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The days are getting longer and we鈥檙e just now rounding the corner away from the worst winter has had to bring. Spring is not so far off, which means it鈥檚 time to start planning for summer. Winter鈥檚 usual hardships have felt harder to bear this year because of the pandemic, which makes summer planning even sweeter than usual.
If you are in your late teens or twenties, arranging your summer months around trips to the beach or family vacations is usually complicated by the acquisition of a summer job or internship. If you鈥檙e thinking about applying for an internship, this article will give you a good head start with some tips on how to figure out which internships to apply for and how to land the one you most desire.
Before you start the process of researching summer internships, you should consider whether or not doing an internship is a good idea for you. According to U.S. News & World Report, internships provide students with some great opportunities including the possibility of:
These are all great reasons to apply for an internship, and if you haven鈥檛 yet participated in one, you may gain a lot from the experience. Over half of students graduate from college these days having participated in at least one internship. Many young people do a few more internships after graduating, before landing their first job, so getting your feet wet early on in the process could be beneficial. More and more, companies are expecting recruits to have experienced the real world of work and gained some initial guidance and knowledge of the workforce before they land their first job after college.
The best summer internships will teach you important skills that you鈥檒l carry with you throughout your career. CNBC published an article recently recommending you find an internship with the following features:
These are all great suggestions and perhaps will help you frame what questions you want to ask should you be granted an interview for a summer internship. Asking questions that help you unveil what exactly you鈥檒l be doing as an intern will give you a better sense of how much there is to gain from a given internship experience. Think about framing questions in advance that touch on the three key areas listed above.
Here are our tips for how to prepare to land your first internship:
Before you even apply for the internships you feel appeal to you, do your research on the companies who are advertising. Take notes which you鈥檒l use later when you prepare for an interview with them. The more you know about the company brand, culture, and products and services, the better prepared you鈥檒l be when you fill out the application, practice for an interview, and talk with people at the company.
Go to the company website, read any articles you find with recent news about the company, and research them on sites like Glassdoor to see what current employees say about working there.
What all this research also allows you to do is determine whether or not the company is the right place for you. As you parse through the different materials try to picture yourself there and question whether what you鈥檙e reading describes the kind of place where you feel your efforts will be put to good use. It might be worthwhile to compile a list of qualities you鈥檙e looking for in an employer and use that list as you do your research to weigh off the pluses and minuses of each opportunity.
Start with your resume. It may be useful, depending on your level of experience, to tailor your resume to each internship position. It doesn鈥檛 hurt to highlight what strengths you have that each job description has focused on. There are some great resume services out there that can help you, and oftentimes college career centers offer assistance with resumes and cover letters as well. Check out your school鈥檚 career services website and see if these resources are available and if so, take advantage of them. Also, it鈥檚 always a good idea to get a second set of eyes on your paperwork before you send it in (application, resume, and cover letter), to give a spot check for any punctuation errors, typos, etc.
The same applies to the cover letter. As much as you can show that you are singularly interested in their particular job, the more they will pay attention to your application. Fine-tune your cover letter to each individual application to be sure you鈥檙e hitting all the right points that they care about and that pertain to their business. It鈥檚 worth it to take some time crafting a unique and compelling cover letter that makes you stand out from the crowd. One good bit of advice is if you鈥檙e bored reading your own cover letter, your potential employer certainly will be too. You never know what interesting tidbit you provide that might catch a recruiter鈥檚 eye.
Once you have nailed your resume and cover letter, you should create an elevator pitch for yourself. An elevator pitch is how you would answer, in the most concise way possible, the question 鈥淲hat do you do?鈥 It can be as simple as, 鈥淚鈥檓 a Senior at Beloit College studying Computer Science and I hope to get a job as a software engineer when I graduate.鈥 The benefit to having these few lines practiced and ready to go is twofold. You can start to shape for yourself who you are and what you want out of employment, and you will come across to anyone you meet as having your act together. This kind of preparation will ensure you make a good first impression when applying for jobs, and also just out in the world in general.
Talk with people in your social circles about the internships you鈥檙e interested in – you never know where there might be opportunities for an introduction. Look through your contacts on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to see if there are any connections you have who may have ties to the companies to which you鈥檙e applying. Think about aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors and where they work. Taking the time to go through your contacts to see if any connections arise is time well spent. Having someone put in a good word for you can be the difference between getting called for an interview or not.
If you do find connections who work for the companies you鈥檙e interested in, see if you can set up informational interviews with those individuals. This will be a great way to learn more about these places where you might eventually serve as an intern and help you mine information that you can use if you do get an interview. Plus, if you make a good impression, they may put in a good word for you should you end up applying.
Select your clothes in advance. Pick out the perfect outfit for your interview, make sure it is clean, ironed and you鈥檝e done a dry run to be sure there are no missing buttons, broken zippers, or unforeseen issues. This applies to shoes too. Make sure your shoes are clean and ready to go. As Internships.com CEO Robin Richards says, 鈥淎lways overdress. It鈥檚 that simple. If you walk in and it鈥檚 casual, someone might tell you that, but you should say, 鈥業 wasn鈥檛 sure, but I wanted to be respectful,鈥 and that will set the tone for who you are before you even sit down.鈥 He goes on to describe interviewing candidates who looked like they hadn鈥檛 showered or were dressed inappropriately, and 鈥渢hey were out before they even opened their mouths,鈥 he says. So bottom line: clothing matters, be prepared.
