Between recovering from winter welcome week and catching up on all those readings you missed during the first two weeks of school, applying for summer internships is probably on the backburner. May seems like years away. Who’s fantasizing about getting a preview of their future dream job when our ten spare minutes between classes are filled with thoughts about what’s in our closets (or our friends’ closets) to wear out for the night? But if you want to land the type of coveted internship that would do as many wonders for your resume as it would in preparation for your career, now is the time to start planning! Here’s a few quick tips to ensure that you can handle it all: classes, mixers, studying, and oh yeah, your future!
It’s never too early to start applying! Millions of internships are being searched every day- some over-achievers already got their apps in over break! But if you’re not one of the early birds, not to fear! February is the most common month to send in your resume to companies of your liking, so think about it now, rather than two weeks before summer! Set aside a few Sunday afternoons and organize your resume and applications over coffee and your favorite television network playing in the background. This way, it won’t seem so much like extra work on top of your homework. It will just seem like a (somewhat) lazy Sunday afternoon.
Revise your resume! Cater your resume to the company that you’re applying to; if you want to work in the marketing department at Google, make sure to relate as many of your activities to marketing as possible! Sometimes vague position titles such as “Committee Director” don’t exactly reveal what your job entailed, so tell them what a great job you did publicizing clubs around your school in a quick one sentence description underneath the title! Although it seems like a lot of work to make tiny changes to your resume every time you apply for something, if you go the extra mile it will definitely pay off!
Not applying for an internship because you’re not sure what you’re going into? If you’re at all curious about any occupation, internships are actually a perfect way to see if you would enjoy the job! If you’re thinking about business, but aren’t 100 percent sure of your major, do a local internship at a company that you drive by every day in your hometown. Especially in this economy, local businesses are always looking for interns, and as a freshman or a sophomore, your internship position would probably be for experience, not for pay. So send in your resume, tell them what you’re interested in helping with, and by working for a few hours one or two days a week, you’ll have your career path figured out…or narrowed down, depending on if you like what you’re doing!
Make use of your resources!If you know for sure what you want to do, go for the jaw-dropping big name companies or magazines like Google and Vogue! Check out websites that could help you land the job. A great resource for publication internships is Ed2010. It’s a website that features “whisper jobs,” which are available positions at magazines like Glamour and Elle that employees of the magazines leak themselves! If you use this site, check the “Whisper Job” section as much as you check your Facebook page, and be ready to apply as soon as the jobs come up! If you apply too late, the job could already be taken, after the positions are filled, the “Whisper Jobs” aren’t taken down! Timing is everything in this industry!
While you’re on a roll…Apply for a few different positions! Although you took a lot of time to apply and your resume looked awesome, well-known companies get thousands of applicants, and your application could get overlooked. Make sure to give yourself choices and opportunities!
Fast-forward a few weeks! After you’ve already cranked out those applications, make sure that your Facebook and Twitter pages showcase your classiness! If faced with a tough decision, your future boss could search you and your contenders on Facebook to help him make the final verdict! First, make your profile as private as possible, sometimes girls even go to the extreme of removing their “wall” when they know a decision is being made! Instead of showcasing your weekends through pictures of red cups and fifths, only put up the cute pictures of you and your friends at the beginning of the night! Hide your cup behind your friend’s back when putting your arm around her. You can still put up pictures of your weekends, but instead of people looking at what you’re drinking, they’ll be looking at your gorgeous hair or the great outfit that you put together!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Mich chapter.