Did you know that students who land internships during college have a better chance of being offered a job after graduation?
It’s true. Check out the latest stats from the 2019 internship survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
- 57.5% of graduating seniors who had an internship during college received a job offer.
- 43.7% of graduating seniors who did not have an internship during college received a job offer.
That’s a big discrepancy and highlights what a major impact that an internship could have on your career.
But how do you find the best internships? And, most importantly, how do you stand out from the crowd of other students vying for the same position?
I interviewed several people who managed to land internships during college and asked them how they were able to pull it off. If these strategies worked for them, there’s a good chance that they could work for you too.
8 Smart Ways to Land Internships (And Make the Most of Them)
If you’re looking to land an awesome internship during college, here are 8 things that you’re going to want to do.
1. Ask for internship suggestions from professors and school faculty.
Many of the “how to land internships” guides online begin by explaining how to create a shiny resume and cover letter. Or they’ll discuss tips for having an impressive interview.
And this guide will cover those things too.
But you need to know where to find the best internships in the first place. Some of the best internship opportunities might not be publicly advertised. In other words, you’ll never find out about them unless someone tells you about them.
Network, Network, Network
That’s yet another reason why it’s so important to build up your network during college. In general, the bigger your network, the more opportunities will come your way.
And some of the most important people of all to include in that network are your professors.
- Stay after class to pick their brain.
- Take them out to coffee to share your career goals and ask for advice.
Professors are usually highly connected people…honestly, the same goes for the majority of school employees. So if you’re desperate to land internships over the summer, your school staff could be a great resource.
How to find the “secret” internship opportunities
Jon Dulin, from MoneySmartGuides, was able to land an unlisted internship simply by developing a relationship with one of his professors.
I found the internship by talking to my professor. I went to his office and talked with him about how much I enjoy finance and want to do something in the industry as my career.
Through our conversations and my performance in his class, he introduced me to a person at a large regional bank that was looking for an internship in their portfolio management department.
This opportunity was not listed in the career services office. It gave me valuable experience that I put on my resume after graduating.
Once again, the key thing to recognize here is that the internship that Jon landed was not advertised publicly. If he wouldn’t have spoken with his professor, there would have been no way he would have landed it.
Spending an extra 5-10 minutes after class with your professor could literally change the course of your career. Trust me, it’s worth it.
2. Get tips from students who know what it takes to land internships.
I love the strategy that Riley Adams from YoungAndTheInvested took to land the internship he was shooting for.
I found my internship by networking with graduating seniors who had held the desired internship for the previous 2 years. They introduced me to the internship coordinator at the company and recommended me to our department head who needed to sponsor my internship.
This is super smart. If you happen to know that the internship that you want is one that’s offered each year, talk to students who were able to nab it in years before you.
What did they do? Who did they talk to?
If there’s already a process that works, use it. Don’t recreate the wheel if you don’t need to.
3. Don’t be shy about asking friends and family.
Jeff Rose, the author of the best-selling book Soldier of Finance, says that when he decided to look for an internship he knew exactly who to talk to. His dad.
As my junior year in college was ending it finally hit me that I was graduating in a year and my resume was lacking in the experience section. While I had retail experience and my military background, as a finance major I knew I would be up against stiff competition in the corporate world.
Like any true college student that should have majored in ‘Procrastination’ I went where every kid goes to – his dad.
I asked my dad if he had any connections anywhere where my finance degree would benefit and that’s when I discovered an old high school buddy was a financial advisor at a local brokerage firm. He made the connection and after nailing the interview I landed my first real internship.
You have a much better chance of getting hired by someone that you, your family, or your friends know than by someone who is a total stranger. By the way, friends and family are also a great place to start your search for scholarships.
If you want to land internships, you need to exhaust all your options. Leverage your network because it really is your best weapon.
Chhavi, from Mrs. Daaku Studio, really sums up this whole idea nicely with her personal story. She said that while she struck out with “cold-calling” organizations, leveraging her college network helped her land two internships in short order.
I decided to start early with my internship hunt and I realised it was the best decision I made. I sent out applications to organisations, talk with my seniors and faculty for any assistance as well as reach out to a few of my friends and relatives who could help me in this matter.
While I saw no success with directly sending out applications, the latter two did work. I was able to land two internships pretty quickly.
If you are starting out and have no experience to show, I advise you to reach out to friends, family, faculty and senior college students for help (basically, network!). They are always happy to share experiences and show you the way ahead. After all, they were in your place at one point in time.
