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As part of the application process of most IFC job and internship opportunities, candidates are usually required to submit a cover/motivation letter. The essential goal of the cover letter document is to give candidates a chance to introduce themselves and explain their motivation in applying to the organization.
As the name suggests, a cover letter serves as a “cover” for the documents you submit for an internship application. It should provide a summary of a candidate’s skills, professional experience, and qualifications that meet the needs of an opening, emphasizing why the candidate should be selected.
That’s why we have prepared, in this article, a guide with all the essentials for you to improve your cover letter for an IFC job or internship opportunity in order to catch the attention of the recruiters at the organization!
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What do recruiters look for in your Cover Letter?
In order to write a strong cover letter, it is important to know what the recruiters will be looking for, so here are some of the aspects the recruiting team seeks to evaluate:
- Competencies: These may be understood as the candidate’s set of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and values. The majority of the IFC’s selection processes are competency-based. Therefore, it is important the candidate shows that s/he has the main competencies the IFC is seeking, such as Teamwork, Innovation, Negotiation, Results orientation, Problem Analysis, Strategic Perspective. Note that the required competencies can change according to the post being advertised. Since the IFC is indisputably a value-driven organization, your personal values and the manner in which they are linked to the organization’s should also be highlighted.
- Knowledge about the organization: It is expected that the candidate demonstrates knowledge about the IFC, such as its mission, its operational approach, activities, and main objectives.
- Cultural fit: Showing sound knowledge of the organization is not enough. The candidate should highlight that there is compatibility between their values, principles, objectives, and understanding of reality with those of the organization.
- Communicative capacity: The cover letter enables the recruiter to evaluate the candidate’s writing skills and their ability to structure ideas and coherently defend arguments.
- Technical knowledge: the candidate should present how s/he would contribute to the IFC on the internship. Expert assessors from the area the candidate is applying to will assess if the candidate has the technical knowledge required by the IFC and if s/he fully grasps the fundamental concepts of their specialized area.
Questions to guide you when writing your Cover Letter
- Why are you looking to dedicate yourself to working with the IFC?
- Why are you suited to being an IFC employee?
- How would you contribute to the IFC and the achievement of the institution’s main goals?
- What is your university academic background? How does it relate to your desire to work with the IFC?
- What professional experience do you have that qualifies you to become an IFC intern?
- What have you learned from your professional experience? Which skills have you developed?
- What are your specific skills (knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and values)? How will they help the organization to achieve its objectives?
- What contributions to your personal, professional, and academic life do you expect from the IFC, once you are assigned a position?
- Which additional skills do you plan to develop when working with the organization?
- Aside from work and education, what are your interests, hobbies and habits?
- What type of person are you? Which aspects of your life/character should they know about? What is unique about you? Why should this matter to the IFC recruiting team?
In the first round of the IFC job and internship opportunities selection process, you must fill out an online application form and send documents (Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter). These documents are decisive for your success in this competitive selection process. Therefore, it is of fundamental importance that your documents are carefully reviewed. This is exactly what our award-winning team will do for you.
At OpenIGO, we have analyzed documents from dozens of IFC candidates. This service is confidential and your files will be deleted from our systems when the service has been completed.
For more info, access:
IFC Careers – Application Review
Important things to pay attention when writing your cover letter
1. Language
As far as “language” is concerned, here is a list of aspects you should pay attention to:
- Avoid clichés, idioms and outdated language;
- Beware of errors in grammar, use of verb tense, and punctuation. Show that you have an understanding of the language’s basic rules. If possible, use a spell checker or have a proofreader analyze your content when you’ve finished writing your cover letter;
- Give preference to writing out the full names of organizations, positions and people;
- Remember to use the first person singular to describe your personal accomplishments and achievements;
- Do not use words and expressions without being sure of their meaning. Although it is important to have an extensive vocabulary, it is a mistake to think that you should misuse elaborate words which are hard to understand;
2. Brainstorm and define a theme for cover letter
Start to prepare your cover letter by brainstorming, which could be done by answering all the questions listed before. Based on these answers, think of a “theme” to guide writing this document. This theme refers to the way you wish to project yourself to the organization.
3. Be careful of your emotional state
Your emotional state may have a direct impact on the quality of your text. Therefore, negative feelings should be avoided, such as anxiety, stress and lack of confidence. Calm and focus should be maintained before you start. The practice of relaxing activities (such as yoga, meditation, listening to music or practicing physical exercise) is also recommended before writing, in order to stimulate your creativity.
4. Be yourself
Just because you are telling a story, you should not invent facts about yourself. Never lie. Remember that facts presented in a document can be checked during the selection process and the recruiters also have extensive experience and are able to easily recognize facts that are not true. Therefore, if you are not honest, as well as not being selected, your reputation will be tarnished.
5. Quantify your story
If possible, present numbers in your statement of interest to make your story more concrete. There is nothing better than numbers to install confidence in the information you present. Quantify the results achieved from your actions in order to help the recruiter gain a better idea of the scale of your impact.
In pursuit of its mission, the OpenIGO network has support and guidance services, with the aim of highly increasing your chances of success in this competitive selection process. These services include revising your IFC application documents (curriculum vitae/resume and cover letter) and a mock interview, as per the IFC original model. If you want to know more about it, access:
IFC Careers: Products & Services
