Good Things Come in Threes: Prepare to Launch Your Internship Search

This is the beginning of our favorite semester – summer internship recruitment season – and we want to make sure that you are ready to land your dream internship, with your dream company!

Below are just a few quick readiness-tips that will prepare you to launch your internship search.

Consult Your Career Counselor

If you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to schedule an appointment with your school’s career counseling center/internship coordinator. This is an important step to ensure that you have a rewarding and effective internship search. Your coordinator/counselor will know all of the details about on-campus recruitment and career fairs.

In addition, many counseling centers offer students resume and cover letter writing workshops – as well as opportunities to participate in mock interviews. Don’t pass up these opportunities! The professionals in your career center are a great resource to help you evaluate your strengths, weaknesses – and offer advice as you develop your internship search strategy.

Make the most of your appointment by arriving on time, with a copy of your resume and questions.

Clean Up Your Resume

Give your resume the once-over. After a full-academic semester, you are bound to have additional experiences to include and others that are no longer relevant.

Start by making a list of any new projects, activities, jobs and clubs that you were involved in last semester. Did you start a company or complete a bunch of volunteer hours? Did you learn a new language or pick up a minor? Maybe you learned Java or maybe you spent winter break climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? If relevant, these new experiences should be included on your resume.

A lot can change, also, during the course of a semester. Is your academic major/concentration still the same? Did you decide that you prefer finance instead of biology? Did you move off campus? No longer treasure of the Young Democrats? Make sure that your resume reflects the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Create a Calendar With Your Internship Deadlines and Priorities

We know that college students are really busy – homework, group projects, a new episode of GLEE – there’s a lot to keep up with! Below are a few tips to help you manage your internship process — so that you don’t miss out on important dates!

• Create a spreadsheet that includes all of your important internship deadlines, as well as the dates that you made contact with, or interviewed, with each company

• Color code dates to distinguish between deadlines (ie: homework vs. interview)

• Create reminders for important application dates and interviews

Check out our Internship Guides
 page for additional information. As the semester progresses and internship recruitment season goes into full swing, we will keep you posted with useful tips and effective strategies to manage your internship search.