Cold email for an internship
No opening posted? Write to the person. Five short lines: who you are, one specific thing about their work, what you are asking for, what you can do, and an easy way to say no.
Three rules
1
One line only they could get
Something specific about their product, paper or post. It is the line that tells them you are not mailing two hundred people.
2
Proof, not adjectives
“Built an app 300 students use” instead of “passionate and hardworking”. One thing, with a number if you have one.
3
Make no an easy answer
Ask for a one-line reply if there is nothing open. People answer emails that are easy to answer.
Write yours
Subject
Internship: [Your name]
Email (54 words)
Dear [Company] team, I'm [Your name], [year, degree and college]. [One specific thing about their work.] I'd like to ask whether [Company] could take on an intern. [What you can do, with proof.] My résumé is attached. If there is no opening, a one-line reply would still help me a lot. Regards, [Your name]
8 blanks in [brackets] to fill.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere.
Samples
To a startup
Subject: Internship, May to July 2026: Aditya Kulkarni
Dear Ms. Rao, I'm Aditya Kulkarni, a third-year B.Tech Computer Science student at College of Engineering Pune. I have ordered from your app for our hostel all year, and noticed the reorder button only repeats the last order. I'd like to ask whether Kiranakart could take on an intern from May to July 2026. I built a React Native app for our canteen that 300 students use to pre-order lunch. You can see my work at github.com/aditya-k. My résumé is attached. If there is no opening, a one-line reply would still help me a lot. Regards, Aditya Kulkarni
To a professor
Subject: Research internship, summer of 2026: Ananya Iyer
Dear Dr. Menon, I'm Ananya Iyer, a second-year M.Sc Data Science student at Christ University, Bengaluru. I read your paper on sentiment in code-mixed text and reproduced its baseline on 8,000 Hindi–English reviews I labelled. I'd like to ask whether you might take on a research intern in your NLP group for the summer of 2026. My fine-tuned model reached 84% accuracy on a held-out set, and I can share the notebook. You can see my work at github.com/ananya-iyer. My résumé is attached. If there is no opening, a one-line reply would still help me a lot. Regards, Ananya Iyer
Non-tech, to a small firm
Subject: Internship, June 2026, part-time: Fatima Shaikh
Dear Brew & Bloom team, I'm Fatima Shaikh, a final-year BBA (Marketing) student at NMIMS, Mumbai. Your Instagram reels on how you source coffee from Chikmagalur are why I first visited your Bandra café. I'd like to ask whether Brew & Bloom could take on an intern from June 2026, part-time. I grew a home bakery’s Instagram from 600 to 4,200 followers in five months, and I can help with your weekday reels. My résumé is attached. If there is no opening, a one-line reply would still help me a lot. Regards, Fatima Shaikh
Questions people ask
How do I find the right person to email?
At a startup, a founder or the lead of the team you want to join; their names are usually on the website or LinkedIn. For research, the professor whose papers you have actually read, found on the department page.
How many companies or professors should I email?
Fewer, better ones. Ten emails with a real line about each person’s work beat a hundred identical ones, and professors in the same department compare notes.
When should I follow up?
Once, after about a week, by replying to your own email with one line. If there is still no answer, move on; silence is usually a no.
Should I ask about a stipend in the first email?
No. Ask once they show interest. Many startup internships are paid; many research internships are not, and some have a fellowship you can apply to.
What should I attach?
Your résumé as a PDF named with your name. Not certificates or mark sheets; if they want them, they will ask.
The résumé you attach gets opened. Make it count.
A student résumé with projects written result-first is what turns a reply into a call. Score yours free, with no account.
The sample people, companies, labs and papers are made up.