Cover letter for a trainee program position at Daimler Greater China company

Hello, everyone. I am Efield. I have written a cover letter for a trainne program and I am not sure if I write in the correct form or grammar. Any suggestions are welcome :-D

trainee program application

Dear Recruiting Manager,

I am writing to apply for this trainee program at the Daimler Greater China company. Through Daimler's homepage I learned about this position. I believe my technical and management experiences make me a qualified candidate for the position.

I am a recent graduate with a Master degree in Automotive and Combustion Engine Technology at Technical University of Munich. Equipped with my engineering degree, I have a strong background in the basic principles of automotive engineering and the automotive production processes in the entire life cycle. My academic focus on the management of vehicle production. Based on the projects required during the course I have a clear understanding about the corporation mode between OEMs and suppliers. Through my master's thesis, I benchmarked the suppliers in the powertrain control systems field and demonstrated a risk assessment for all the potential suppliers. As the same time as I completed my studies, I also participated in the coordination and management of a racing program. I was responsible for leading a team of eight students completed the task of calibration and tuning of the powertrain system of the racing car.

My six-month internship experience as a powertrain R&D engineer at BMW AG has given me not only a strong technical foundation but also the skills for working with various suppliers. My tasks include the development for an electric powertrain system and coordination with suppliers about quality issues. With my effective communication and strong troubleshooting skills, the project was completed successfully and my management method has also been affirmed by suppliers and BMW colleagues.

In addition to my professional work experience I also participated in many social welfare activities. Through one year's volunteer experience in the social welfare department in Germany, I learned to communicate with people of different cultures and backgrounds. Thus I am confident that I am able to competent at communicating with the suppliers.

I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss how my education and experience might best be employed to your organization. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. I will be available as soon as possible to take up the responsibilities if you find me as a potential fit for this position.

Sincerely,
Efield

Efield, your cover letter should only introduce your best traits as a worker and encourage the HRD to review your submitted resume. You should be using bullet points in your essay in order to indicate the highlights of your resume. If I were to format this letter, it would be like this:

Introduction
Educational Background - remove the following parts: Based on the projects required... ...I completed my studies
The internship should be integrated into the educational background.
Omit the whole paragraph about your social welfare activities as those are irrelevant to the work skills that will be considered during your application process.

As an intern applicant, you will be considered along the lines of a regular position applicant. Therefore, you need to make sure that your resume and cover letter stands out in a manner that makes you look impressive to the screening officer in a highly professional manner. If possible, use bullet points to highlight your qualifications and create an impression upon the reader. Don't use too many paragraphs because it makes it difficult to scan your letter for highlights. The person who will read your letter will just scan it before deciding if your application interests him or not. So be less wordy and more direct to the point in a clear manner.

@Holt
Thanks for your suggestion. Bullet points are a great idea!!

Hi Efield,

As someone who pulled through the job-search phase this year as a graduate, I know that we all want to channel all our experiences that we assume worth mention in the cover letter, but based on my experience, a cover letter should be very concise yet with wow factor to catch the readers(probably HR or your supervisor).

For your academic background, you should not just list the things you have done. Highlight the achievement and skills that you developed from 2 to 3 experiences that are relevant to this job description. You can focus on the technical side in your academic experience and convince the reader that could be an asset to this position and company since Daimler is an automobile giant.

On the internship, it is totally ok to put it in a separate paragraph if you don't have many practical experiences. Again, don't just list the tasks because it has been said in your resume. STAR principle, though very cliche, would be helpful to organize your threads.

As far as I remember, the trainee program is actually the global management trainee program in which the competition is pretty intense, and this cover letter is more like an essay. If so, you can interpret your experience in the charity group into insights or inspirations to your career path.

Best luck with your application to this program!

@Honghaoli
Thanks for your help. You are right, I should not tell the HR again the things I have already written in my CV.
Good to know the STAR principle. I didn't know it before.