As a junior in college, it seems like everyone is talking about internships. Internships are more important than ever in helping with your future job search. As with any job, it’s not easy to be selected for an internship and as someone experiencing the struggle of trying to get hired, it's a frustrating process. There are many struggles and anxieties that come from this application process.
Perfecting your resume
Making sure you have a perfect resume seems impossible. I have changed and updated my own resume countless times. I’ve had different teachers tell me to format my resume in different ways only to have the career services center at my school tell me something completely opposite, so it’s confusing to know what is acceptable.
Narrowing down your search
The Internet is full of internship finders that will help you search for exactly what you want. The problem is that there are endless job listings unless you know specifically what you want to do, but if you’re like me, I will pretty much take any experience that is somewhat related to my field of study. I’ve spent hours looking at internship postings and eventually, not only do your eyes start to burn from the scrolling, but also all of the job titles start to sound the same.
The competitive qualifications
Internships are supposed to be the building blocks of your future career. Many of us who are looking for internships are doing so in hopes of gaining experience, however, some internships have specific qualifications. So you need to have experience to get experience? And even if the job doesn’t require previous training or other credentials, it seems like they tend to pick the candidates who have a more embellished resume. Apparently it’s normal to have four years of experience in the field as a college student.
Letters of recommendation and examples of your work
When you finally find a possible internship that is in your area, fits into your schedule, has the right criteria and pertains to your future career, it’s time to apply. Sometimes it feels like applying to an internship takes longer than applying to college. You find your dream job only to find out that it requires three letters of recommendation from qualified professionals who can speak about your skills that relate to the job. Great, so now you have to awkwardly reach out to professors whom you know don’t have the time or interest in writing you a letter of recommendation. This may have been an easy task in high school but it’s a whole different ball game in college. And if you’re lucky, the internship will require examples of your work! Get ready to search through your computer for that video you submitted for class.
Tackling the dreaded cover letter
A different cover letter is required for each and every job you apply to because you must customize it to fit the expectations and qualifications listed. Personally, every time I write a cover letter my soul dies a little. Does anyone really know how to write a proper cover letter? How do you show your personality on one page? Does anyone even read the entire cover letter?
The wait
Once you have finally submitted everything that the job posting requires, you have to wait. If you’re like me, who has applied to at least 20 internships, it’s hard to keep track of which ones you’ve heard back from. It can take months to hear back from a company, if they even reply to you at all. More often than not, if you aren’t selected for the internship they just don’t tell you. Some big companies will let you know upfront that they don’t guarantee a response and also not to contact them due to the amount of applications they get. The wait may be worth it and you could receive good news, but if you don't, there's always another internship.
Don’t lose faith because there is a job out there for you. If you're a college student struggling with the internship process, you are not alone. Keep your head up and don’t give up! Best of luck with your search!
