While college is full of friends, fun, and an overwhelming number of Facebook photos, there is always the question of what the future will hold looming over collegiettes’ heads. With the job market becoming increasingly narrow and competition growing even more intense, life post-graduation seems daunting. College students are expected to graduate having more experience than ever before in the form of campus employment, job shadowing, and the most important of all: internships. Whether you are staying in the city or heading home for three months, summer internships are a great way to gain career experience that can help make a stellar resume.
The first step to getting the perfect internship is to actually find one. NYU has many excellent resources that assist students in finding jobs and internships. The Wasserman Center for Career Development has career counselors that “provide professional, individualized career guidance and support throughout the career exploration process,” according to the center’s website. Through NYU CareerNet, collegiettes can search for internships in their field, look at application deadlines, and submit resumes online. Factors students should consider when searching for internships include whether or not they are for credit, if they are paid, what are the hours, what prior experience they require, and what the job will entail.
After a collegiette has found a few internships prospects, they need to make sure they have an impressive resume and notable cover letter on file. A resume should present a collegiette in a way that makes them stand out amongst the other applicants. Wasserman provides examples of the different types of resumes as well as a thorough checklist of what a resume should include. While a resume is a concise overview of achievements, a cover letter allows students to be more specific as to why they want the internship and why they would be good for it. According to the Wasserman website, it is the “opportunity to shine by filling in the blanks from your resume.” A good resume and cover letter combined should ultimately get you to the interview stage of the process.
Interviews are not an opportunity for collegiettes to recite their resume in person. The hirer has already read both documents, they don’t want to hear the information from them repeated. Interviews are an opportunity to show how your personality will be a proper fit for the internship. Ashley Rocha, a junior in the Steinhardt School, has interned all throughout her undergraduate career. On an interview it is most important, “to be honest and be yourself. There is no cookie cutter person they are looking for,” she said. “An employee wants to hire someone who seems like a good fit for the company.”
While an employer isn’t looking for a cookie cutter intern, there still are some aspects of appearance and demeanor that every potential intern should be sure to have. Forbes.com has done numerous articles on the topic of interviewing including a particularly useful one entitled “13 Tips for an Unbeatable Interview.” Tips from this article include dressing appropriately, arriving early and not just on time, watching your body language, and overall just being polite. Researching articles such as these can make a collegiette feel as prepared as possible for an interview.
Being prepared is the most important aspect of any internship search. Research the company you are applying for, research how to make a striking resume, and research how to behave during an interview. The experience you gain through the application process as well as the actual internship will be extremely applicable in the future, and make post-graduation life a little less daunting.