It’s hard to believe it’s the beginning of November (already?!). Students looking for internships in the spring know what that means —it’s time to kick the internship search into high gear.
Here are some tools, resources, and tips I thought I’d share in hopes of making the internship search a little easier. As a current intern and student employee of AU’s Career Center, I could go on for quite some time about all the ups and downs of the internship search and application process. However, I’ll stick to some of my top tips:
1. Start Using More of the Career Center’s Resources
AU students are incredibly lucky because not only do they have an awesome Career Center (consistently ranked in the Top 20 Career Services by the Princeton Review) but the aforementioned Career Center provides wonderful (and free) resources for the job and internship search. These include:
Optimal Resume Builder (and Optimal Letter Builder)
All of these are really great tools for the internship search. I’ve used Optimal Resume Builder to format and style my resume and found my current internship at Amnesty International through AU Career Web.
2. Become a regular user of AU Career Web
AU Career Web is an online career management tool. Users can create and manage an online profile to search and apply for jobs and internships. I’ve been successful with numerous internships I’ve applied for via AU Career Web. Currently, I am checking it on a near-daily basis this semester to see what internships I can apply for in the spring. It’s a constantly updated resource that has a ton of different opportunities on there.
3. Make an appointment with your career advisor.
Every student has a career advisor assigned to them based on which school he or she is enrolled in. By making an appointment with a career advisor, you can get advice and insight about career paths and internship opportunities within your chosen field. Career advisors are an invaluable resource that have a plethora of information, so never underestimate how much even one appointment with a career advisor can benefit the internship search.
4. Go to Career Center Events
The Career Center has a ton of events throughout the year to assist students in the job and internship search. From the Job and Internship Fair (held every semester) to numerous on-campus recruiting sessions (think CIA, Deloitte, Teach for America, and CNN) to networking events held for every school, there are plenty of opportunities to network and make a professional connection that could land you that next internship opportunity.
5. Create a LinkedIn profile.
Connections can be everything in the working world, and it’s never too early to start maximizing and solidifying your professional network. LinkedIn is a great way to establish and maintain professional connections. Additionally, one can even land a job through LinkedIn with the site’s resources.