How this cover letter secured me my first Internship at the United Nations

How this cover letter secured me my first Internship at the United Nations

Securing a United Nations Internship marks a shift in one’s career. For many young people, they give up applying for various reasons. I have often heard many students and graduates saying, “there is too much competition,’’ ‘’you will not get an internship at the United Nations unless you know someone’. For some it will remain a dream for working at the United Nations. Some may never secure an interview. Some may never hear feedback from the United Nations team.  This derails and frustrates young people trying to develop their careers. But wait, many people have secured a United Nations Internship. How did they get one is a question that perhaps keeps hovering in your mind. This piece of writing is meant to shift the way you approach your applications, it is meant to enable you to move from being an internship applicant to become a United Nations Intern. You may all have the same qualifications even from top world class universities, yet you still fail to secure an internship at the United Nations. You need to put in a strong cover letter. How do you structure a cover letter for a United Nations Internship? Read more below a sample cover letter that helped me secure my first Internship at the United Nations.

10 January 2023

APPLICATION FOR THE TALENT ACQUISITION AND PARTNERSHIP INTERNSHIP AT THE UNITED NATIONS FOR PETER GREGGS

I am writing to express my strong interest in the Talent Acquisition and Partnership Internship position at OHCHR Office as advertised on OHCHR Careers Website. My distinct qualifications, outstanding grades in Human Resources, exposure to conceptualize, organize the first ever student human rights conference at my university and Careers Fair event makes me a competent candidate for the advertised position. With a demonstrated track record of building partnerships and networks with organizations like Save the Children, UN Human Rights Office, Diplomatic missions in New York, I have built a reputation of supporting fellow students with finding the right information about joining the mentioned organizations. The results of my efforts  have been to enable my university to sign two memorandum of understanding for student internship partnerships with UNDP Copenhagen and UNHRC Geneva Office. This demonstrates how far l can go to support big organizations with their talent acquisition efforts. So far 4 students have secured their internships funded by the university. 

My excellent communication skills through social media will enable me to represent and promote the OHCHR brand in virtual communities and networks. As demonstrated through my LinkedIn page, l have developed a virtual audience reaching out to 20 000 followers most of which are students seeking internships. I reshare and find ways to access United Nations internships and post on LinkedIn platform. I reach as much as 60 000 impressions for any posts that l share via my LinkedIn posts. If l am hired for this internship posts, I will transfer the sills gained about promoting open vacancies. I am convinced running the OHCHR Copenhagen website or social media pages ,I will craft marketing content for all jobs vacancies , as well as brief information about recruitment and career development within the organization.

I am a great networker, who possess excellent communication skills. During my time with Students Representative Council , I organized two successful career fairs, grow the St Albert University twitter handle from 8 000 followers to 50 000 followers within 3 months. I worn the best student award in Communications Course . Over the course of my studies with the university, I have fallen in love with fine turning my career in talent acquisition , partnership building and strengthening. This has seen me acquiring certification in Talent Acquisition (job analysis, recruitment, selection and successful onboarding). I have thus taken extra online courses about Recruiter/ Headhunter Leas Six Sigma Certification, Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate and Talent Acquisition Practices. I am confident that the combination of my university experience and certification in talent acquisition will enable me to successfully develop and implement strategies, mechanisms and platforms to ensure effective outreach of relevant segments of labour market. My exposure to drafting reports, project management all make me a befitting candidate for the advertised job

What you will find interesting in me is my exposure in digital skills and entrepreneurship. I have built online presence, taking additional google digital skills courses that enabled me to create an online digital platform. unitednationscareers.com earning through adverts from different international companies am confident that l will be able to transfer skills and partner with universities, create brand ambassador programmes to early career, mid career and senior professionals (or more specifically according to the project needs)  by implementing affiliate marketing, digital marketing, SEO website optimization to attract customers and building online presence using digital tools.

I have enclosed my resume, which provides details about my qualifications and the value that l will bring to OHCHR Geneva. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience aligns and career aspirations aligns with your portfolio’s goals. Feel free to reach out to me on the contacts details provided above.

Thank you for in advance for your consideration of my application.

Yours

Sincerely, 

PETER GREGGS

In the above cover letter, l was able to quantify my achievements and demonstrate extra activities that l have done. What is it that you can learn from this ? If you are a student looking forward to stand out, volunteer at your University, find clubs and make an impact, reach out to dean of student affairs, career development officers and International organizations for potential partnerships. We may have the same qualifications but what is important is to stand out take extra courses if possible that aligns to your career goals.