So, You're Looking for Your First Internship...3 Unexpected Pieces of Advice

Internship search season. Often happens during high stress points during the semester, it happens in your dorm bed, at your local coffee shop with the best wi-fi, or on your phone with apps like Indeed or LinkedIn Jobs. Although your internship search process may look different than your HS alum buddies or your older annoyingly successful sister, all intern hopefuls could be steered in the right way through these 3 curated pieces of advice by yours truly.

Know When to Settle, and Settle.

By now, you probably have heard the deathly cycle of in order to get an internship you need experience and in order to get experience you need an internship. Wait, what? However evil this may sound, unfortunately it is the reality for a lot of recruiters.

So, when you get an offer from a company that is a little too far away from campus with a position that is a little not what you were thinking of being apart of and the internship is unpaid, you may be quick to send over a huge "no way". But, however uncharacteristic your first internship offer is of what you actually expected, you will in turn learn things that you didn't expect to be learning most likely in a positive way.

Every professional opportunity is an important one, even if it doesn't fit your mold of what you thought you would be doing. So, settle. It will help you get closer to your dreams in the long run.

Made it to the interview? Highlight Your Failures Almost As Much As Your Successes

Walking into the interview, you already have your talking points ready to speak on your most relevant experience. You are going to talk about how well you did on xyz project, the awesome people you've worked with, and how you benefited your team. Although these are obviously SUPER important things to talk about, you may want to think about spending some time during your post shower pump up talk to think about how you failed.

A large complaint made about Millenials and Gen Zs is that we have a rough time learning from our mistakes. Show the recruiter or hiring manager that this does not apply to you. Talk about how you failed miserably at something, what you learned from it, and how you are avoiding to make this same mistake in the future. This will show your interviewer that you are not only introspective, but that you are a moldable worker. Internships are all about learning! Show them that you are willing and excited to do so, even if that means some mess ups.

Compare Yourself

*Gasp*. You may have heard all throughout your high school and early college career not to compare yourself to others. Similar to advice #1, this idea applies to 99% of your life. However, when internship searching, it is actually a great idea to semi-stalk your fellow high school alum or college classmates on LinkedIn. Learn about what internships they have taken, experience they have had, and maybe even reach out to talk with them about it!

Your network starts long before you have your first internship. And this network is the same that will help you later on after your career has begun. By comparing your experiences with those you are connected with on LinkedIn, you can also be a little more realistic as to where you are applying to and what you are expecting out of your first internship.

Happy internship hunting! Just like anything in life, success with finding great internships takes persistence, skill, and lots of advice. I hope my little tidbits will ring true and help you land your first internship!

*This summer (Summer 2018) I had the amazing opportunity of being apart of Chegg's internship program. Take a look at their current openings and apply! You will have the best summer of your life and learn so much more than you could ever expect. I would be happy to chat about it if you have questions.