As soon as spring semester hits mid-February, there's a palpable sense of stress and competition on college campuses. It's time to bag the perfect summer internship/job that'll beef up your resume and provide you with some of the precious experience that employers so crave. Doesn't matter if you're a freshman, sophomore or junior - the struggle to find the perfect summer job is too real. So how do you go about it? It's a wild ride.
1. Realize it's that time of the year
Yep, that's the first step - the realization that internship season has started. The frantic scrambling for applications, recommendations, resume building workshops and a healthy dose of obscenities being muttered all around campus should be enough to make you realize what has started. And the fact that you haven't even started planning for summer yet.
2. The research begins.
After the initial freak-out, you calm down and start looking for things to do over summer. At first you'll look for a a job/internship that's related to your major or is in a field you're interested in. But pretty soon you realize that these highly coveted opportunities are not exactly feasible for your summer plans. Honestly, it's like applying for college all over again. You have your "safety" jobs and then your "reach" internships. Also the fact that you're doing all of this research DURING a regular school year just adds to the stress.
3. Making your resume.
*sigh* If only! But no, this is the time you sit down and tear apart your high-school, "baby" resume and build a better, more adult version of this all-important document. This means getting rid of all the clubs and marching band from middle school and put in real skills, like putting up with rude customers at the minimum-wage job you're working to pay for college. Fun
4. Begging for recommendations.
This cat basically shows how you feel while asking for a recommendation from your professors and/or part-time employers. "Plz, plz, plz sir...I promise I won't ever miss your class ever again" or "Wow, is that a new shirt? How fetch! Plz gimme recommendation plz." are some of the things that can be said to achieve this feat. Mind, not everyone will be kind enough to pet your head...err, give you a recommendation letter. It's a cross you have to bear for sassing your boss so much, I suppose.
5. Deadlines approach
Before you know it, it's early March and the application deadlines for the summer jobs/internships have arrived. and you have no idea how anything will get done. You will spend days when after a full day of school where you had to take one midterm, submit two papers, give a presentation and work for four hours, you're still up at 2 am submitting applications and resumes online and emailing potential employers. Don't fret, such is life.
After all of this madness, whether you get a summer internship or not is secondary. First, take a few deep breathes, get some sleep and...
