RealArts@Penn
Resources and Advice: Cover Letters, Resumés, and Housing
Cover Letter
Do’s and Don’ts
Do
- Craft captivating sentences that are polished, spell-checked, well-punctuated, and tailored to the indicated position
- Connect how your experience relates to the indicated job
- Provide an anecdote, if space-permitting, that shows the hiring manager how you bring value to the workplace
- Write to the hiring manager of the position (do your research)
- Tell the hiring manager why you in particular
- Demonstrate your familiarity with the organization and role and convey your passion
Don’t
- Make any spelling errors or make incorrect references you didn’t factcheck
- Reiterate and provide a laundry list of what’s already stated on your resume
- Make your cover letter longer than one page, unless you have some really compelling reasons to extend your letter over one page
- Write “sir or madame” in the address, if you cannot figure out who the hiring manager is (instead, write to the organization or to the “hiring manager”)
- Make assumptions and neglect to do research on the organization and role
Resumés
Do’s and Don’ts
Do
- Tailor your experience to the job description, adjusting organization of your information and the language of your experience
- Include your permanent address, university address (if appropriate at the time of application), your university email, and best phone to call you on
- Format your resume consistently throughout
- Use a clean font that’s easy to read and even easier to skim
- Focus on what you contributed to each role, beyond routine tasks
- Include any additional spoken/written languages
- Include a brief list of relevant skills
Don’t
- Send the same resumé to every opportunity you apply for
- Forget to have a professional voicemail set up on the phone number you wish to be contacted on and to erase your phone mailbox, as needed
- Include more than a couple bullet points per job role you’ve held
- Go overboard with formatting fonts, alternating caps vs. lowercase, and changing colors
- List every single task you’ve handled in each job — synthesize this in a way that communicates the value you can bring to the job you’re applying for now!
Internship Housing
The following list is intended to serve as a starting point for your summer internship housing search. It is by no means exhaustive and we highly encourage you to do your own research.
If you know of someone who has previously interned in the same city, reach out to them and ask how they found housing. Occasionally there is also a student created Facebook group for Penn students who will be interning in different cities, such as New York or Los Angeles. Keep an eye out in case one is created as sometimes this is a good way to find potential roommates and housing.
Note: inclusion on this list is not an endorsement by RealArts@Penn.
Resources
- Craigslist
- Apartments.com
- Hotpads
- AirBnB
New York
On College Campuses
- Columbia University (Dorms): https://www.housing.columbia.edu/content/visiting-student-housing?_gl=1*1kyc8bq*_gcl_au*MTY5NzU1NjgxMS4xNzAzMTAyODgw
- Columbia University (Off-Campus Housing): https://www.housing.columbia.edu
- NYU: https://housing.nyu.edu/summer/
- NYU (Off-Campus Housing): https://offcampushousing.nyu.edu/
- The New School: https://www.newschool.edu/student-housing/summer/
Non-College Campuses
- NYC Intern: https://www.nycintern.org
- Educational Housing Services (EHS): https://www.studenthousing.org
Los Angeles
On College Campuses
- Loyola Marymount University: https://admin.lmu.edu/conferences/intern/
- UCLA: http://summer-hostel.hhs.ucla.edu
- USC: https://housing.usc.edu/index.php/summer-guest-housing/
Washington D.C.
On College Campuses
- George Washington: https://summerhousing.gwu.edu/individuals-options
Non-College Campuses