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Landing a great internship in college can help you get your dream job when you graduate. Many majors (including mine) are now requiring students to have a summer internship as part of a graduation requirement, so the pressure and the competition is high. The process of narrowing down your top choices, and applying, are fairly similar for every major. I am still in the process of applying, and want to help out my fellow students, so here are my tips on applying for a college internship.
Brainstorm a BIG list// Forget about all of your restrictions, dream big, make a long list of anywhere you would like to intern. Forget about location or whether they have a formal intern program, just make a list. Think outside the box. Don't just Google (insert major name here) internships. Think about companies you would love to work for and are genuinely interested in. Use your resources. Ask your professors. There might be a list of companies students have previously interned at. Your school is here to help you, ask for connections, read your emails (I know...I delete most of mine too) but sometimes there are very interesting "meet and greets" with companies right at your school.
Narrow your list down// Now it is time to get picky: make a list of criteria. Where are you willing to live? Do you need to by paid? Again, keep any companies that you are interested in that meet the criteria, even if they do not advertise an internship. We will get to that part later. I narrowed down my criteria to: Anywhere in the US, and paid or unpaid (but would prefer paid). This didn't narrow my list down much, so I started knocking off companies that I wasn't excited about.
Create a kick-butt cover letter and resume// There are literally millions of places online that talk about creating resumes and cover letters, along with being covered in many classes, so I don't plan on going to detail here. I do stress the importance of spelling, and grammar, along with STANDING OUT. It is okay if you don't have a lot of experience, but sell what you do know. Talk about what you have learned in school, some projects you have worked on in classes. Depending on where you are applying, add some pzazz, but don't go crazy. I have pink lines separating the sections in my resume, along with my initials in bold at the top of my resume in the same color. (If I were an accounting major, I might have used navy blue instead.) Have friends, classmates, and professors look over your resume to make sure you didn't miss anything.
Apply// Now for the stressful part, well at least I find this the most stressful part, applying. It is fairly straightforward to apply to companies that have online application process. I do recommend sending a personal email to a person, if possible. It always adds a nice touch, and helps you stand out. Now for those companies that you would love to work for, but you don't even know if they have an internship program, no problem. If this is a company that you would love to work for, work for it. Contact anyone and everyone that you can find that works at that company or might know someone who works for that company, even if it is a different office or a different department.. Every company had a first intern, and you could be theirs. Also this makes a strong first impression with that company and they can imminently recognize your determination and drive for hard work, and their company.
Follow up// A lot of people forget this step, and it is one of the most important. There were likely many people that applied, and let's face it, people are busy these days. Send a follow up email or letter thanking them for their time, remind them why you would love to work for their company, and that you look forward to hearing back from them. Be sure to include your contact information in the follow-up, so they do not have to go looking for it.
