Where the Cover Letter and Resume are the protagonists...

Cover Letter: The first impression, make sure it is worth reading and investing time. Most resumes don't see the day light thanks to a lousy cover letter.

Respected Sir/Ma’am,

Para 1 (3-5 lines): What do u want?
What you know about their business. Make it personal and tailor-made rather than one letter for all. Induct their company’s/ College’s/ Professor’s name and business/Profile into your first paragraph. In one or two lines describe their business/Research as perceived by you.
How you think the future would be for the organization or the concerned person’s research topic.

Para 2: who are you? What are you doing at present? What are your areas of interest? How you have pursued those areas, I would suggest to be vague and don’t give any specifics at this point of time. How you think this internship will help you in your endeavors? Is it some mandatory requirement for your degree or you are doing it as a self-interest!

Para 3: How it is a symbiotic relationship, a mutual benefit? What they/he/she should expect to gain? Talk about how this is a long term investment, how you see this as a start of a long term relationship rather than a one time, 2 month deal.

Para 4: What monetary gains you expect for yourself: I wrote and believe in: "I personally believe in nothing more than Operational Reimbursement and of course that too contingent on performance". Give a thought for a person who is investing both time and money in you without any idea about your abilities or you as a person, at least this is one safety net you should give to that poor chap (buch of chaps).

Closing statements before the verdict is issued: Should you have any questions you may reach me via phone or e-mail.
Thank you for your consideration and wish you every success in your endeavors. I look forward to becoming a part of your team.
Please find my resume attached with this mail.

Greetings and your name, organization’s name you are officially affiliated with, mob no, email-id.

P.S: Emphasize on your delivering capability and how they have every right to kick you out in case you don’t live up to their expectations or not able to deliver what you promised. But let them know that you are confident that such a scenario won’t materialize and how you respect their resources.

Add some humor in case you have something: I added the apology for plausible duplicate mails and how we are not very proud of our bandwidth and internet usage at NITK.

Include this if required: In case the degree you are pursuing has no relevance to your interest or you would not like it to be considered as the basis for the internship (As was the case with me, with my engineering degree having no correlation with my business interests.). Please make a due note of it to avoid unnecessary confusion.

The process of finding relevant contacts: I was looking for startups with my interest hinged upon business and management, so every successful startup was my target. I looked up for startup competitions and found the best companies. For really good prospects, invest time to look into their web-site or blog so that you understand what they do and are better prepared for interviews over the phone.

The process of emailing: Divide your prospective employers in two categories, one you have real enthusiasm for and one just because you stumbled upon them, you should mail them.
So for the first category go for tailor-made, business specific emails.
For the second category spam but not in hundreds, say ten email ids per mail. In the first paragraph let them know about your limitation and how this is not a spam.


Now coming to The Attachment: Duh! your resume. The funda is KISS (Keep it simple and stupid).

Name
Full address
Mob. No.
Email address

Education: Just talk about your current degree and no high school bragging. You can add your percentage or Grade point average in case it is relevant (Your study has anything to do with the internship) or is really good (say a distinction or above 8.0 CGPA) despite otherwise.


Interests: I included apart from the core interest: business/entrepreneurial, some co-curricular interests like writing (and Blog URL), painting, reading and more specifically like SAAS, WEB 2.0 (the domains of a significant number of companies I was applying to).

Achievements/ Activities: can highlight some stellar performance in high school, but don’t go overboard with it. What you won, achieved in the past and what you are currently working on or looking forward to.

Qualifications: Apart from the degree you mentioned about in the first paragraph any certifications or other qualifications like computer languages. For me it was NCFM modules.

Experience: Even though it may be a complete zero in actual terms, tie in the small experiences which have brought you this far. For me some were like a couple of failed ventures and other practical business activities. What I learnt, how was the experience?, and include figures like by how much percentage you improved the performance, or how much was your ROI in the business.

Career Summary: Short and sweet two lines which sum up everything.

Future Goals: Plans for immediate future, don’t clutter with long-distance plans.

Skills: Skills which are expected but not enunciated in broad day light, like proficiency in Office or Excel, presentation skills, aptitude, and leadership etc-etc. Try to include examples wherever possible.


Please care to notify in case i missed on some important point. Good Luck. And yes start 2-3 months in advance with the procedure of searching and applying, this gives you ample time in case they do want you to do some offsite work before-hand and improves the probability of you striking gold.