So, it’s time to think about your summer plans. Will you be working your usual summer job, taking classes or will you have your dream internship? If you are planning on interning this summer and haven’t sent out any applications, now is the time to get started!
Don’t wait any longer to start applications for summer internships. If you wait, you can miss important deadlines, or the company may choose someone before you have a chance to submit an application.
It’s time to find your outdated résumé in your Word documents, and give it the update it desperately needs. Think about what you have accomplished since its last update and add anything that is relevant to your dream internship.
Have multiple people look over your résumé: your mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt and your advisor or someone from the Career Center. Have as many people look at your résumé as possible. Different people have different ideas, and you want your résumé to be as good as it can get.
Your advisor may have some potential internships for you to check out. You can also find internships that interest you online.
The Career Center at the University of Illinois has something called “I-Link,” where jobs and internships are posted from businesses and companies who are seeking U of I students.
Make sure the internships that you apply to really interest you. It is your summer and you don’t want to be stuck with a boring internship.
According to eHow.com, you should find an internship that will help you on your way to finding your dream job after college. “Students who are interested in becoming attorneys should apply for internships at a law office or city government, while people who are interested in becoming writers should consider an internship with a newspaper or public relations firm.”
Anna Carlson, sophomore in Psychology, has been working on applications to the Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. Carlson wants to be a marine mammal trainer after graduation. She is hoping that an internship with an aquarium or zoo will give her the experience she needs to land her dream job after college.
Since there is no major for what Carlson wants to go into after college at the University of Illinois, she needs to get as much experience as she can in order to be prepared.
“I know that to get the job that I want, an internship (in that field) is necessary to have,” Carlson said. I have grown up going to the Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo, so I started searching their websites for opportunities.”
Lindsey Mackey, a sophomore studying supply chain management in the College of Business, applied to and got an internship working in the logistics department at the machinery manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. She heard about the internship through the career fair and found it on I-Link.
“Keep an open mind and apply to a lot of internships because you never know what you might find; you may enjoy an internship in a different field,” Mackey said.
Sources: eHow.com and the University of Illinois Career Center