Recently in Internships Category

D.L. writes: My daughter is a junior at the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH, and she is majoring in biology. She has a strong interest in forensic science and would like to get a summer internship whether paid or unpaid. She has had no luck with the local police department even though they have a crime lab here.

Where should she direct her energies to next? She has a 3.5 GPA and is a member of the Beta Biology Honor society and the Golden Key Honor society, so she is a hard worker and has a good head on her shoulders. Any input you could give her would be appreciated.

The Career Doctor responds: Your daughter sounds like a very good student — and she is wise to be thinking of obtaining some work experience through an internship prior to graduating. Internships are not only invaluable learning experiences where college students can hone their career interests, but also one of the key methods for college students to gain “real world” work experience. Tell your daughter not to give up — that she should be able to find several other opportunities using some of the methods I describe below.

So how do you find your ideal internship? It’s a three-step process: determine your internship goals, prepare/polish your job-search skills, and find/track down internship sources.

Since it sounds as though your daughter has done the first two steps, let’s jump to the third step.

There are multiple sources for college students searching for internships, including:

cold contact

Finally, you can find much more depth on all three steps of finding an internship by reading my article: How to Find Your Ideal Internship.

 

Lesley writes:

I am currently in college pursuing a degree in psychology. I think that I would like to get into the field of human resources, but I am not sure about some things. I was thinking that I really have no experience in that field, so I should get a master’s degree in human resources, but a lot of people are telling me that I shouldn’t. They say most of the job openings for master’s degree level human resources are for people with many years of experience. I am told that I should get my feet wet, so to speak, and then try to get the company I am with to pay for me to get my master’s degree. My problem with that is if I am a psychology major and not a human-resources major, how will I get a company to give me a chance?

The Career Doctor responds:

Lesley, you need to do a couple of things to position yourself for success in getting a job in human resources once you graduate. One of the keys for you is to determine if human resources is really for you — and the best way to determine that is to do one or more internships in the field.

I would start by going to the human resources office at your college. Do some networking with the human-resources staff. Learning more about their responsibilities and duties, as well as their backgrounds, should give you more of a feel for the types of jobs in the human resources field — and possibly even land you an internship in that office.

If your college has a business school, I would talk with the professor(s) that teaches human resource management. See if that department has internship listings. You should also go to your career-services office and see if they have any leads on internships in human resources.

You can also look for internships on the Web. Check out Quintessential Careers: College Internship Resources, where we list the best internship sites on the Web.

Finally, we’ have an article on strategies for making the most of your internship(s).

Randi writes:

I am looking for an internship in a child-life program for recreational therapy. I am a senior at the University of Florida and need a 4-month internship to complete my degree. I will be available in January to begin my internship. I have sent resumes out to many hospitals in the Southeast but so far haven’t heard anything. Can you give me any suggestions regarding where else I could look? My preference is to intern in either Miami or the surrounding areas, Atlanta, or Boston.

The Career Doctor responds:

Randi, I guess I’m a little confused why you are having troubles. UF has a great hospital in Shands, so why can’t you do your internship there? Some other questions for you: have you discussed this with your faculty adviser or other professors? They must have some contacts — can they help you out? Now, about those letters — did you write to real people or just to some title?

One of the secrets of writing great cover letters that get you results is writing to a named individual. Rather than writing to the Director of Recreational Therapy, it makes much more sense to contact all the hospitals and get the directors’ name and then address the letter to a named individual rather than just a title.

For hospitals you have not contacted, you might try this tactic if you did not do so in your first round of letters.

The next thing you have to do is get on the phone. For many job-seekers, this is one of the hardest parts of the job search. But I can guarantee you that you will have a lot more options if you start making phone calls than if you sit by your mailbox waiting for the offers. Get on the phone and follow up with all the hospitals you wrote to originally. If you wrote to a named individual, then call him or her directly. If you did not write to a named individual, now is the time to get the name and see if you can fax your credentials so that you do not lose any more time.

Lots more tips and suggestions can be found in Dynamic Cover Letters and Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates.

You can also find lots more job-hunting “do’s and don’ts” in this section of Quintessential Careers: Job-Hunting Do’s and Don’ts.

Allison writes:

My professors keep telling me I need to get at least one internship before I graduate, and I am thinking of trying to get one for next summer. I was planning on waiting to look for internships until spring break, but one of my friends told me that I should start looking like sooner. Also, what are the best sources for internships?

The Career Doctor responds:

All college students should complete at least one internship, and ideally, several, while you attend school. I actually encourage my first-year students to consider an internship after their first year of college (even though the most sought-after internships usually require junior or senior standing).

Internships give you valuable work experience, help you learn more about your intended career, and can help you decide on a specific career path. Internships also help you expand your network of contacts, and in some cases, can make you drastically rethink your career focus if you have a really bad experience.

Your email comes at a good time, because I would actually start looking for internships NOW. Hot internships (with companies like Nike) have very early deadlines because they receive so many applications for so few internship slots. Start now, but keep working on it over the next few months and try for at least a couple of internship offers so that you can choose the one that best fits your needs.

Here are my top sources for uncovering internship leads:

1. Company Websites — look in their career/jobs area.
2. Career Services — check with your college’s career center for leads.
3. Professors — many professors are connected with companies and alums offering internships.
4. Career Network — ask all the people in your network of contacts about internship possibilities (and additional contacts)
5. Internship Websites — there are a few top internship Websites that offer great leads for internships.

