Today’s post is all about how to find internships as a student! I will share the 10 ways I, or my friends, have used to secure an internship.
Besides an internship, these ideas can also help you generally connect with potential employers and add some valuable experiences to your CV, so they’re worth considering!
Let’s get started!
Related Post: 10 Tips For A Successful Online Interview
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1. Attend Career Fairs
Going to your college’s career fairs is a great way to connect with organizations, companies, and potential employers.
Tip: Bring a business card or your CV with you so you can give it to those you talk to and find interesting.
2. Talk to Professors
Connecting with professors is another good way for finding internships in college. Going to office hours give you that extra personal connection, and you can ask them for referrals!
3. Go to Career Development Office
Almost every college/university has a career development or employability office, so make use of it!
They can help you how to find internships, writing cover letters, improving your CV, and more.
4. Join Mentoring Schemes
My university has a mentoring scheme you can sign up for, where mentors can help you with internships, work placements, and your resume.
If you’re serious about finding an internship, that can be a great resource for you!
5. Join Professional Clubs & Organizations
You can also find internships with the help of professional clubs/societies.
For example, if you are part of a business fraternity or business club, you get emails from the exec team about club meetings, events, and often also opportunities such as internships.
Also, being part of a club can also be a great add-on to your CV!
6. Do Informational Interviews
Doing informational interviews can help you massively with finding an internship! If you’re wondering what an informational interview is and what its benefits are, read this post about 5 reasons you should do an informational interview.
So when you talk to a person in your field of career interest, you can ask them how they got started at the company and if they know if the company is looking for an intern.
Having someone in the company of your choice can be SO helpful in getting that internship!
7. Connect with Alumni
You can connect to alumni of your college/university through your school, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. By talking to them, you can find out what they studied, what internships they did, or the company they work at right now.
How that can help you? Well, depending on what you want, they might be able to talk to their manager and get you in as an intern!
8. Create a LinkedIn Account
Speaking of connecting with people on LinkedIn, creating an account, and posting updates of your university/early career path can be very helpful in finding an internship.
You can find companies on LinkedIn, and many post job or internship opportunities on there before putting them onto job searching websites.
9. Try Job Shadowing
Job shadowing doesn’t only help you figure out what internship is worth doing in the first place, or what career fits you most.
It also allows you to connect with people within a company and make a good impression so that when you apply for the intern position (or ask if they are interested in you being their intern), they know who you are and you are more likely to get hired!
10. Check Local Companies
Last but not least, my 10th tip for how to find internships is to check local companies. That can be small businesses or bigger companies.
One afternoon you could take a walk in your neighborhood/around the university and see if there are any job postings. Then, you can go inside and ask to speak to a manager and ask if they are looking for interns.
You can do the same online, and email local companies with your CV attached.
It might take a few tries to receive a positive response, but more often than not students can make great connections!
This was: How to find internships in college!
I hope you enjoyed the post and found the tips valuable. Let us know in the comments if you have any other tips for other students!
Until soon,
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