When I dove headfirst into applying for internships, I filled out application after application, yet I received rejections or was just ghosted completely. Unfortunately, for many other students, this is an all-too-familiar tale. However, for those of you who may be drowning in a sea of endless internship applications, there’s hope.
This semester, I finally started my first internship, and the journey to it was incredibly rewarding. Although it took endless applications and a little bit of dumb luck, the endless stream of rejection finally paid off. For those also searching for an internship, here are three tips for finding internships and applying:
- Visit the Career Center
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If you’re a student on FSU’s campus, you’ve likely heard of or visited the Career Center. This building is your one-stop shop for anything career-related. They have several resources students can take advantage of, and they can help you secure an internship.
My favorite resource at the Career Center is drop-in advising. You can visit the advisors by scheduling an appointment or during their daily drop-in hours, which are listed on their website. When you meet with an advisor, they’ll look over application materials, including resumes, cover letters, ePortfolios, and more.
Take advantage of advising as much as possible, because the advisors in the Career Center are the absolute best. They’re incredibly helpful, and I visit the building constantly to have my application materials looked over.
The Career Center also has a handful of other amenities: a professional clothing closet, a professional photo booth, mock interviews, and meetings with career liaisons. The clothing closet in the Career Center provides professional clothing for students at FSU.
Every semester, students can take up to four items from the closet to keep. That’s right, keep, not borrow. If you’re prepping for an interview or you’re even about to enter the workforce and need professional clothing, make sure to visit the closet. To visit the closet, though, you’ll have to make an appointment online!
When you’re at the Career Center, you can also drop by the Professional Photo Booth. If you need a professional headshot for your LinkedIn, ePortfolio, or something else, you can use the photo booth for free. You don’t need an appointment; you can stop by whenever your schedule allows, because the photo booth is self-serve and sends the pictures right to your phone.
Once you submit an application and schedule an interview, you can also visit the Career Center for a mock interview. To make sure you’re ready to nail that interview, you can practice answering questions with a representative from the Career Center.
However, you have to schedule an appointment beforehand, and more information about mock interviews can be found on the Career Center’s website.
- Network With Other People
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Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? While I won’t say this is entirely true, a lot of opportunities you may get will come from knowing people.
Making connections with other people is incredibly important. No one person knows everything, and that includes what opportunities you can find on and off campus. We’re all told to network with other people, but that doesn’t just mean employers or professors. Talk to the people you sit next to in class, because we’re all in the internship-finding boat together.
If you’re also trying to network with future employers, FSU offers a lot of opportunities for students to do so. Every semester, the Career Center hosts career fairs, FSU Shadow opportunities, and offers internships through InternFSU.
There’s a department-specific career fair, such as the engineering career fair, or events for different majors. The Career Center will post on their Instagram to announce career fairs, but you’ll also find flyers posted throughout campus, and they have a page on their website where you can find the dates for all upcoming events.
If you want to go to one of these career fairs, I also highly recommend that you drop in and get your resume or cover letter reviewed beforehand. You can also find a list of tips for attending these events on the same events page on the Career Center’s website.
Every semester, the Career Center also hosts FSU Shadow, which takes place over spring, summer, and winter breaks. Students can apply to different FSU Shadow programs, and there are a variety of opportunities in different fields. This program allows students to learn what working in their chosen professional industry is like, and it allows them to network with the employers they’ll be meeting during the program.
The Career Center also has a program called InternFSU, which, if you can guess by the name, is a program that offers students internships within FSU Departments. Various programs and departments offer internships, so no matter your major, you’ll find something to apply to. The Fall application cycle opened on May 1, and you can find more information on the InternFSU page on the Career Center’s website.
I highly recommend looking for opportunities through InternFSU, because they’re also all paid internships, on campus, and you’ll get great experience working in a professional field through a program that’s designed to support students’ career development.
There’s also a variety of internship opportunities on FSU’s campus. For example, the Department of English has several different organizations that take on student interns, and you can find resources for finding internships on their website. Some of these include Southeast Review, the FSU Postcard Archive, and the Department of English itself, where students can work as interns and write articles for the department’s news site.
- Apply, Apply, Apply
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My last tip, which is the shortest but simplest, is to apply to as many internships as possible. Truly, you just have to throw spaghetti at the wall and continuously keep applying to as many internships as you can. Something is bound to stick.
The job market is incredibly competitive, especially for students, as we’re all trying to apply to the same opportunities, so you just need to keep applying. Even if an internship listing seems remotely interesting, try to apply — you never know what might come of it. However, don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Carefully review your resume and each application, making sure you’re putting your best foot forward when applying.
Although you may face a stream of rejection when applying, just know that every rejection is an opportunity for something greater. I’m a big fan of the motto, “everything happens for a reason,” because it’s something I’ve learned throughout my college career.
Every rejection got me to my first internship, and once you get your foot in the door, you can slam it wide open. Good luck with your internship hunting!
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