It’s an understatement to say that Hopkins students are very busy. Between exams and labs, extracurriculars and social life, free time is few and far between. While I believe most Hopkins students genuinely like having packed schedules (psychos that we are), this lack of free time presents a problem when deciding to look for an internship. You’d think it would be quick and easy: write a couple letters,
tweak your resume, voile! But the truth is that the internship search is anything but simple. Making the time to research and develop your cover letters and resumes is the first step. Then comes the tough part- actually discovering places that fit with your interests and applying to the actual internships. To help with this daunting process, here are some useful tips and advice on how to get through the internship hunt in one piece and with a quality internship.
- Make time to research companies. Free time will never just fall onto your lap (it will usually be spent catching up on Breaking Bad). So instead, make a conscious effort to spend a half hour every day researching and eventually applying to internships. It takes longer than you think, but if you devote a small portion of your day every day to internship hunting, you’ll accomplish a lot in the long run.
- Don’t just rely on Google. The bad news is that many of the best internships will never be posted online, so they will never be found by just typing key words into a search engine. The good news is that we go to Hopkins, a place full of connections and helpful advisors. Begin by assessing who you know personally, or who your family knows. Maybe a friend’s parent or your next door neighbor’s cousin works at a company perfect for you. Don’t be afraid to ask around- most people genuinely want to help you. If this doesn’t work, check out the Career Center. Speak with an advisor and tell him or her exactly what you’re looking for. They will point you in the right direction or may even have an alum you can contact. It never hurts to ask!
- Don’t take yourself too seriously. Assuming you’ll be offered a high profile internship as a sophomore or even a junior is a risky bet. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t try to reach out to well known companies because you never know. But just don’t write a company off because you’ve never heard of it or because it’s a start up company. After all, you’re a start up employee and you wouldn’t want someone writing you off for not having loads of experiences yet. Some of the best internships out there are with
start up companies because hands-on-training is more common. Lots of times you’ll have real, tangible experiences after internships at start ups to put on a resume later on. - Don’t just word vomit all of your accomplishments, activities, and experiences onto a resume to seem impressive. Instead, pay close attention to what each company is looking for in prospective interns. If they’re looking for extensive computer skills, be sure to highlight experiences where you’ve been able to hone your technology expertise. In my on campus job, I archive photographs in an online database. I cited this experience when applying for a film and media style internship last summer because I saw they had interns performing extensive archival work. I was later told that this seemingly unimpressive experience was the reason I was offered the internship.
- Always follow up with a phone call. 90% of the time, you won’t get an email back from the companies you contact. This is not your fault or the fault of your resume. Oftentimes the email that you sent your resume to will only be checked once a month. Plus, everyone is busy and may not have enough time to respond to everyone’s internship inquiries. This is why it’s important to check up on your emails with a phone call after a week or two. Also, it will make you seem like you really care about this internship and that enthusiasm should make you more attractive as a candidate.