Finding an Internship
Posted in Internships
An internship provides graduating students, fresh graduates, and those having career shift with the opportunity to learn and gain experience in a specific career field.
Finding a pre-professional work experience can be accomplished by employing a number of strategies such as attending job fairs, networking, and checking for online internship listings. You can also find an internship by looking at classified ads, phone books, and the local Chambers of Commerce.
Determine your goals
Before finding an internship, you have to reflect about what you want to obtain in an internship. You need to consider your career interests, your reason for finding an internship, what do you expect to obtain from it, what organizational type do you prefer, and what industry would best suit your needs.
You also have to consider such questions as internship site, whether you prefer paid or non-paid internship, and whether you want to get college credit for your internship.
Look early
Be an early bird as many internships set early deadlines. Some industries recruit and hire interns as early as November. It would be best to start finding internship during winter break. It gives you extra time to make some connections with professionals or alumni within organizations of interest before returning to your university or college.
Check your school's Career Services Office to know which internships set early deadlines. These offices will give you internship application dates, listings of internship programs, and other internship information sources. Also check if the Career Services Office has a special internship coordinator.
Check out online listings
Look for general as well as industry-specific internship websites. MonsterTrak is considered as the leading job search database that lists numerous internships. You can visit your Career Services Office to know if your school and MonsterTrak are partners and ask them for a password.
Wetfeet.com's InternshipPrograms.com and InternWeb.com also list internships in various career fields and sites. Furthermore, you can also check out classified ads for internship recruitment.
Other helpful internship databases are Internweb.com, InternJobs.com, Internships USA, Internships.com, Experience.com, Idealist.org, and Internships Abroad. If you have already identified a specific set of companies where you would like to have your internship, you may want to go directly to the source by looking at the career section of the website of each company.
Network
Networking is one of the most efficient and effective ways to find an internship. Speak with your friends, family, college advisers, faculty, career counselors in your college, or alumni from your college regarding the type of internship you prefer and where and when you want to have the internship. You can also conduct informational interviews to get important information on the career options you want to go after.
Attend career fairs
It's a must to attend career fairs or internship fairs happening during winter break. Most of the top employers in various industries attend such fairs to screen, recruit, and hire talented and skilled interns. Prepare to give a one-minute introduction to describe your motivation, experience, skills, and interests to the employer.
While looking for the best internship opportunities will require research and planning, the results are certainly worth your time and effort.
