Why Are Internships So Important?
Holding an internship in college is very important to your career development. Internships give you real-world job experience that college courses simply can’t add to your resume. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, students with internships are twice as likely to receive a job offer. Nearly 90% of employers are more likely to hire graduates with internship experience over graduates without. Internships help you develop important skills for careers after graduation, and they also allow you to network with professionals to have access to more opportunities after graduation.
Where to Begin
During my internship search, I found that it was very difficult to even get responses back from companies. As many people ask, how are you supposed to get an internship with no real experience in your field? It feels like an endless cycle of needing an internship to get a job, and then not being able to get an internship without relevant experience. To start though, I made sure to have a resume crafted that I could use for applications. I was lucky enough to take classes that required us to make a resume, but if you don’t, there are many valuable resources online like templates and checklists of what to include. Then, I made a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a networking and job site, and you can start your internship search there. With a professional headshot, a relevant biography, and a list of skills you have developed through school and activities, you’ll be on track to have a great LinkedIn profile!
Don’t Get Discouraged
Searching for internships also seems like an endless cycle. During my search, I felt like I filled out countless applications to only secure one single interview. I remember being so excited for my interview, and I prepared by looking at a list of common interview questions and I answered some of them beforehand. I thought my interview went so well, only to be rejected a week later. I didn’t let this get the best of me though, because getting discouraged can lead to burnout and a paralyzing feeling of failure. You can lose all of your momentum and even miss opportunities for more interviews if you dwell on your failures. I have also learned that being discouraged can show in future interviews, and you are more likely to not get those as well because you aren’t presenting yourself to the best of your abilities. Get back to the drawing board as soon as possible, and keep applying to internships! Throughout this process, I have also learned to apply to literally anything that could seem relevant, even if I don’t meet every single qualification on the list. With a high quantity of positions you apply for, one of them has to lead somewhere eventually!
How to Prepare for an Interview
When you finally get an interview in this painstakingly long process, it is important that you are prepared so you maximize your chances of getting the position. As I said before, I felt very prepared for my interview by answering common questions I found online. Even though I thought it went very well, there could be a multitude of different factors that went into why I did not get the position. Something useful to do after you hear back is ask for any feedback they can give you about your interview and maybe why you were not selected. In my case, I emailed two different people asking for feedback, and they never got back to me.
There is only so much you can do to prepare for an interview, because a lot of them are very competitive. Hundreds to thousands of people apply for the positions, and normally, only one person is selected. With the adoption of AI in the workplace, too, and ghost/fake job positions out there, it makes things seem impossible. This article from Bankrate.com has some great tips on how to stand out as a candidate in today’s job market, and it helps you not feel like you are the only one going through this chaotic process right now.