Write your resume in 15 minutes
Our free collection of expertly designed resume templates will help you stand out from the crowd and get one step closer to your dream job.
As a student, for finding internships, you must be able to google search, to list internships according to your relevant skills and must focus on interpersonal skills.
If you are already enrolled in any internship programs, it can add value to your global experiences exciting career fields and can enhance your work culture achievements. Internship listings are available in various website portals which are easy to access.
Here's a preview of the below article:
- Ways to apply to an Internship
- Types of Internships
- Common mistakes to avoid while applying to an internship
- Additional tips
So, let's not waste much time of yours and dive into the article to discover the exact skills, strategies, tips and other details that can turn your internship dream into reality which can help you kick-start your career!
Ways to apply for and internship programs:
Identifying your goals:
Define your interests:
- Identify your career goals and what you want to achieve through an internship.
- Consider your skills, interests, and values when searching for an internship.
- Build your team skills which would become a feather to you professional growth.
- Research the job market and industry trends to understand what employers are looking for.
- Make a tailored resume which shows your passion and interest as per the requirements of the company, you can use STAR method to build your resume which is easy to grab the attention of hiring manager.
Set objectives:
- Make sure your motive matches with the company you have applied to.
- Determine what you want to learn from the internship.
- Set standards to your skills and work on them, by following professionals in your desired field.
- List down your certification courses , which acts as a proof to your skills and help you to gain experience and increases your chance of becoming a potential employer and helps in your career path.
Building Your Professional Profile
Online job search criteria:
- Utilize websites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn and Upwork to find reliable opportunities.
- Create a professional resume and LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills and experience.
- Develop a strong online presence to increase your visibility to potential employers.
- You must also start looking for job search platforms regularly for any key updates.
- Consider working with a certified professional resume writer to ensure your resume is effective.
Company websites:
- Make sure you have a strong resume with a good header which can hook your hiring manager, before checking the websites. This helps to easy apply of your resume.
- Visit the careers section of the companies you are interested in.
- Follow the company page and also its hiring managers on various official platforms to know about the internship openings.
- If possible, subscribe to the company newsletter to get updates on the availability of the internships.
Prepare beforehand
University resources:
- Utilize your university student portals to find about any vacancies available in your desired company.
- Follow the companies which have relations with your university to get updates on any job listings.
- Start participating in various clubs which are related to your field in your alumni, so that it adds to the extra-curricular and achievements section to your resume.
Apply Strategically
Research the company:
- Make sure to do your own research, while applying for various organizations. It can help you to understand about the mission, objectives as well as the values of the company.
- Build your resume format by concentrating more on the structure of the resume.
- Also, you can mention about about interests in the resume while applying for internship.
Preparing for an interview
Practice Common interview questions:
- Prepare most asked question and answers beforehand so that you can easily excel in your interview without any fear and can easily answer with confidence.
- Try answering the questions by looking yourself in the mirror so that it can boost your way of talking with confident look in a straightforward manner.
- Let us consider few scenarios on how to tackle your interview,
- If you are a Customer Service Representative, then you must be able to understand more about the mindset of the customer, to engage with their needs
- Want to grab internship as a Chief Technology Officer, then you should have the skills relating to the technical field, so that you can easily excel in your interview.
- If you belong to the Aspiring Content Writers group, then try to learn more about SEO and building website, this would add much lightening to your resume.
Follow-up
Send thank you notes:
- After completion of the interview, make sure you send a follow up mail expressing your gratitude and appreciation for the interview.
- Follow up your application, with the hiring manager after a certain period of time to know about the status of your application.
Evaluate Offers
Compare opportunities:
- If you are a college going student, never try to acquire all the internships. Understand the nature of the jobs which you have applied to, and search about various employers who have worked in the past with the company you want to work with.
- Start writing mails to the previous employers to understand the nature of the work and its environment towards the employees.
- After evaluating the offers, build a resume by using templates so that it displays your professionalism to jobs which you have applied to.
- Check The website of the company to know about its credibility and reliability.
Finding the Right Internship
Summer Internship Opportunities
- As discussed before, summer internships play a crucial role whether you are a student of an alumni or if you are under the category of high school students. It helps you in your career path to choose your career fair.
- This internship opportunities helps an individual to get a higher position in their work field when they start becoming permanent employee.
Industry-Specific Internships
- Research industry-specific internship programs, such as marketing internships or journalism internships.
- These Industries specific internships help you to add a unique charm in your resume, attracting the hiring employer's attention.
- We can find industry specific internships by following the popular current industries which are in trend in present days and search them accordingly in the job or internships portals.
- If you have references, try to include them in your resume, so that the potential employer can view it and learn more about you through your reference.
Types of Internships:
Whether you are interested in applying for jobs in a small company or larger ones, internship plays a crucial role in an individual's career fairs. As an amount list internships, you can easily search and get to know about the internships available through the website of your desired company.
Internships comes in various types, allowing the school or college going or college students, to take perfect internship position which aids to gain experience for other jobs.
