Monday, September 17, 2012

Cover Letter (Post#3) [UPDATED]


MOHAMMAD HASAN
25 Prince Georges Park, #02-07, Singapore (118424) | +65 84095154 | mohammadhasan@nus.edu.sg

19th September, 2012

Human Resource Manager
Credit Suisse AG (Investment Banking)
One Raffles Link, #03-01/#04-01
Singapore 039393

Application for internship at Credit Suisse as a Summer Analyst

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am a 3rd year Electrical Engineering student at National University of Singapore, doing my Bachelor’s degree. I am eager to join Credit Suisse as a summer intern because I believe I possess the necessary qualities required for the job. A senior of mine recently shared his working experience at Credit Suisse with me; with these new insights about the working environment and overall culture of the company I was very impressed. In addition, I attended a career talk organized by Credit Suisse on NUS campus. This career talk propelled me to apply for this internship.

In the career talk, the presenters specified they look for characteristics like leadership, effective communication, analytical skills etc. in candidates. With my engineering background and programming experience I am certain that I possess the problem solving skills that your company is looking for. During a university project, I built a working prototype of an automatic artifact protection control system for museums by programming a microcontroller board, which required me to analyse and solve problems on a daily basis throughout the project.

Besides analytical skills, I am also highly competent at communicating and dealing with people. I am able to communicate and articulate my thoughts effectively. I have scored 8.5 out of 9 in the world’s most popular English language proficiency test, called International English Language Testing System (IELTS); which goes to show the validity of my claim. Moreover, through doing many projects at university and holding vital positions at different clubs, I have gained invaluable interpersonal skills and grown accustomed to working in a team to achieve a common goal. For instance, I was the IT Director of Bangladeshi Students Committee and had to fully coordinate the production of the club’s T-shirt from designing to printing under a strict timeline. Just before two days of the launch of the t-shirts, the manufacturer informed us they cannot deliver on time due to some technical problems. I had to think on my feet about my next course of action because I had to meet the deadline. I called multiple manufacturers and had to negotiate the pricing to fit my budget. Although I had to stay up all night, I was able to meet the deadline and deliver the T-shirts right on time.

Additionally, at NUS I have also taken multiple business modules such as Accounting and Economics to have a fundamental idea about the financial world. Your company’s career talk really sparked genuine interest in me and I look forward to working at Credit Suisse. I am sure that I can add more value to your company by offering my range of technical, analytical and social skills. Moreover, I know Credit Suisse strives to have a diverse workforce and has employees from more than a 100 countries. Being a Bangladeshi, I would be able to add to the diversity of the workforce and enable the company to leverage on my unique perspective and talents to achieve its business goals.

I have enclosed a copy of my résumé for your reference. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss my qualifications with you and learn more about Credit Suisse at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at 84095154 or via email at mohammadhasan@nus.edu.sg. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.


Yours sincerely,



Mohammad Hasan
Enclosure: Résumé
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. Ramon Bespinyowong (Jae)September 18, 2012 at 1:07 AM

    Hi Hasan, future summer analyst intern.

    One of the good points of this cover letter is that you mentioned your senior, which shows that you know about the company and its culture. Moreover, you have done well in listing modules you have taken, indicating both your interest and experiences in this financial world.

    Finally, to improve this cover letter, you should specify the name of the club which you were a director of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HasanSeptember 19, 2012 at 1:09 AM

      Hey Jae,
      Thanks for your valuable input. I will revise it and add the name of the club, it is actually very important to include the club's name. Thanks for pointing that out :)

      Delete
    2. Ramon Bespinyowong (Jae)September 21, 2012 at 4:44 PM

      :) I am glad that I can help you. We should exchange our ideas so that we can both improve. If you have some free time, feel free to read my blogs and provide me some useful comments.

      Delete
  2. chickinbiskitSeptember 18, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    Hey Hasan!

    I like how you cited your experience as an IT director of a club. However, I am not too sure if the example should take up that much space. It seems to me to be about 20% of the cover letter and maybe you could have used that space to highlight some other key things. I am not too sure though and am curious to know what other comment-ors have to say.


    Below, I have added a few suggested improvements.

    1. Credit Suisse is a well renowned company in the financial sector and I had always intended on working >>> Credit Suisse is undoubtedly a well renowned company in the financial sector and I have always intended on working (I felt that adding the" undoubtedly" tells them that there is no denying that fact. It seems to convince the reader that you think very highly of the company. )

    2. Moreover, through doing many projects at university and holding vital positions at different clubs I know I am able to meet deadlines and work under pressure.
    >>> Moreover, through doing many projects at university and holding vital positions at different clubs, I know I am able to meet deadlines and work under pressure.

    3. the manufacturer informed us they cannot deliver on time due to some technical problems. >>> the manufacturer informed us that they could not deliver on time due to some technical problems.

    4. I had to think on my feet about my next course of action because there was no time to react. (If there was no time to react then you would not have had time even to think, no? haha )>>> I had to think on my feet about my next course of action because there was no time to waste.


    Furthermore, coming from Bangladesh, I believe you bring with you a something very unique; something that not many other interns would be able to provide at Credit Suisse. In lieu of our lesson on branding, this distinguishes you from the rest and certainly gives you an edge. I know of a Cantonese speaking friend who did his internship at Meryll Lynch after his 3rd year and they told him they would hire him immediately as he was such a valuable asset to their Hong Kong department. As a result, he skipped his FYP.

    Lastly, I feel that you lacked emphasizing on your technical skills. If you feel that that will be one of the key areas where you will be contributing to the team in, then highlighting and elaborating on it might go a long way.

    I truly hope this helps and you get your internship.

    Cheers :D
    Hakeem

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HasanSeptember 19, 2012 at 1:17 AM

      Hey Hakeem,

      Thanks for your detailed reply once again. I cannot emphasize how much it helped me in improving this cover letter.

      I think I am going with the example because it shows I can think on my feet and shades some light on my ability to handle problems.

      Thanks for all the grammatical mistakes you pointed out! I will correct them immediately. And your idea that being from Bangladesh makes me unique is actually a great idea. Credit Suisse wants to be a company with diversity so I can actually sell the idea that hiring me will help them to have a more diverse work force. And I will add some more details about my technical skills aswell.

      Again, thanks a lot for your best wishes and all your support!

      Delete
    2. chickinbiskitSeptember 19, 2012 at 10:20 AM

      You are more than welcome and I am glad it helped. Not only the fact that their work force will be more diverse. Also, as their Bangladeshi liaison/ correspondent, you help to bridge communication gaps between the locals and Credit Suisse. You know the people on the ground. You know their problems more than Credit Suisse does. Imagine the amount of time and expenditure they can save.

      Lastly, just a teeny weeny bit more correction:shade some light >>> shed some light

      Cheers
      :D
      Hakeem

      Delete
  3. ShwetaSeptember 25, 2012 at 6:02 AM

    Hey Hasan,

    I think your cover letter is very clear and impressive. I like how you've highlighted your breadth in academics by mentioning the biz modules related to the job you are applying for.

    I think you could have elaborated a little less on the deadline management part. Maybe you could have focused more on the skill you gained from it instead of highlighting how you gained it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HasanSeptember 25, 2012 at 7:09 AM

      Hey thanks for the reply Shweta. I know the deadline management part made the letter kind of long. But the intention was to highlight how I did it because I was tryinf to emulate what I learnt from STAR(Situation, Task, Action, Result) method of writing. Anyway, I will give a revision before the mock interviews. Thanks!

      Delete

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