4. Attend job fairs.
Already done your best to reach out to everyone you know and you still haven’t landed an internship? Then my second favorite strategy is for you to attend job fairs.
I like job fairs because they give you an opportunity to meet hirers in person and hopefully make a lasting impression.
Lance Cothern, personal finance expert and founder of MoneyManifesto.com, stumbled upon an internship by accident after attending a job fair.
I inadvertently found my internship at an accounting career fair at my college. I was told only seniors landed internships between their senior year and Master’s program, but I went as a junior to get to know the accounting firms that come each year.
One firm asked if I wanted to interview, so I decided to use the interview as a learning process. I ended up landing an internship from that interview and subsequently took a job at the firm after I graduated.
Check with your school’s career office to get a schedule of upcoming job fairs and make a point of attending as many as you can.
Even if you don’t land a job, you’ll get a chance to meet a lot of influential people. And you never know if a connection that you made at a job fair could turn into a job opportunity down the road.
5. Keep an eye out for internships on university job boards.
Once you’ve exhausted your personal network and have made your presence known at all the job fairs, your next step is to check your university job boards for internship opportunities. These jobs will probably be more competitive, but some of them could be great opportunities.
Aaron, from PersonalFinanceForBeginners, said that his entire career was impacted by an internship that he found on a university job board.
I found my paid marketing internship through a listing on my university’s job board.
Although the role was only for 15-20 hours a week, I let the hiring manager know during the interview that I was ready for as many hours and responsibilities as they were willing to offer me.
This internship provided me with the launch pad for my professional career. The internship didn’t have a firm end date, and after several months of consistent performance, I was promised a full-time salaried position as soon as I finished my degree (which finally happened 18 months after starting at the company!).
Set a calendar reminder to check your school’s job boards at least once a week. Several weeks may go by before a good option pops up.
But when it does, you don’t want to miss it. And, if at all possible, you want to be one of the first few to respond.
6. Get creative with your resume and rock that interview!
Ok, once you’ve gotten in contact with a company that’s offering an internship, they’re going to want to see your resume and interview you. Even if you don’t land the job, this will be a good experience for you.
As Tom Blake, from ThisOnlineWorld explains, the process that you go through to land internships is similar to what you’ll need to do when looking for a real job after you graduate.
In my program (I studied psychology and marketing), students had the opportunity to secure up to 3 placements (4 month terms) with various companies. The application was very similar to applying for real jobs: scout out your options, send in a resume/cover letter, and attend interviews. It was certainly a competitive program as every student would apply for the best jobs in the pool, but it was worth it.
Don’t stress about lack of experience.
Don’t let resume part scare you. Companies know that most college students don’t have a lot of professional experience. But do try to think of other experiences that you’ve had that would relate to the job.
Before the semester ended, I put together a resume. I had no legal experience before, so I had to get creative and make every experience I have ever had (including any events and competitions in the first semester) count – Chhavi
Have you been involved in any volunteer or extracurricular activities that relate to the internship? If so, include them!
Then, make sure you proof-read your resume (twice!) and preferably have someone else proofread it too.
- A “boring” resume that’s clean and formatted well is always better than an “exciting” resume that’s filled with spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.
- Your resume is your first chance to prove that you pay attention to detail. Take the extra time to make sure it’s right!
And then if you do get called for an interview, make sure you research the company well beforehand. Find out what their all about, their company history, and what their mission and values are. You want your interviewer to see that you’re super into their company, not just yourself.
Besides that, just smile and be honest. You’ll do great!
7. Don’t be surprised if an internship jump-starts your career in amazing ways.
Haven’t convinced you yet of how important an internship could be for your career? Hopefully this section will be the clincher.
Below, you’ll see one testimonial after the next, each illustrating why it’s totally worth it to land internships.
I’m currently working full-time for the digital marketing company I interned with!
The best part about this internship was that I was also able to work remotely for them while I completed my degree, so it turned out to be a very natural progression from intern, to remote worker, to full-time following graduation – Tom Blake
The internship resulted in a job offer which started my accounting career. While I’m no longer in accounting, the internship played a very key roll. I graduated in the spring of 2009, at one of the worst times during the financial crisis for new graduates.
Without that internship and subsequent job offer, it would have been much more difficult to land a job that paid decently – Lance Cothern.
It’s now been over four years since I first started my internship at the company – making me more tenured than 90% of the employees in our young marketing department.
