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How do I get internships in college?

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Jack’s Answer

Hey Kamaria. Your university or college should have a co/op department, I would reach out to them and get their assistance. Schools usually have a pretty robust network so this is a good place to start. I would also use job sites such as Indeed and LinkedIn and I would even go directly to company websites to see if there are internship opportunities posted.

Hope this helps and best of luck!
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Ken’s Answer

<span style="color: black;">Let me share an interesting story about internships:</span>

<span style="color: black;">During my daughter's senior year in high school, the highlight of the year (and of the whole high school experience) was to be a several month long internship program. Everyone signed up and indicated the type of internship that they wanted - all except for one girl. This girl wanted to become a doctor and wanted her internship to be with the local EMS unit at the local fire station. So, she talked to the head of the EMS unit and got his approval and made arrangements with the school to create her own internship. Of all of the students about which I heard, she was the one who benefited the most by her internships. My daughter's was definitely not the highlight of her school career. Her first choice fell through and her final assignment was not really what she wanted and did not give her the type of exposure that she had hoped for. </span>

<span style="color: black;">This shows that you can create your own internship! Locate a company that fits the parameters of the type of experience and exposure that you are seeking and work with them and the appropriate people in your school to put it in motion. After all, if there is an internship program existing today, anywhere, it had to be created by someone.</span>

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is developing a career focus and then meeting and talking to people who are involved in that area to see what advice and suggestions that they might have. Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Carter’s Answer

Hey Kamaria,

This is a good question! As many have already noted above, leveraging your university's career resource center is a great start. This is something that I did when I was just as curious as you regarding internship opportunities. There they should be informing you of upcoming career fairs that will give you the opportunity to network with employers and get your name/resume out there. I think another important factor about this whole hunting process is to just be generally proactive and open-minded about it all because it's going to require a lot of self effort on your end. This means that on top of searching for all these internship opportunities, I encourage you to:

- Polish up your resume,
- Network network network (always be engaging with new people as you truly never know who you may come across one day),
- Work on your interview skills regularly ("always better to be prepared and not have an opportunity then to have an opportunity and not be prepared" - Whitney M. Young).

Stay positive and goodluck in your journey my friend!
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Ai’s Answer

I don't think that there is one correct answer for this question. I feel that everyone has their own path to getting an internship. Personally, I did not have a lot of professional experience or connections, so I applied to many internships through the company's career website. It was discouraging at times because companies often don't even notify you that you didn't get the interview or position. However, if the role/company is right for you, it will happen. Just keep trying to expand your network and keep applying to many internships.
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Shay’s Answer

As a current college student, this stresses me out all the time. Before this year I had 0 work experience, so getting an internship would be tough. Here's how I would go about it:

1) Resume: Make sure your resume is great. Companies tend to use automatic systems when you apply online, and these systems detect certain keywords on resumes to decide which ones move on in the process. Go to your university's career website and use it to polish your resume with these words and formats. Fill up the entire 1 page with your resume and don't go longer. If you don't have job experience you can use volunteerism, or sometimes even informal jobs (people paying you for certain services like babysitting, lawn mowing, shoveling snow, or doing miscellaneous tasks). Don't have any typos on your resume, as it could be thrown out.

2) Apply: You should apply to a lot of places, but be smart about it. Apply to companies that are in your hometown or near the location of your college (or both, if applicable). Local companies have a higher chance of recognizing a hometown kid or a nearby college student. I used Indeed to apply because it was easy to apply and I could filter for several categories, locations, and internship functions. Even if you're not sure if you meet every single qualification, apply. The worst they can say is no.

3) Interview: Research the company well in advance and know what it does. Read about some core values and think about how you can relate your answers to those (but be subtle about it). Have a genuine conversation with your interviewer, don't just say what you think they want to hear. Prepare questions to ask your interviewer; ask about the company itself, maybe the direction it's going in, and about the interviewer's own experiences within the company. Send a follow up thank you email within 24 hours highlighting some of what you discussed and how you're excited about the potential opportunity to join that company.
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Simeon’s Answer

I would reach out to your teachers and see if they know of any internships or work opportunities. Check the websites of companies that you'd like to work for someday and send inquiry emails. Even if a company doesn't know of an internship, they might know of other companies that do offer internships. If you can't find a summer internship, you could also try working at a summer camp. You'll make a lot of new friends and you can often leverage new connections to find job/internship opportunities.
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Lauren’s Answer

- Have a strong resume and cover letter
- Network
- Be present on LinkedIn
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Theodore’s Answer

Apply everywhere you have interest.

Companies get hundreds if not thousands of applications and digging through applications is a monumental task so most of them use an Application Tracking System (ATS) to automatically read through and filter resumes.

The important thing is to make sure your resume highlights what internships are looking for so you make it past the initial first step and get in front of a recruiter.

Another tool you have at your disposal is LinkedIn. Reaching out to recruiters gives you a huge step up against the competition and can allow you to bypass the initial step of getting past an ATS.

These are just some general tips and you certainly read more about this online. Hope this helps!
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Flora’s Answer

See if your college or university has a careers or job advice centre. A lot of companies advertise their internships directly to the colleges. Alternatively look at the websites of companies you might want to intern with, see if they are advertising, or have a careers page and send them your CV. Also do research on linkedin or other jobsites, there might even be a recruitment company directly for interns.

Make sure you CV is clear, well structured and has not spelling or formatting errors.
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Alnaya’s Answer

Check your college's career center. Indeed, Glassdoor, Monster, and other job search websites are good to check out. Make sure you enable notifications! Also, networking is excellent, for someone may refer you to a job.
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Gabriela’s Answer

The best way to get an internship in college is to go to your resource center. They will help you get plugged in to internship opportunities
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