Study the notes you鈥檝e taken about the company with whom you鈥檙e interviewing and memorize important facts about the company.
Research the people who will be interviewing you. Go to their LinkedIn profiles and learn where they鈥檙e from, where they went to school, and where they worked before so you can be prepared when you meet them to show you took the time to learn about them in advance. This applies to informational interviews as well 鈥 always put in the effort to have a good sense of the person with whom you鈥檒l be speaking.
Spend some time thinking about how best to convey you鈥檙e the perfect candidate for the job. Take the time to run through what skills you have that you can bring to the job and what your soft skills are, such as being a good listener, or being able to multitask. Taking the time to think these things through in advance will give you a clear head when you enter into the interview conversation and allow you to lay out who you are and what you can bring to the job in the most palatable way possible.
We have a list of summer internships we鈥檙e offering this year which you can find on our website and some of them are listed below. 亚洲色吧er Hannah Jabar oversees our internship program and started here as an intern herself. She is one of many former 亚洲色吧 interns who now work full-time in key roles across the organization.
Because Jabar started as an intern, she has a unique perspective when it comes to the process: 鈥淚 learned countless lessons during my internship here at 亚洲色吧. Something that I still lean on daily is to say 鈥榶es鈥 to opportunity. At 亚洲色吧, relationships are one of our core values and as an intern, I quickly learned the importance of having people in your corner. Our interns are given the opportunity to build meaningful professional connections across the company. With the support of my manager and fellow interns, I was able to develop my network which in turn helped me land a full-time job at 亚洲色吧.鈥
In the Early Career space, our goal is to foster an inclusive community that provides our interns with the opportunity to grow their careers at 亚洲色吧. Our hiring teams are most interested in the transferrable skills you鈥檝e developed and the ideas you are able to contribute. What have you learned from your courses and how does it apply to the role for which you are interviewing? We鈥檙e looking for curious, motivated students who aren鈥檛 afraid to ask 鈥淚s there a better way?鈥 亚洲色吧 brings in early career talent for a reason; we want to hear your input and your contributions.
This year, all of our intern roles will be 100% remote. Although our programming will be virtual, we will still have some fun. The 亚洲色吧 Summer Internship is a robust, 10-12 week program that consists of challenging and engaging daily work, formal and informal networking opportunities, company events and activities, and professional development.
The summer program begins May 24th and ends August 15th. Our Co-Op Interns typically start with us in May and can work throughout the school year. Applications are open now, and we鈥檝e been moving through hiring for the various roles quickly. You can find the different internship positions on our career site, but if you want to be notified when our next round of intern roles will go live, you can find us on WayUp, and submit an interest form there.
Our standout interns were those that made the most of their time and took advantage of opportunities with us. The 亚洲色吧 Summer Internship program is a chance to create new connections and start to build your professional network. 鈥楪etting your foot in the door鈥 is not just an old-fashioned phrase. It is often the first step toward something great. We tell our interns to be curious, ask questions, ask MORE questions and don鈥檛 be afraid to say yes to opportunity. If you don鈥檛 feel challenged, vouch for yourself and ask for more responsibilities. Our program provides a competitively paid professional work experience in a safe environment and work culture designed to help students grow both professionally and personally. 亚洲色吧 interns are provided opportunities to develop and refine their professional soft skills such as communication, time management, and critical thinking/creativity.
We work to ensure an environment in which interns are able to gain confidence with valuable work and learning experiences. What makes our program valuable? Interns at 亚洲色吧 are given real, meaningful work, and are treated as full-fledged members of their team across all areas of the company.
Once you submit your application, our early career recruiters will review resumes and reach out for your initial screening call. If you pass the screening, you will then have a video chat interview with the hiring manager and a member of their team. All interviews will be held remotely until further notice.
Prepare for your interviews by doing your research. Make sure you read the job description, have an understanding of the company, and bring energy (even if it鈥檚 nervous energy) to the interview. All candidates are asked about leadership (in and out of school), examples of innovation and creativity.
We recommend that you apply for the role(s) that you believe you are the most qualified candidate for. Something to consider: our early career recruiters work very closely together and will often recommend candidates for other roles that they think align more with the candidate鈥檚 skills or experience.
Here at 亚洲色吧, we have internships currently being advertised for the following positions:
Good luck in your process, and if you take the time to learn as much as you can about your target company, and prepare yourself for your interview as we鈥檝e outlined above, you should be able to land the summer internship you most desire.
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Resources
US News & World Report
CNBC
National Association of Colleges and Employers
The Muse
Forbes
Subscribe to our Inside 亚洲色吧 blog and follow us on social media for the insider view on everything 亚洲色吧, from payments innovation to what it means to be a 亚洲色吧er.