Interns have a tougher time than anyone else with cover letters because they arrive in such a flurry and because all the candidates have such similar backgrounds. But there’s hope—and help.

If you are going to have a big problem on your internship that is not about journalism, it likely will have four wheels and a windshield. We have had interns who did not know how to drive, whose licenses were lost or suspended, who totaled company cars, who had their own cars stolen, who had to lease cars, who secretly amassed piles of parking tickets and one who crashed into the publisher’s car.

Imagine this: Pretend there are no internships. None. They don’t exist anymore. What would you do instead?

As documents have moved from pieces of paper to digital documents, they become easier to store, sort and handle. Many media companies maintain internal or Web-based databases of digital resumes.

Find out where the schedules are posted, how far in advance they go up and how susceptible they are to change. Summer internships can have funny schedules around holidays.