A guide for how to get an internship

One of the most common misconceptions that students have about how to get an internship is that they must apply for every position. Instead, focus on your skills and experience and which positions might be a good match. 

 

There are a few ways to narrow down which internships are right for you:

• • Think about your degree: Research common career fields and job titles for people with your major.
  • Consider your experience: Think about your previous work experience and which roles it might have prepared you for now. For example, a student working at a campus newspaper might consider a journalism internship, while a student who tutors for a statistics class may want to look at data science internships.
  • Identify transferable skills: Skills that help you succeed in school or in the student organizations you participate in — such as organization, critical thinking, and time management — will be useful in the working world. 
  • Explore your interests: Make a list of career fields that interest you, and search for internships in those areas.
  • Look for remote internships: Your dream job doesn’t have to be in your backyard. If you can’t find an opportunity locally, expand your search to include remote internships. Although interns report lower satisfaction with remote internships, a remote internship experience can still be an asset on your resume, given the number of full-time jobs that now offer remote or flexible working arrangements.
  • Start small: Don’t expect to get your dream internship right away, especially if you have no prior work experience. Hone your skills—and resume—with opportunities through local organizations, groups affiliated with your school, or volunteer work.

Once you have a more concrete idea of which companies and types of internships would be the right fit, it’s time to explore what’s out there. 

 

• Visit job websites: Platforms like Glassdoor have millions of listings, so you’re bound to find something that’s right for you. Search for the internship titles you’re interested in and narrow results down by location, size, industry, company ratings, and more. To get relevant results delivered to your inbox, create a job alert.
• Use your school’s career resources: Career and internship fairs let you connect face-to-face with hiring decision-makers. Additionally, most schools and programs have a website with job and internship listings. 
• Explore online communities: Online communities like Glassdoor Community bowls are a great place to ask for advice. Start with the Career Advice for Students bowl and consider posting in Community bowls for the specific sector you’re interested in. For example, if you want to work in financial services, ask the seasoned pros in the Finance bowl how they got their first internship or job.
• Try networking for an internship: Reach out to friends, family, colleagues, classmates, professors, and alumni to see if they know anyone hiring. Another great strategy is to contact employees at the companies you’re interested in for an informational interview. 
• Contact companies directly: If your dream company doesn’t have any relevant internships, try writing a letter of interest to ask them to contact you when an internship opens or create a new one for you. It’s a long shot, but you’ll never know if you don’t try.

The most common elements of your internship application are a resume, a cover letter, social media, and, for creative fields, an online portfolio. Here’s how to prepare each of those before you apply for an internship.

Internship resume tips

Resumes are summaries of your skills, education, and professional background. Typically, resumes will contain your name and contact info, education, professional summary, work experience, skills, and additional experience. If you’ve never written a resume before, search for a template to get started. Canva is a good resource.

 

Some tips to keep in mind as you write your resume:

• Use the STAR format — situation, task, action, and result — in your work experience bullet points
• Quantify your impact whenever possible (e.g. ‘Served 50-100 customers per day and handled a cash register that totaled over $1,000 a day in sales’)
• List your key wins and accomplishments, not just your day-to-day tasks
• Highlight meaningful extracurriculars & awards (e.g. a Magna Cum Laude or Summa Cum Laude GPA)
• Highlight meaningful extracurriculars and awards
• Emphasize skills and responsibilities found in the job description
• Keep it clean, concise, and easy to read.

What to include in your internship cover letter

Cover letters add additional context to your application. Instead of relisting what’s on your resume, a cover letter should persuade the reader that you are uniquely qualified for the job. 

Even when they’re not mandatory, cover letters can show you are passionate about the opportunity and provide a more complete picture of who you are as a candidate.

 

Some tips to keep in mind as you write your cover letter:

• Explain how your previous work experience has prepared you for this role.
• Research the company, and share a few ideas about how you would support their specific goals if hired.
• Customize your cover letter for each new job.

