Still haven’t secured career plans for the summer? Check out these top tips for opening the doors to more opportunities!
Change up your strategy. Have you just been applying to the ones that get a million applications online? Try something else! There are many different ways to go about the internship search. You can look up companies and cold call them (intimidating but HIGHLY effective), reach out to network with alumni (don’t straight up ask for an internship, just reach out, have a conversation, and see where that leads you). It’s not just about the online applications! Most internships aren’t even advertised online.
Send your resume out Ask your parents, family friends, friends, cousins, step-siblings, and absolutely everyone else that is willing to send out your resume to any key connections they have. Be careful not to send a mass email, because people are more likely to respond if it is a direct, personalized email.
Realize you’re not the only one. You only hear about the people who are getting internships, never the ones still looking. There’s more of us out there than you know!
Create a back-up plan. Think about what you can do to earn money but also advance your career. Maybe that’s job-shadowing by day and babysitting by night. It’s understandable to not want to go back to your high school job, but if you want to make money over the summer it’s always good to have an option.
Know it’s not the end of the world. Just because you don’t have an internship this summer doesn’t mean you will fall behind. Think of it as a bonus. Internships are optional, after all. Take this opportunity to work on a side hustle or project you’ve always wanted to work on during the school year but never had time to. Reach out to a local business and see where you can help out. Seek out unpaid or job shadowing experiences. There’s a world out there full of opportunities and they’re not just internships!