Internships are an important way of transitioning from education life to work life. Students are judged on the basis of the number of internships they do, types of internships, internship organizations and internship venues. Diverse internship experience makes a person‡s resume more professional and attractive. And one such important element in a resume which catches a lot of eyes is an internship from abroad.
Internships done from abroad can depict a wide variety of traits about a person. But it is equally difficult to find an internship abroad and getting selected in it.
Importance of an Internship Abroad
Going abroad for a job seems a very prestigious opportunity in the first look. It is a common tendency to admire someone who has experience from far lands. A foreign internship is one such experience which shows the adventuring and challenge taking the spirit of a person. Doing an internship abroad involves managing yourself, adapting to new people and places, operating in a new work environment, and an independent and confident mindset.
When employers see foreign internships in a portfolio, they consider all these challenging factors. It shows them your extraordinary skills which give you an edge over many other candidates. You can also land a dream job while doing an internship abroad.
LinkedIn and Internships
LinkedIn is a social network website for professionals all over the world. With tremendous growth rates, it is among the fastest growing social platforms. LinkedIn has professional individuals and companies which constantly look out to hire employees and internship. LinkedIn is for anyone who wants to establish an online connection with other professionals. Its use is not only limited to finding jobs but also to find new clients and investment opportunities.
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn does not ask you to talk about your day or to upload new pictures or status. It is solely focused on industries and businesses. With such a strong network of people available for business purposes, this makes it an outstanding platform to connect and request for internships at different organizations.
Companies and businesses have their presence on LinkedIn and they look out for potential candidates that meet their requirements. There are different supervisors working through their individual accounts to look out for new subordinates for their respective companies.
Finding an Internship over LinkedIn
LinkedIn is much more complicated than other social platforms and you need to develop your image right to connect with relevant people.
Creating Your Profile
The first step upon signing up to LinkedIn is to set up your profile. This is a crucial step which needs to be done carefully. Keep your profile very professional. You can show your work experience and skills on your profile. Put up a decent professional profile picture. A passport-size photo is the best option. Do not upload a full-sized photo of you giving a pose. That kind of thing is for casual social media platforms like Facebook.
Remember, you need to keep your profile as professional as possible because it is the first thing an employer will observe carefully and make his judgments about you based on the observations. It will act as your resume. Completing your profile with every detail required is important. A complete profile looks more trustworthy and companies tend to contact such profiles more.
Customize Your Profile URL
Getting a custom LinkedIn URL will help people search for you easily. It will also give you results similar to SEO techniques. Your LinkedIn profile will rank higher in search results. The direct benefits of custom URL are limited and low. But it looks professional. You can also include this custom URL in your business card. This will surely enhance your professionalism.
Get Recommendations
Getting recommendations on your profile improves your relevance to employers. Forgetting recommendations, connect with your previous employers, mentors, and professors. Then subtly ask them to give a recommendation on LinkedIn. If you have performed well in the past, they will happily land you a helping hand. Employers do check out if a profile has a good number of recommendations.
Do Direct Searches
LinkedIn lets you search for jobs and internships listed on the platform. There are always a wide variety of domestic and international internships available. These internship issues are full of information regarding the required skill set, the work to be done and the benefits to interns. LinkedIn provides a ‘quick apply‡ option to apply in the internships you find relevant and sending over your CV. You can also contact the employer who has posted about internship directly. This lets you solve any query before applying for an internship.
Search for International internships more effectively by applying on-site filters on the search results. This removes the domestic internships from the search results which are not suitable for you.
Develop Your Connections
Establishing a strong presence on LinkedIn is a long overtime process. You will need to send connection requests to those who can benefit your career in any way. This involves cold mailing to complete strangers from different countries. Wondering why will they accept a connection request from a stranger? They will because they are on the platform to develop connections too. Some are for being employed and some are for recruiting. Both of which needs communication with strangers.
When you send a connection request, add enough context to why you want to connect with them. Keep it brief but sweet. Do not leave a connection request blank. They mostly get rejected. Once connected, you can use these connections to get employed or to get references for any other internship available abroad.
Join LinkedIn Groups
There are open LinkedIn groups for people with similar professional preferences. As your preference is to get an internship abroad, search for such groups on LinkedIn. There are many groups for foreign internships on LinkedIn with thousands of members. Employers often seek out these groups for fulfilling their recruitment needs. So, a large group for internships abroad can play a big role in getting a decent internship of your choice.