If you’re looking for ways to better yourself while still in college, I’d definitely recommend finding an internship. You never know where the experience and new relationships/skills will lead you! – Aaron
The summer internship ended up landing me a part-time job with one of the top brokers at the office. While working under him, I did some basic office work but I also cold-called for him attempting to setup new appointments for potential clients. It was nerve wracking but I managed to land him a few good meetings.
He was so impressed a college kid could do that I was offered a job as a junior broker after graduating. 16+ years I worked as a financial planner all because I took on an unpaid summer internship as a resume filler. – Jeff Rose.
You don’t have to be leaving school to benefit.
If you end up deciding to continue school after your internship, the time you spent will not have been wasted.
I was able to work with two great NGOs in my first year and one of them included UNICEF. So, it was a major help in landing internships afterwards. It helped me build credibility.
I got to do field work, understand how law works at the ground level and the procedures involved. Not only did my experience help me understand social justice, women and child law in a better fashion and get better scores, but I was also able to apply my learning at later stage in life and land great internships with known lawyers.
Internships can be really valuable because they teach you practical skills, help you understand your interests, give you exposure, and allows you to build a professional network. While I decided to pursue masters after my college, many of my friends who interned with me, were able to convert the internship into a full-time position.
So, there are endless benefits of interning! – Chhavi
The internship demonstrated relevant work experience and an area of interest in my masters degree and eventual employer at a public utility. By working in the energy field, it provided me experience relevant to a resource economics masters and work at an energy-focused utility company.
This was a key talking point during interviews with both my graduate school and my employer – Riley Adams
8. Realize that an internship could wreck your career plans…and that’s ok too.
When you decide to pursue an internship, there is one danger that you need to be aware of.
You may end up hating the job.
Max, from TriedAndTrueMomJobs, had a lifelong dream of working for the Detroit Pistons.
I was obsessed with the Detroit Pistons and thought it would be my dream job to one day work for them. I simply applied on their website and received a callback.
But working for the Pistons wasn’t the utopian experience that Max had imagined it would be.
The internship was a huge learning experience. My internship was in the Corporate Sponsorship Marketing department and I quickly learned that it was not what I expected.
The Pistons were having a bad season and in the Corporate Sponsorship department, it’s pretty hard to get Advertisers to pay for sponsorships when no one is coming to the games. This isn’t something you can easily hide, you could see the empty seats on television during the games.
I saw the high stress of the employees trying to make deals and I realized that I did not want a team’s performance to determine my work outcome. I also realized that I would have to work every game entertaining clients and not be able to enjoy the game.
Better to find out now
But the internship wasn’t a waste. First, it helped Max discover that working for a sports team wasn’t everything that it’s cracked up to be. And, second, the internship ended up leading to Max’s future job at an ad company.
This internship helped move my career goals by completely changing them.
I’m forever grateful for the internships because I have no doubts on what I don’t want to do and the story of my internship is what got me the job at an advertising company. The hiring manager was also a Detroit Pistons fan and we hit it off talking about my internship.
Allison Kade, the editorial director at Fabric, had a similar internship experience.
For me, the most valuable part of my college internships was learning what I didn’t want to do.
For example, I interned at an art museum and really enjoyed the experience – but determined that ultimately I didn’t love it enough to spend the better part of a decade getting a PhD in art history to try to become a curator one day. Similarly, I interned in children’s book publishing and had a great time, but came to realize that it wasn’t for me.
Often, you can’t understand whether a certain job would truly be a fit unless you experience its day to day rhythm on the ground.
Allison’s advice is so true. Don’t be disappointed if you find out during an internship that a career path isn’t right for you. It’s better for you to find that out sooner rather than later!
Internships give you a sneak peek into what life would really be like in a particular career.
If you don’t like it, just say “Whew, I’m glad I found that out now!”
And then change course.
Conclusion:
Yes, I do realize that I haven’t addressed the issue that everyone’s been arguing about lately.
Is it ok to accept unpaid internships?
A lot has been said lately about unpaid internships. Many say they’re unfair because wealthy students are the only ones who can afford to take them. I can see that argument.
But, on the other hand, if you can afford to get take an unpaid internship, I’m not going to tell you that you’re bad for taking one.
But, if at possible, I’d try to find a paid internship first. Why? First, because it will help pay the bills. But, second, because data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that paid interns get more job offers.
- 66.4% of the Class of 2019 graduates who had a paid internship received a job offer.
- 43.7% of the Class of 2019 unpaid interns were offered a job.
That’s a sizable difference. I’m fine with you saving unpaid internships as a last resort. But I’d try my darndest to land a paid internship first.
And if you follow the tips in this guide, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to do just that.
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