letter has to show how those experiences already match the role's listed criteria.

The sources do not set separate formats for the two, so this section reflects MAAS's reading of the shared advice rather than a published rule. The Oxford Careers Service (n.d.) advises referring to the most relevant skills, around three to five, and tying them to the criteria. For a graduate job the criteria are usually longer and more specific, so your second paragraph carries more weight. For an internship, the third paragraph, the "why this employer" part, often decides whether the letter feels considered.

Both letters need a copy kept. The National Careers Service (n.d.) suggests keeping a copy because you may be asked about it at interview, and it also says to write a new letter for each job. That second point matters for students sending many applications in a short period: swapping only the company name is easy to spot.

For the interview stage, the National Careers Service (n.d.) recommends backing up statements with facts and using the STAR method.

Direct answer: Replace home-country jargon with plain descriptions, and explain what a UK or Australian reader would not know. The Oxford Careers Service (n.d.) gives the model: avoid institution-specific words such as "prelims" and write "1st year exams" instead, so the reader does not have to guess what the term means.

A recruiter in London or Sydney may not know your university's grading scale, course names or the standing of your institution. The same logic as "prelims" applies to a Vietnamese transcript: describe the result in terms the reader can interpret, and name the module in a way that shows what you did. Keep visa matters to a single clear sentence if the advert asks about work authorisation, and leave detailed immigration questions to the employer and official guidance, which this guide does not cover.

The sources here ask every applicant, whatever their background, to be direct: say what you did, tie it to the advert, and let the facts carry the claim.

Direct answer: A good sample is a skeleton, not a script. It shows what each of the four paragraphs has to do, and you fill the gaps with evidence from your own history. The outline below follows the order used by Prospects and Oxford and fits within the length range given above.

The skeleton is deliberately generic, with no company names and no invented results. Everything in square brackets is a prompt, not wording to send: Princeton University Center for Career Development (n.d.) warns against letters built by "filling in blanks", so replace each bracket with your own sentence.

Dear [Name of recruiter],

Paragraph 1. [One specific hook: the module, project or piece of the employer's work that made you apply.] That is why I am applying for the [role] advertised on [where you saw it]. I would be available to start from [date].

Paragraph 2. The advert asks for [criterion 1] and [criterion 2]. In [a module, society, job or project], I [what you did] and [what resulted, with your own figure if you have one].

Paragraph 3. I am drawn to [employer] because [a specific reason from their work, not general praise]. I would bring [one strength] to [the team or programme].

Paragraph 4. I would welcome the chance to discuss the role at an interview. I am unavailable on [dates, if any]. Thank you for considering my application.

Yours sincerely,
[Your name]

The skeleton works as a checklist. Each bracket forces a fact into the letter: a named criterion, an action, a reason for this employer. Once every bracket holds a real detail, edit for length until you are inside the guidance above.

Direct answer: Be cautious. The Oxford Careers Service (n.d.) reports that in its Careers Annual Employer Survey of May 2025, only 15% of recruiters answered "Yes" to allowing or encouraging AI tools in applications, and half answered "No". Check the employer's stated position before using any tool.

That survey measures employer attitudes, not the quality of any tool, and it describes the recruiters who responded to Oxford rather than all employers. It is still a useful signal. A letter is meant to show your own judgement and your own experience, which a generic draft cannot supply. If an employer prohibits AI, using it risks the application. If an employer allows it, you remain the person who has to stand behind every sentence at interview.

A safer use of outside help is review. Reading your draft aloud, asking a careers adviser or a tutor to point out vague paragraphs, and checking the letter against the advert line by line keep the writing yours. Prospects (Smith, 2025) notes that students and recent graduates can book an appointment with their university careers and employability service, which is usually the first place to ask.

If you want a second reader, the one-to-one subject tutoring service at MAAS lets you go through your own draft with a tutor who points out where a paragraph is vague or repeats your CV. The wording and the decisions stay yours, and the tutor does not write the letter or promise any outcome from an employer.

Direct answer: Save the letter as a PDF unless the advert says otherwise. Prospects (Smith, 2025) gives this rule, and it keeps your layout and font intact on whatever device the recruiter uses. If the employer asks for a Word file or a pasted text box, follow that instruction instead.

Use the same font and size as your CV. If you apply by email, the letter can go as an attachment or in the body of the email, whichever the advert asks for, and either way it needs a clear subject line such as "Candidate for [Job Title]" (Princeton University Center for Career Development, n.d.). The advert's own instruction is the final authority on format, length and file name.

If you are moving on from letters to the CV itself, our guide to a CV for a PhD application shows how a research-focused CV differs from one for a job, which helps when you are deciding what each document should carry.