Prospecting for an Internship and a Start to your Career

By Daniel Parrillo

President - Strategi LLC

Major Contribution by: Noah Richmond

 

With the arrival of spring comes the daunting task of finding a summer job or your first internship. Finding your first position is a little like mining - you must be determined, persistent, skilled and educated in the methods of prospecting. These methods will help you to sift through the “fool's gold” and lay claim to your golden opportunity.

 

Before venturing off, your first steps should be to look to an obvious resource that is often overlooked - that's your own career center and internship program within your university system. This organization can provide you the guidance and direction needed to start off your adventure.

 

According to Kathleen Englestad, Employer Development Coordinator at the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton , CA - one of the most important tools for an individual starting their quest for an internship or a start to your career is to have a mission statement.

 

“A mission statement is a declaration to others of who we are and what we do. It is important to a career center to have a mission statement (and a vision statement), as it can be used to keep the team focused on its goals. The vision statement is equally important, if not more so. If we do not have a vision of where we want to go, we most certainly will not get there. I truly believe that the first step to achievement is having a clear vision of the outcome.”

 

Noah Richmond, a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University explained the rules, procedures and strategy that he utilized in his search for internships and employment to launch his career. Noah holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics from M.I.T. and has worked for Los Alamos National Laboratories, the Rand Corporation, and the Institute for Defense Analyses. He has created novel encryption technology, developed national security strategy and patent-pending supply chain management software - all a result of the planning and the approach he established very early in his short term academic and long-term career strategy.

 

Rule #1: Know what gold you are looking for.

 

Make sure you are aware of what prospective employers will offer you in an internship and make sure that these objectives match with your vision statement. If they don't, it's just a waste of time. Spamming your resume to any e-mail address you can find without any due diligence is like only searching for gold on the surface of a riverbed. In order to strike gold, you must pan the water; sift through the sand and mud - not only in one riverbed or stream, but many. Finding some small morsels is an indication that there could be a larger, productive vein upstream. You have found some direction - do not stray.

 

“I once had an investment banker tell me that he would hire me because he wanted to get an ‘option' on me as a future full-time employee,” Noah Richmond told me, “Had I been sure I wanted to work for the firm, I would have snapped up the opportunity - but I was looking for an involved internship that would allow me to get a full sense of participation - so I passed.”

 

“Be honest with yourself in this process. You shouldn't have to talk yourself into taking a job that isn't a good fit.” The employer's goals and objects will not necessarily match your goals or vision statement. Pursue every option; prospect every stream and creek bed you can find and only pursue that will lead you upstream to the Mother Lode.

 

Rule #2: Keep your ear to the ground.

 

The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

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