- Paid Internships
- Unpaid Internships
- Volunteer Internships
- Virtual Internships
- Summer Internships
- Part-Time Internships
- Credit Internships
- Co-op Internships
If you have any references, then you should include them in your resume, so that the potential employers will get to know more about you through your reference.
Above mentioned are few types of internship programs which adds a touch of credibility to your resume and your cover letters. By doing these internships, whether college going, or school students can acquire the skills and improve their practical experience; also helps to complement their academic learning. Internships can provide a glimpse of various industries and jobs in which an individual or intern can aspire to work in.
Common mistakes to avoid when applying for Internships:
While applying for an internship, one may tend to commit many mistakes whether in making resume or in other areas;which reduce the chance of being selected by the hiring manager. The small mistakes can bring a negative impact on your application and the chances of rejection are very high.
Below, we have stated few of the common mistakes a beginner or a professional can make while applying for an internship:
Generic applications
Sending the same resume for the job interviews for all the job applications without looking into their role is the common mistake, which is done by most of the applicants. Remember to tailor your application as per the requirements of the role with keywords, so that it implies to the manager that you have kept a special interest towards a particular position in the company.
Ignoring application instructions
Sometimes the employers or the hiring manager will be giving a specific guideline which must be followed by the applicant. Make sure you do the same and make changes or improve any specifications which have mentioned in the instructions document.
Submitting incomplete application
Sometimes we tend to submit the document in an incomplete manner. So always double check the document which you have attached to cover letter in the mail. Make sure that all the requirements asked by the company are fulfilled.
Typos and grammatical errors
If you are a beginner, then this mistake is commonly visible in your application. Try to use apps like Grammarly, so that you can easily avoid any errors.
After completion of the application, read it aloud. So that you can easily identify any grammatical errors which have been unnoticed by you earlier.
For other career resources and resume templates, check out our career blog and use out AI resume builder suggestions to further enhance your success chances.
Lack of professionalism
Using an unprofessional email address can have a poor impact on your application. Make sure your resume is clean and easy to read and mention your contact details.
Also, develop your skills in the field you want to work and grow in, so that these skills and experience helps you to prosper in your relevant domain.
Not researching about the company
Some applicants may forget to make or collect the information about the company, which effects them during the interview process.
No employer wants an employee to be half prepared about their company, so ensure that you're well worse about the motives and objectives of the company.
Ignoring network opportunities
Platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, help you to gain internships if you have good connections and engagement with your fellows Connections.
Effectively engage with these connections and look out for professionals in your desired field,so that it would increase your chances of marketing internships or being hired into an internship.
Not highlighting relevant experience
Always try to mention the experience and objectives as per the requirement of your job role instead of mentioning other general experiences, which makes it sound unprofessional.
Applying late
When applying for an internship, make sure that you are applying on time before the deadline date.
If you keep on postponing your submission, save time it leads to delay and sometimes you may forget it and lose your opportunity to work as an intern.
Lack of follow up
Send a follow up mail to your Hiring manager to show your genuine interest towards the company.
Not following up about the opportunity you have applied to, can have your application to be forgotten.
Unprepared for interview:
Going to an interview without any prior preparation can cause huge impact on your application. Make sure that you're preparing well for the interview.
Being overly focused on the compensation
Focusing completely on the salary expectations or stipend is not a good idea. So, your first priority should be on emphasizing your skills end explaining them why you want to work with their company.
Not showcasing enthusiasm
During the interview process or this selection stage, make sure your tone is genuinely interested to work as an intern and convey the passion towards the working nature of the company or the organization which have you have applied for the summer internship opportunity in.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you can increase the chance of getting positive response from your hiring manager.
Additional tips:
Starting Your Own Business for Experience
Building your own business would definitely give you the hands-on experience on various tasks. Whether it is a small business or a layout. You can start it during your college time, so that it would help in your career growth
Being Unique
Start being proactive, so that you can make a significant impression unlike the other applicants for the same job role. Start doing best in whatever task you have been assigned to instead of delaying them.
Learn and apply new skills
Use down time to enhance your skills like coding, marketing, graphic designing and many more, so that you be become an irreplaceable asset to your organization.
Seek feedback
After submission of your task, make sure you ask the feedback from your superiors. Any criticism on your task should be tackled with a positive manner.
After getting the feedback, try to improve them instead of feeling depressed.
Take advantage of resources
If the Company offers any mentorship programs or training programs, make sure that you effectively participate in them and try to learn the valuable points which have been discussed in relevant coursework the workshops.
Stay professional
Understand that wherever you're doing your internship, your colleagues will never become your friends or family members and you must stay professional with your moral conduct.
Also mentioning few action verb in your resume, make you look more proactive and persuasive which help to demonstrate your value to the employers.
Deliver your tasks which have been assigned to you on time. Punctuality is the key, so always be punctual to any meeting or for submissions.
Building your own network
After participating in the internship and Acquiring the skills try to connect more With the like minded people and form a team so that you can exchange each other'sgreat ideas together.
Building resume:
As an intern, you should be aware about internship resources, how to make a perfect resume.
You can refer to these articles attached below for reference and build an internship guaranteed resume:
