Question:
I'm pursuing a bachelor's degree and would like to find an internship
with a good company. I've applied to the interesting ones that I've seen
advertised, but wasn't accepted by any of them. How do I go about
getting one?
First Answer:
Just like the best jobs are never advertised, neither are the best
internships. It is going to take some time, a little effort and a great deal
of talking to people--or, in other words-- networking.
Because you are a student and just beginning your career pursuit, you are in
the very best position to get direction from experts in your chosen field.
You just need to ask for it. Most professionals are not only willing but
also anxious to work with students that are just starting out.
You can begin right there at school. Talk to a professor or a counselor
about your goals and specifically ask them for contacts. They are usually
well connected individuals and can give you a good start in locating
professionals that are willing to help.
When you have a list of contacts, call them and tell them who recommended
them as a contact. Ask them for a 20 or 30 minute meeting to discuss their
careers and your need for information. Do not tell them you are looking for
a job--just some specific information relative to your overall career goals.
When you meet, be certain to ask them their story, how they started out, and
what is needed for one in your position while in school. Ask them for
additional contacts. Discuss with them the merits of pursuing an internship
and where you might be able to obtain one. Many times these positions never
get advertised. By making these connections and making it known what your
objectives are, you will find many people are willing to help.
-- Kelly Stone, myjobsearch.com
Second Answer:
An internship search takes just as much effort as a search for a permanent
position, and may be more competitive: major corporations use their
internships to identify, select, and "test drive" candidates for permanent
hire upon graduation.
Without knowing you, I can't advise if you are applying for internships
for which you are a poor "fit," or for too few internships, or if your job
search skills are not up to those of your competitors.
Therefore, you have to cast a wide net and be pro-active in your search,
which means that applying to advertised openings is only one channel. Here
are some tips for each step of the search, including some for those
interested in nonprofit organizations:
Sourcing Internships
Use every source available:
- Internship Postings in your university's Career Services
Office: these employers probably hired a student from your school and came
back for more, or they are alumni-they are predisposed to want a student
from your school.
- Professors and fellow students may hear about internships they
are willing to share with you or want to refer a good candidate to.
- Use all the internship directories you can find: the Princeton
Review's AMERICA'S TOP INTERNSHIPS and THE INTERNSHIP BIBLE; Peterson's
INTERNSHIPS, Kaplan's YALE DAILY GUIDE TO INTERNSHIPS. Harder to find if
your Career Services Office doesn't have them are THE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO
INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIPS (www.internships.com), the Career Education
Institutes' THE HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNSHIP BOOK (only available in printed
format from CEI in Winston-Salem, NC), and International Career Employment
Weekly, not available on-line but your Career Services Office or Library
can subscribe at 804-985-6444. The ICEE includes internships with
international nongovernmental organizations but may be in Washington, DC
or other US locations as well as overseas.
- Use your field's professional associations' web sites, such as the
Society for Human Resource Management: one of my students found her
internship in Beijing last summer on that web site!
- Using the Fortune 500 list, Crain's New York's lists of industry
leaders, Hoover's directories, THE 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN
AMERICA, 100 BEST NONPROFITS TO WORK FOR, and any other directories you
can find in the library or on-line, identify 25 organizations you'd like
to intern for. Then look for their web sites for both posted internships and
information that will allow you to approach the organization for an
internship even if none are posted.
Networking Your Way In
Now the trick is to find someone to introduce you to an employee of an
organization where you'd like to intern, if possible. It seems like the
least direct way of obtaining employment, but sometimes it puts you in
front of the line of applicants who don't know about the internship until
it's posted. Show your list of "target" organizations to everyone you
know and ask if they know someone there. You'd be surprised how "six
degrees of separation," the concept that we're all only 6 steps away from
anyone else in the universe, applies here.
Applying: The Résumé and Cover Letter
- Here's a situation in which an objective on the résumé provides clarity.
For example: "Summer 2000 internship in human resources management in a
global corporation while pursuing bachelor's degree in psychology."
- Make sure you have an accomplishment-based, not an activity-based résumé.
What's the difference? ACTIVITY: Processed residential mortgage
applications. ACCOMPLISHMENT: Analyzed the workflow of the mortgage
application process and revised procedures, resulting in a 25% increase in
the number processed weekly. Need help? Look at the newly revised THE
OVERNIGHT RÉSUMÉ by Donald Asher, available in any bookstore with a
Careers section or buy it on-line.
- Outdo 95% of your competitors for an internship by writing an
employer-focused cover letter. That means using the requirements an
employer lists for an internship as the framework for your letter. After
an introductory paragraph that illustrates you've researched the
organization (and why you want to work there) and demonstrates that you can
contribute something to it, write "My qualifications meet your requirements
as follows:" and list each requirement-for example, economics or mathematics
major, Excel and database skills, ability to work independently, excellent
writing ability-and then provide the experience or training you have that
meets that requirement. You can do this in two columns, or bold face the
requirement and bullet the qualifications which support it underneath it.
Make sure you provide specific situations or projects that demonstrate the
application of the skill or trait that is specified, because specificity
builds credibility.
Interviewing
- Especially for competitive internships with national companies but
increasingly true everywhere, expect to undergo "behavioral-based
interviewing" of which the premise is that your past behavior is the best
indicator of your future performance. This means you have to answer every
question with a specific example of your action and its measurable benefit
to a past or current employer, professor, community service organization,
or sports team. Use such examples to answer the three questions the
employer really wants to know: "Can you do the work?" "Are you really
motivated to do this job?" and "Do you fit into this organization?"
- Make sure you find out what's most important to the employer (ask),
that you sell your three best qualifications for the internship, and that
you ask for the internship at the end of the interview. And write a "thank
you" note that uses what you learned in the interview to reinforce your
candidacy!
One final tip: apply to lots of internships, watch out for deadlines, and
interview for everything you're invited to. That way you may have a choice
of internships.
-- Carol Anderson, Career
Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of
Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City
