I just spent a significant amount of time combing through 60+ resumes that were submitted for a social media intern position.

Some submissions were humorous. Some were half-baked. Only 5 got to the interview stage. Why?

What in the world is a social media manager looking for when hiring an intern? (Or if they’re not, what *should* they be looking for?)

1. Can you write? If you can’t write a cover letter or a resume, how are you going to write a compelling post in 100 characters on Twitter? I don’t consider a cover letter to be optional in this role.

One of the candidates that got an interview didn’t have a ton of marketing “experience.” But what this person DID do was write an amazing cover letter. It was authentic (I’m not a traditional marketing candidate), it told a story (why I’m interested) and explained why I should take a chance with an interview (how my skills could come into play.) That’s everything a good social media post should do!

(This is an excerpt from a post originally written on LinkedIn Publisher. Read the full post there.)