Like most college students, I struggled to find a summer internship. I spent my winter break in a caffeine-induced psychosis filled with online applications, resume tweaking and the dreaded cover letter. By the time I returned for the spring semester, I had applied to over 30 businesses and organizations and I hadn’t heard from one of them. Needless to say, I was panicking. And every Tom, Dick and Harry said, “Well, in this economy…” reminding me that I was irrevocably screwed when it came to finding an internship.
Now that I have shamelessly scared you, I’ll let you know that there is a happy ending to this story. After a few terrible interviews, a random call from the Dominican Republic and a few successful interviews — I have three internships for the summer. So, now that I am a seasoned veteran of internship-finding, I’ll give you a few tips that will land you your summer internship.
1. Search Everywhere
Do you like a certain business? See if they are looking for summer interns. Go online. While online job websites can seem overwhelming, scroll through them every morning to see if there are any new postings. Do it as often as you scroll through your Facebook news feed.
2. Make Connections Count
Ask professors and staff members you’ve developed a close relationship with if they know of any available internships. If you have these people on your side, you’ll have no problem finding an internship. For example, one of my internships came by mere chance. My boss at work emailed the students with a unique internship at a local movie theater. I applied and voilà: I had a summer internship.
3. Stay Positive
I know this seems like a no-brainer, but we often become frustrated in the internship search. It doesn’t help that the world around us is confirming our nightmares of internship failure. Fear not. Keep applying and keep the positive attitude. It will help you to apply to more places and will make the process more enjoyable.
4. Don’t stop applying
You applied to three internships? Good for you. Now, go and apply to three more and then three more and three more. It seems tedious, but keep applying. This point cannot be stressed enough. I applied to over 30 places and only heard back from seven. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if I had only applied to five or six.
5. Edit Everything
It’s easy to just type up your answers to online applications on the website, but don’t. First, write your responses in Word, reread, spell check and then post them on the website. Also, make sure your cover letter is impeccable. If you miss a spelling or grammatical error, employers will not take you seriously. It’s the difference between getting the internship and not.
These five tips helped me in my relentless search for a summer internship. I’m no longer panic-stricken and can live peacefully knowing I have three summer internships. Keep your chin up. We may be in a sucky economy but it’s not impossible to get a summer internship you’ll truly enjoy. Just take the time to apply and search in the right places.