How to Get an Internship

How to Get an InternshipHow to Get an InternshipHow can an internship help your career, and whats the best way to get one? An internship is a pre-professional work experience that provides students, recent graduates, and those seeking to change careers with the opportunity to gain experience in a particular career field. For students, internships also supplement academic classes and, in some cases, earn college credit. For recent graduates and individuals considering a career change, an internship is a way to try a new job without making a permanent commitment. An internship allows you to test the waters in a variety of career fields, to gain real-life experience, and to decide on - or opt out - of a certain vocation. How to Find Internship Listings If youre currently a student or recent graduate, your colleges Career Services or Internship Programs amtsstube is a terrific resource to use to line up an internship. Visit them on campus or check out theironline resourceswhen classe s arent in session. The office can direct you to internships targeted specifically towards students from your university including those sponsored by alumni, parents, and friends of the college. You can useGoogle for Jobsto search directly for internships on Google. Search using internship and the location where you want to work as keywords. Indeed.com is the most powerful job and internship listing service onthe web. Use theadvanced search functionand select internships from the show jobs by type tab. You can also view internship listings scoured from company websites or posted on Indeed by employers. Internships.com hosts over 5,000 internships nationally. The database is searchable by keyword, internship category including summer, paid internships, career clusters like marketing, companies, and college major. Idealist.com is an excellent source for internships in the not-for-profit sector, including areas like children/youth, energy, environment, arts, economic development, and h unger. Search otherleading job sitesby internship filters or by using the keyword intern or internship to locate other internship opportunities. How Students Get Internships Internship listings arent the only way to find an internship. Most students who responded to the question,If you have ever had a summer internship, how did you get your interview? inLendEDUs 2017 Internship Reportfound an internship by using their connections. Heres a recap Family connections -43 percentI found it myself on the internet -31 percentCollege Career Center - 21 percentFound through involvement in extracurricular activity - 5 percent A large majority of the students surveyed said thatconnectionswere the most important factor when lining up an internship Connections- 91%Grades - 9% Use Your Connections Need more leads? Speak with teachers, family, former employers, coaches, friends, parents of friends - anyone and everyone you can think of - and ask for contacts in your geographic area and/or career fields of interest. Ask your colleges career and/or alumni office about any networks of alumni or parent volunteers that you can tap as well as any networking events. Join any LinkedIn groups for your college. Meet with (or email or call) these individuals for information about careers and advice about conducting your internship search. Read our guide toInformational Interviewsfor how to get started. Internships for Graduates If youre arecent graduatelooking for some work experience or are interestedin a career change, consider an internship to get an insiders view of a new career field. It will allow you to gain experience and to decide if this is something you really want to do. Plan your internship search just as you would ajob search, but specify when you apply that youre interested in an internship rather than a permanent position. Using the keyword search component of the major onlinejobs databasesand searching for intern or internship or post-graduate internship is another effective way to generate internship leads. Be sure to check with your colleges Career and Alumni offices to see if they provide internship and job listings to graduates. If it works out, you may even be able to turn apost-graduate internship into a full-time job. Internship Logistics Now for the logistics. Internships can be paid or unpaid. It is important to check with the company before you take the position to determine if there is a salary, a stipend, or no compensation. Academic creditis a possibility for many internships. However, the internship will need to be approved for credit by your college, and you may need a faculty sponsor. The internship sponsor must also agree to supervise and evaluate the internship experience. In manycases, there are school deadlines for applying for credit, so check the guidelines with the appropriate department at your institution before you commit to an internship. It makes good sense to have a clear idea of whats expected from yo u, as well as what you can expect from the employer, before you start an internship. Discuss the details and the logistics with the internship sponsor before you commit to make sure that theinternship will be a positive experiencefor both you and the company. Inquire about any training that you will receive and ask to speak with any current or past interns to find out if they benefited from the internship. Explore CareerOptions Dont stop at just one internship. If your schedule allows, use internships to explore a variety of different career options. Spending some time actually working at organizations without having to commit to a full-time permanent position will enable you to try out a variety of roles.