Ideal private equity (internship) cover letter

What is an ideal cover letter for an internship supposed to contain? Is it compulsory to always include a "why the firm"?

Are there any things that shouldn't be placed / should avoided in a PE cover letter?

 

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Currently an analyst at GS but did internships in PE before I started full-time. I have always structured my cover letters in the same way:

1. Short introduction to myself and why I'm interested in the role (2-3 sentences)

2. Why am I interested in the industry?

3. Why am I interested in joining this specific firm?

4. Why would I be a good fit for the position?

If you have spoken to people at the firm and got a good connection, namedropping them is very valuable. Would also be careful about being too specific about deals. Has happened that I have mentioned specific deals in cover letters without knowing anything about them and then ending up being interviewed by someone on the deal team...

 

Yes for sure. If you mention a specific deal there's a high risk you will be grilled on it with questions such as why you found the deal interesting, why you think they acquired the company etc. 

I even had one case where I mentioned a specific deal where the PE firm merged a bunch of companies. Was interviewed by a senior VP who turned out to be on the deal team. I ended up being questioned on cross-border synergies within HR synergies and implementation. Very very risky to mention specific deals if you aren't very read up on them. 

 

Honestly they don’t even read these cover letters thoroughly and if they do read them it’s just to scan that you’re not an idiot. Use chat gpt to write a template and copy and paste that for each job, make sure it thoroughly talks about your deal experience.

 

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