How to Find Internships

For every newbie in the industry, knowing how to find internships is a survival skill. Internships are important towards building your career. For undergraduates and “fresh out of college” graduates, interning is a great way to gain professional experience pending an actual employment. What’s more? With InternPreneur, employers get to hire and vet new talents at a subsidized rate through promoted internship opportunities. Whether you’re a student, graduate or an employer, InternPreneur is your best platform for finding internships.

Below you'll find a complete guide on how to find internships as a student or recent graduate.

What is an internship?

An internship is a short-term employment in an organization with a primary aim to expose applicants to the workings of a professional environment. As such, internships are often designed for undergraduates, fresh graduates and newbies in the labor market. It helps to kick-start an intern's career by providing essential professional experience. 

There are multiple reasons for internships. Students often apply for internships in a bid to gain professional experience and build their professional network - which helps in securing jobs much later. For others, interning is a means to learn essential skills and also try out new career paths before actual commitment. 

Things to consider for an internship

Interning comes with great perks. But before you start your internship search, it's important to know what to look out for before opting for an internship. Here are three things to consider:

Internship Type: Paid vs Unpaid; before searching for an internship, you have to determine first if you're cut out for an unpaid internship. Why? Most internships are unpaid. The general idea behind unpaid internships is that you gain professional experience, network and essential skills, as “payment” for your temporary employment. 

While an unpaid internship comes with worthwhile perks and is often the easily available option, you have to weigh some things. For instance, you need to determine if you’re capable of financing all your expenses for the duration of the internship. If your expenses outweigh the potential benefits of an unpaid internship, look for a paid option. Here’s the catch; a paid internship offers all the benefits of an unpaid internship with bonus remuneration. However, it’s not easily available and the hiring process is a lot more competitive. The good news is that InternPreneur has both paid and unpaid internship opportunities you can choose from.

Internship Goal; knowing what you hope to achieve through an internship is a great way to filter through multiple internship options. For most students and fresh graduates, the predominant internship goal is to gain professional experience. In this case, it’s often easy to opt for an unpaid internship. However, it’s a different story if you’re actively “testing the waters” for a career change. For most persons looking to switch jobs especially on different career paths, interning is more about determining if a career option is worth it. Once you have your internship goal set, you can log on to InternPreneur and search for a fitting internship role to apply for. 

Time and Office Commitment; with the advent of remote working and a four-day work week, there’s no doubt that working hours and commitment have grown more flexible. This should spill into your internship consideration as well. While interning is an important part of professional growth, it shouldn’t take 100% of your time. You’ll definitely need time for other profitable ventures. 

As an undergraduate, you need an internship that’s beneficial to your degree. If the required interning hours would eat into your academic hours, it’s advisable to seek a flexible internship. In the same vein, the office work should be commensurate with your physical and mental strength. It’s easy to get zealous about making a good impression as an intern, but you easily end up with more workload than necessary. Strike a balance - opt for an internship that sticks to a healthy work schedule. Here’s the catch; InternPreneur opens you up to high paying and ethical recruiters who allow you maintain a healthy work-life balance.

How to find internships?

Finding internships is dependent on your research and preparation. Having put into considerations the essential factors towards determining the best internship for you, here are five steps to take to secure an internship:

Search for Internships with InternPreneur; the only way to find what you’re looking for is to search in the right place. With InternPreneur, your search for internships is made a lot easier and more fruitful. With only a profile on InternPreneur, you’re exposed to thousands of recruiters and internship opportunities from all around the world. What’s more? Your profile and resume are promoted by InternPreneur to reach active recruiters who’re looking to hire. So, there’s a high chance of you being hired on InternPreneur even before you apply for an internship.

Add A Cover Letter And A Portfolio; prior to submitting your resume, you should give an overview about yourself and your skills. That’s what a cover letter is for - it’s the first interaction between you and your recruiter, so you need to be impressive. Attaching a portfolio to your application further strengthens your chances of being hired. Why? It shows that you have a proven and accessible track record for all to see.

Optimize Your Resume For Your Internship Role; just as it would be absurd to wear funeral clothes to a wedding party, it would be terrible to submit an outdated and irrelevant resume for an internship role with clear requirements. Treat every internship role uniquely, and always optimize your resume to fit each new internship role you’re applying for. Your chances of getting hired with an optimized resume are way higher than using a generic or outdated resume. The great news is that you can have your resume reviewed by a professional on InternPreneur - all you need is a profile on InternPreneur. 

Search and Apply for Internships Early; internship openings are usually competitive, and it’s in this case that “the early bird catches the worm”. Your best bet for securing an internship is to search for recent openings and apply for the ones relevant to your career objective. With an optimized resume, you stand a greater chance of being picked for an internship especially if you apply early. With InternPreneur, you’re exposed to internship opportunities that are constantly being updated to provide you with the latest openings.

Prepare For An Interview; an internship might not be a full-time employment, but the recruitment processes are similar. Beyond having an amazing resume, a recruiter will interview you to determine if you have the necessary knowledge, skills and personality for their available internship role. You need to do your best in impressing your recruiter during the interview stage, and there’s only one way to do this - prepare!

To prepare for an interview, research deeply on the recruiting company and understand their mission and core values. Read up on job specific interview questions and probable answers. In all your research, ensure that you align your values and skills with that of the recruiter. Prove that you’re a worthy applicant with amazing skills to bring to the table.

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Conclusion

Finding an internship is as easy as following the five steps in this guide. But to make your search easier, it’s better you sign up with InternPreneur and be exposed to periodic updates on internship opportunities around you.