Here are three tools for you to consider using as you move forward with your internship search — and then when you actually intern:

• Get That Internship — and Excel in it! Tutorial
• How to Find Your Ideal Internship
• Making the Most of Your Internship(s)

Pete writes:

With my college graduation staring me in the face, I am concerned about landing that perfect job. I thought by now that I would already have one or more job offers as some of my friends have had. I am facing the prospect of no job upon graduation. I sort of do have one offer, from one of my internships, but I did not really have a great experience there and kind of want and deserve something better. Should I take the job? Should I hold out? Should I move back home in defeat?

The Career Doctor responds:

Wow. Lots of questions here, some pretty loaded. The answer is relax and take a step back from your situation.

In an ideal world, yes, you would have a couple of job offers on the table before graduation. Yes, you would have started job-hunting earlier and taken it more seriously. Yes, your network of contacts would have come through for you in a timely fashion.

The reality is that a lot of college grads will not have accepted a job offer by graduation — and unless you have to have a job, there is no defeat in moving back home for a short period while you move your job searching into high gear.

It is easy for me to say, but I strongly recommend NOT taking any job offer that is not what you want to do with your life - if you have that option. That said, many college grads switch jobs less than a year after graduation because they realize they made a mistake, so if you have to have a job upon graduation, know that you CAN escape it with time.

Every graduate faces a different future. Yes, some of your classmates may already have accepted a job offer, but that does not mean they have found the ideal job, career, or company.

I suggest you work as hard as you can to land job interviews and offers, but take your time and be selective — choose the best offer on multiple criteria. Look at the salary and benefits, the job, and the company. Think about your whether you will enjoy working with your prospective co-workers and boss. Remember… you’ll spend more time at work than anywhere else.

Wondering about the stories of other recent graduates? Read the latest article published on Quintessential Careers: Job-Hunting Lessons from the Street: A Roundup of Recent College Grad Experiences.

Jonee writes: I am a college student majoring in psychology and a minor in business. I would like to know what type of job opportunities are available for someone in my position. I would like a career more on the business side and would like to know if a psychology degree has any value in the business world. I have one more year left to complete my degree and could use some advice.

The Career Doctor responds: The list of job possibilities are almost endless for you. The degree is the most important element here, not your major or minor…though I will say that business uses a lot of theories from psychology, from management to marketing.

I recommend you go to Quintessential Careers Career Exploration and What Can I do With a Major in…? These sites will give you a broad range of jobs and career paths.

Finally, I recommend that you get some experience. Use this summer to get an internship in an area of business that interests you. The internship will help solidify your decision about a career in business and will give you the much-needed experience that most employers are looking for — even from recent college graduates.

Adena writes:

I am a recent college graduate hoping to pursue a career as a journalist (feature writer). Currently, I am a marketing intern at a respected, award-winning regional theatre company. In college I majored in theatre, although I also minored in journalism, wrote for the school paper and interned with two renowned journalists.

I have sent out resumes to a few newspapers for reporter positions and recently received an offer to work in a primarily administrative position as an editorial assistant (this is not the position I applied for, but it is the one that has been offered to me.) Time permitting, I might also be allowed to write feature stories on occasion.

I am unhappy with my internship — mostly because I am no longer interested in marketing — and want a job in journalism. However, they need me as an intern at the theatre company, and would be very angry at me if I chose to leave. My internship officially ends July 2010.

What do you think I should do?

The Career Doctor responds:

You don’t need to hear this, but I do wonder why you took the internship in the first place if theatre was not something you were going to pursue as a career.

I think before you decide anything, you have some big questions to ask yourself — and answer.

First, what is it you really want to do for a career? It sounds like writing, so perhaps you have answered this question, but humor me and ask it again.

Second, where do you want to live? I think it’s kind of odd that you would take an internship on the West Coast while now searching for jobs on the East Coast.

Third, why are you not using your network? Take the time to consult with your journalism professors and the journalists in your network. Get their advice — and perhaps get more names of editors you can contact about jobs.

Typically, I tell job-seekers to never burn bridges because you just never know who you will see again in your job search. That said, if you can answer all the above questions and want to pursue this editorial assistant job (or some better one that comes from your network), then you should do so… but be professional with the theatre company and give them as much notice as possible.

If you do take the editorial assistant job and you have not had anything published after six months, you will need to start looking again for another job. In all my past experiences, editorial assistants were basically go-fers.

Casey writes:

I am a recent graduate with a BSBA degree in computer information systems, and I am currently looking for employment. I am interested in Web development, but I apply for various positions such as help desk, tech support, etc. Basically I’m applying for any positions to get my foot in the door, so to speak. However, when I apply for a position, I am always greeted with “We’re looking for someone with a little more ‘real-world’ experience.”

I didn’t have an internship in college, and I live at least an hour away from places to intern at. So my question is, how can I gain this necessary “real-world” experience they are looking for? And is it possible for me to make up for my lack of experience in my resume or a portfolio of some sort?

The Career Doctor responds:

Casey, you are not unique in your situation, but it still frustrates me when I hear of recent college graduates who did not work or have internships or co-ops while in college. As you’ve learned, employers are really looking for college grads who not only have the academic knowledge, but also have some real-world experience.

You graduated last year — what have you been doing since you graduated? Are you working? What kind of work are you doing?

I would suggest experimenting with a chrono-functional resume focusing on some of the key technical skills and transferable skills. You can read more about how to write such a resume and use these skills by going to Should You Consider a Functional Resume? Be aware, though, that many employers don’t like any kind of functional resume, and you may have to revert to a chronological version if the chrono-functional kind isn’t working for you.

Another option for you to consider — assuming you have a job — is volunteering to create a Web site for a local non-profit organization, such as a cultural arts center, museum, theatre company, etc. These groups never have the budget to hire a professional, and once complete, you can certainly add the experience to your resume —- and you can add the design(s) to your portfolio. Read more on creating portfolios at Your Job Skills Portfolio: Giving You an Edge in the Marketplace.