So, you are free from school or college and thinking of doing an internship? Wondering how to search for internships? Students often find it difficult to search for a suitable internship. It can be a process with lots of rejection from employers.
If you are planning to do an internship during the summer break, finding it quickly is crucial to spend as much time as you can on gaining experience and developing skills. Internship done from the right organization will add a new dimension to your resume.
Ways of Asking for Internships
This is one of the common methods of asking for internships from corporate executives who you personally know or just stumbled across on the Internet. You can research different individuals or companies you can email for internship availabilities. While writing an inquiry mail, provide your contact details so that the receiver can contact you through methods other than email.
Be very formal and polite in your inquiry letter. Highlight your strengths and weaknesses and describe how your presence will be useful for the organization. Keep the email short and simple. Do not mention all the skills and career details. For that purpose, you can attach a resume or cover letter with your mail.
You can write a great email by looking up for templates online. These templates will provide you with the correct structure to follow. The people you send the mail also decide your success rate. Prepare a cold mailing list with thorough research.
Letters
Writing a letter for an internship is very similar to writing an email. A letter written out to inquire about jobs and internships is known as a prospecting letter. They are written in the hopes that there is a vacancy available in the company and to get an interview chance.
Sending letters to write contacts is essential to get maximum calls. The structure of a letter is more essential than an email‡s structure. Always use the formal structure in letters and be polite throughout.
You can give a personal touch of your own writing style. Give the recruiters reasons to hire you. Remember to be authentic and real. Never lie in your prospecting letters as it can backfire anytime.
LinkedIn provides a great way to connect directly to corporate professionals. These connections will play a big role in securing an internship. The first step to grab a kick-ass internship through LinkedIn is to create an impressive profile.
This profile will act as your online resume. So mention your skills, experience, and strengths in your profile. You can develop your profile desirability by getting more recommendations. Once a good profile is established, start sending connection requests to potential employers. Send them your resume if required.
You can also join groups on LinkedIn. There are different groups of people with the same interest. You can easily find internship groups with many members. Employers often visit these groups for recruitment purposes.
Face to Face
Online methods take a lot of time to give proper results. You have to wait for the employer‡s reply. Then you will reply back. Then again, a long wait. When you have a limited time to do internships like in summer breaks, you will need to find an internship quickly. Slow online methods will waste a lot of valuable time.
Finding an internship offline is the best option. Going to firms and agencies seems like an excruciating task, but it will give you the best job searching experience. Inquire from the potential employers personally, schedule an appointment and appear for the interview within a short time. Face-to-face inquiries largely improve your confidence and communication skills.
Website Search
Everyone has some dream companies to do internships from. There are some average companies that will be a good internship location too. Make a list of all these companies and start on a website search. Go through websites of each of these companies and analyze their “Hiring” section thoroughly.
You will find some attractive internship opportunities among these websites. Once you find an opportunity, apply through the procedure given. If a website does not have a “hiring” section, you can always contact them through the details given on the website. As a thumb rule, go to the “Contact us” segment to find contact information. Call, email, or write them a letter for checking internship vacancies.
Internship Platforms
Just like there are specialized job posting platforms, there are new and advanced internship platforms too. Some internship listing websites are Internshala, Indeed, and Monster. These platforms check the credibility of the internship providers before publishing their proposals on websites.
Internship platforms provide a great way of viewing internships of all the fields listed in one place. With the use of correct filters, you can view the internships based on their location and skills requirements. Internship platforms list both paid and unpaid internships for students around the country.
These platforms allow you to apply directly through them. Employers can message you on these platforms or through your personal contact details.
Through Quora
Quora has emerged as an all-knowing forum. It is next to Google in terms of popularity for knowledge related to every topic. Quora actually can help you find internships too. There are big corporate people constantly searching for intellectually awakened people on Quora. Also, pay close attention to questions related to internships.
There are often answers from people about how they got their internships. There are even answers with direct promotion by a firm for internship vacancies. Research about these recommendations and apply in the ideas given by genuine answers. Direct experience from people can help you have an internship quickly.
Conclusion
Getting an internship starts with finding out the vacancies available in different organizations. You will often find a lot of internships with the options described. But choosing a promising internship based on their work environment and growth opportunity is up to you. Make the most of your free time by gaining internship experience from prestigious organizations.