Build and review your online profiles 

Many recruiters use social media to research candidates, and some may even require a link to your social media profiles. Before you apply for internships, do an audit of your public-facing social media accounts and consider deleting any posts that you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see. 

 

You may also want to create a professional platform profile. Note these best practices to follow as you polish your social media presence for jobs:

• Choose a professional-looking headshot for your profile picture
• Add relevant work experience as applicable
• Delete any suggestive references or pictures
• Share and engage with relevant industry content.

Create and update your portfolio

If you’re entering a creative field like web development, graphic design, or writing, an online portfolio is an excellent way to stand out from the crowd. Platforms like Squarespace and Wix make it easy to put together a collection of your most notable projects and work samples.

 

As you’re creating your profile, remember to:

 

• Highlight the projects that most closely resemble the type of work you’d like to do moving forward
• Describe the impact these projects had
• Keep it clean and easy to read
• Update your portfolio frequently

Interviewing is often the most stressful part of the job search, but if you adequately prepare, it won’t be nearly as intimidating. 

In-person vs. virtual internship interviews

It’s important to be prepared for the unique demands of your interview, whether in-person or online.

 

If you’re interviewing in person, allow adequate time to arrive at your interview location, check in, and use the restroom before your meeting. Bring copies of your resume (and your portfolio, if applying for a job in a creative field). Make sure your appearance is neat, your nails are clean, and avoid wearing strong fragrances. 

 

If you’re interviewing remotely, test your tech (e.g., camera, microphone, headphones, and meeting platform) the day before your interview.  Make sure your operating system is up to date and that you’ve downloaded the most recent version of the interview platform that you’re using. Charge your devices, find a quiet, well-lit location for your interview, and either tidy your space or select a virtual background.

Practice interview questions and answers

Before your interview, brush up on basic information about the company — things like what products or services they offer, who’s on their leadership team, what milestones they’ve reached recently, and who their competitors are. 

 

You can even use this information to come up with a few questions of your own. Asking your interviewer specific questions about the company will show that you are curious and well-informed.

 

You’ll also want to research common interview questions beforehand. Reference Glassdoor’s list of the 50 Most Common Interview Questions and search interview reviews for your job title and company on Glassdoor to see what real recruiters are asking intern candidates. 

 

Once you’ve identified a few of the questions most likely to come up, practice your responses with a friend.

 

Here are some tips that can be applied to answering nearly any interview question:

 

• Be specific: Interviewers hate vague answers. When responding to a question, share specific ideas, examples, and anecdotes.
• Think positively: Always exude enthusiasm and optimism. No one wants to hire a candidate who makes it clear that this isn’t their first-choice internship.

• Ask for time if necessary: When faced with a tough interview question, sometimes your mind just goes blank. Rather than rushing through an answer, say, “That’s a good question; let me think about it for a second,” and take a moment to gather your thoughts.

• Be yourself: If you just tell somebody what you think they want to hear, you risk coming off as artificial or, even worse, ending up at an internship that isn’t right for you.

Once you’ve made it through your interview for a summer or college internship, send a thank-you note to anybody you spoke with. Thank-you notes show that you’re organized and thoughtful, which both matter to employers. Don’t forget to:

• Send your note within 24 hours
• Thank the interviewer for their time
• Mention what you enjoyed learning about the company
• End with a call-to-action that invites them to reach out to you for anything they might need

Next, it’s time to wait until an interviewer provides you with an update. If they don’t reach out to you when they said they would, feel free to send a short check-in note like this:

 

Dear [contact name],

I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to follow up about the [job title] role. I really enjoyed meeting you and the team last week, and I’m very interested in the opportunity. Is there any additional information I can provide during your hiring timeline?

Thank you,
[Your name]

 

With any luck, you’ll get an internship offer from the company shortly afterward your outreach. Most companies make it official by sending you an offer letter, which you will be expected to sign and return. Look for important details like start dates, responsibilities, pay, and location. 

 

You should also ask if there’s anything you can do between now and your start date to prepare for your role and whether you’ll need to create an internship report for your program.

 

Get started with finding your internship.