Internships can be a great way to explore companies and careers that you may want to continue with after graduating. Most importantly, they will give you “real world” experience that you won’t get from sitting in class. And even if you don’t end up loving your internship, you will be able to put the experience on your resumé and apply for even better jobs.
As an added bonus, some internships are paid, and you can put that money toward your student loans, daily living costs or extra spending money. Considering that average college costs can be quite high, making a little extra money from an internship while developing your professional skills doesn’t sound so bad.
Go to the Career Center
Getting familiar with career services at school can help you get connections with alumni and various companies. Their job is to help you learn to build your resumé, write cover letters, and give you skills to network and interview. All of these skills will help you in landing an internship and, eventually, a job. Cawley Career Education Center uses Handshake, a company where you can find internships and schedule appointments with career center staff members to discuss your career interests and develop professional skills. You can log in to Handshake without signing up by using your NetID and password.
Get on LinkedIn
This goes without saying, but LinkedIn is a great place to build your network. You can use the website to reach out to alumni and employees from numerous companies to ask about internship opportunities. You can start off by researching current students and alumni from Georgetown to look at their experience and employment information to see if it lines up with your interests. If you find some people who interest you and you want to learn more about their experience and position, try sending them a message with some compliments thrown in and ask if they’d be willing to meet you for coffee or talk over the phone. You may not get responses from everyone, but it is definitely worth trying.
Apply to Companies You Use
After working on your resumé and learning all those interview skills, you might as well check out companies you interact with on a daily basis to see if they have an opening. You should look at their website for open positions, send over an e-mail or find a contact on LinkedIn to ask about a position. It is great to apply to companies you frequent because you know what they offer and might possibly have recommendations for how to improve or add to the company. Employers like to see passion about their product and what they are offering, so you should definitely reflect that in your cover letter, email, or LinkedIn message.
Research Internship Opportunities
There are plenty of websites dedicated to helping students find internships in college. Some of the top ones include Glassdoor, WayUp, The Muse, and even Google. If you don’t have time to do a thorough search, websites like WayUp allow you to input your professional information and interests to find jobs for you. This is a great way to find internship opportunities, as you may discover great companies or jobs that you wouldn’t have even considered. On the other hand, if you want to do the research yourself, you’ll have a lot more options to sift through that these websites may overlook.
Ask Family and Friends
Networking doesn’t always have to be through professional contacts; you can also connect with the people closest to you. Your family members likely have jobs and may be able to find you internships in their company, with their previous employers or even through their professional or personal connections. Or maybe one of your friends is interning at a company that is looking to hire more students. The way to find out is to ask—you never know what opportunities could come out of it!
College is the best time to explore anything that interests you. Depending on your workload, you can find an internship during the school year or wait until summer to complete one. But you should start looking as soon as possible, as it will increase your chances of landing the perfect internship. Always keep your career goals in mind when looking for an internship, and if you’re unsure of what you want to do, you still have time. So, get out there and find what you love!