Tips for Internship Applications, compiled by EESI staff

Tips for Internship Applications, compiled by EESI staff

•   Read our website. EESI posts all of our content on our website, including articles, briefings, white papers, podcasts, and newsletters. With so much content at your fingertips, you should have ample information to learn about what we do at EESI and determine how it intersects with your interests. Figure out ways to express this in your application materials.
•   Take time to put together your application materials. You should expect to take ample time to put together a competitive application.
•   Ask someone (or multiple people) to review your materials before you submit. Ask a trusted mentor, peer, professor, advisor, or coach to review your materials and give you feedback. Find someone who will provide substantive comments. Think about the fact that a REAL person on our staff is going to read your application materials. We read a lot of applications, so make yours interesting to read and you will stand out.
•   Follow the application instructions closely. The format and length of the application materials were designed for you to provide us with a balanced impression of your interests, passion, activities, and achievements. Strive to minimize superfluous material.
•   Ask for help. If you have come across this internship and you would like to apply, but you do not know where to start, ask for help! Almost all schools have career centers that can support students in preparing application materials.

Cover letter:
•   Figure out an interesting first couple sentences to start your cover letter. It is not necessary to state where you attend school and where you found the internship posting. Rather, use the first sentences like a “hook” in a well-crafted article—drawing in your reader to want to learn more about you and your interest in interning at EESI.
•   Use your cover letter to highlight how your interests and skills make you a perfect fit to learn and grow in this position. This is your chance to make explicit the connection between your life and interests and our work at EESI.
•   Your cover letter should contain a fair amount of customization specific to EESI.
•   Make sure your cover letter is easy to read. Think about short paragraphs, good spacing, and normal margins and font size.

Resume:
•   Use the job description to identify your experiences and skills that align closely with the internship you are applying for.
•   Make sure your resume is easy to read (and skim). Use bolding, font size, and other emphases to bring readers’ eyes to the most important information in your resume. Keep the formatting consistent across the resume.
•   Be specific. Use numbers to quantify things you have done, when applicable.
•   You do not need to include everything you have ever done. Choose what is most relevant to the internship you are applying for.

Writing sample:
•   You have hundreds of examples of EESI’s writing style at your disposal via the articles and white papers on our website. Take time to read some of them to get a sense of how EESI writes.
•   Selecting a writing sample to submit that is similar in style to EESI’s work will help us envision you writing for us!
•   You can submit a sample on any topic, but topics that are related to EESI’s work have the added bonus of showing us that you are familiar with the issues we cover.
•   We read your application online, so you can hyperlink sources rather than using endnotes or footnotes.

Testimonials

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.)
	"Our efforts in Congress are aided by the great work of groups like the Environmental and Energy Study Institute and I'm thankful to have partners like you to help inform good energy policy."

Claudine Schneider, former Member of Congress (R-R.I.)
	"There could not be a more critical role for a non-partisan, public interest, non-profit than to advise and educate Congress on energy and environmental issues. It’s what EESI does well—and it’s essential that they continue to do so."

Dr. John Holdren, President Obama's Science Advisor
	"I think EESI has been an enormously positive influence on understanding in the Congress and in the public of the nature of the climate change challenge."

Anne Saliers, formerly with the Holland Board of Public Works
	"It was like a gift just falling in my lap that [EESI] was looking for municipal utilities and rural co-ops to help them develop on-bill loan programs."