The Internship Search Process- Personal Experiences on how I got 4 Internship Offers (Part 1).

One goal for my penultimate year of industrial training as a Communication Engineering major student was to secure an internship placement that met my goals and future prospects by 21st November 2021.

The internship experience is one of the important phases of a student’s life as it lays a foundation for a prospective career. It is a period where you gain industrial and practical training after learning theories in the classroom.

Thus, securing an internship placement in an area related to your future goals/ aspirations is very crucial. How did I get to win 4 internship offers within 2 months? I never wished to go to companies, running around carrying resumes only to get to the company’s gate and being turned down by security officials.

In this article, I would explain the distinct qualities you should have and what you should do to ensure you get that desired internship. These strategies worked for me and I believe they would go a long way in helping you in your internship search process.

Build Skills:

“Never chase opportunities. Let it come to you by creating value and building rare skill sets.”― Johannes Larsson. Building skills as a student is important, as this was one thing that would set you apart from other candidates. Build technical and non-technical skills(soft skills), volunteer for organizations, take online courses and resolve to be committed to becoming a better version of yourself. As much as you can, develop yourself in different aspects.

Define What you Want:

This is another important aspect of your internship search process. What do you want? What is your preferred location? What skills do you hope to develop during your internship? Is there a company that you would like to apply to that would offer an outstanding internship experience??Get a journal and write these down. Fate has a way of bringing us the opportunities we want and are definite about.

Write a list of firms you crave to intern at, leverage Google in your research process, investigate the firms you prefer to intern at and pen them down. Doing this would give you a scope of where to concentrate your efforts on.

Ask Questions:

How many times have you reached out to senior colleagues to ask questions and to get information about the company you have written, about strategies that helped him/her secure an internship, etc.?

Ask questions! Attend seminars and listen with rapt attention, ask professionals, lecturers, reach out to previous interns and hear their experiences, perform search queries on Google.

Develop Your Resume

Sometimes when people send their resumes to me for review and I see a shabby-looking resume, it makes me lose interest immediately. What you should know is that recruiters barely spend 10 seconds reading your resume and application. It has to be concise and relatable to what you are applying for. Projects which you have worked on, skills, previous experiences, etc. are crucial parts of an excellent resume.?

Work and optimize your LinkedIn profile. Construct a good resume and cover letter. Do not rush the process! Take your time. To read further about resumes: How to build a resume. Remember not to copy samples from the internet. Take your time to learn the process, develop yours, and you would be glad you did.

Send your resume and cover letter to an experienced colleague for a review. Use Grammarly and other online proofreading platforms to ensure that they are void of grammatical errors.

Start Early:

This was one important strategy that helped me in my internship search. I commenced the process early, defined what I wanted, and started shooting shots at opportunities. Writing my goals for my internship hunt on the 15th of September 2021 with a deadline of securing an internship before 21st November 2021. and getting 3 internship interests/offers before the end of October 2021 felt surreal.

It is expedient to say that there are different strategies for reaching out to firms/organizations.

• Cold emailing Recruitment Officers
• Leveraging LinkedIn
• Application for Opportunities
• Leveraging Personal Connections

Get your documents ready and start shooting your shots. Do not wait for an advertisement from companies about internship opportunities. You can apply via cold emailing. You need to portray yourself as the best candidate and they would see this on your resume and cover letter.

Leverage LinkedIn and reach out to recruiters, relevant stakeholders, etc. Try to establish a personal relationship with whosoever you are connecting with before shooting shots or telling them about your internship interest.

The more applications you send out, the better. It doesn't matter how well you present yourself to recruiters, there will be some recruiters who won't respond to your application. This could be where you can leverage your connections if you have.

Finally, pray to God. He has been a major factor in my internship success and life journey.

Leave your questions, comments, and suggestions on what you want clarity on. I would respond as quickly as possible.