Whether it is your last year in college or high school, you know the internship market is robust during fall and early winter. There’s no exact guide to landing your dream internship, and every industry has its own set of standards, but the following tips may just help get you closer to securing that desired position.
They really are stalkers.
It’s a blast hanging with friends at the club, bar, chill zone, or whatever the kids are calling their social hang spots nowadays. While enjoying yourselves, you snap a few pictures to remember the crazy times, then post them online and tag one another. This all sounds great until you realize you’re being stalked. No, not by your crazy ex but by the company you're applying to intern for. Employers are watching your every move!
OK, maybe not your every move but your future employer is keeping an eye out for behavior they would deem inappropriate. Do yourself a favor and see what type of first impression you’re making online. Google yourself. Whatever you find, that’s usually a company’s first glimpse of who you are. Save yourself the heartache and delete the photo of you at the beer pong regional finals.
Touch up that resume.
For open positions, hiring managers depend on resumes and cover letters when deciding who is going to fill those empty spots. Make sure your resume is perfect. Asking someone who is already working in the field you are applying for is a good way to shape up your resume as well as having your professor go over it with you. Which leads me into my next tip.
Talk to your Professors.
I know, they bore you in class, drown you in homework, then stress you half to death when finals roll around, but those PhD-having SOBs love us. They have a vested interest us and our futures, and most likely they have an idea or two about internships in their area of expertise.
Be yourself.
Often in cover letters or even during the interview stage of trying to land an internship, you may be compelled to try a little bit extra to be funny or quirky because you really want that position. There is nothing wrong a couple jokes or an awesome story about how you saved the world that one time, however, this strategy won't bring you closer to landing that desired position. The crew, squad, organization, corporations, employer or whoever want to know the real you before committing to giving you that real world work experience and bringing you into their family for three to six months. Be comfortable, be memorable, be you.
Last tip and probably the most important:
There are more internships out there.
You could follow every possible piece of advice out there in the ones and zeros, from career counselors and professors and still not get the internship.
But don’t give up!
It’s just an internship, so don’t give up on life just yet. A majority of people don’t land their dream internships first try. Here is what you do after you fall off the internship horse, you get back on. Get back on Linkedin. Go to your school career office. Spend all your free time googling, and hell, even Craigslist has a slew of internship opportunities to beef up you resume. You may feel like a little fish in a big pond when it comes to landing that position but your ambition, along with some research, discipline and diligence, in the end, will ultimately help you land any internship.
