Over the weekend, I realized that as summer approaches, slowly but surely, I feel that it’s more important every day to land an internship for the summer. The ones that I have applied to A) haven’t had the closing deadline yet or B) won’t be letting applicants know until May. I’m beginning to get anxious at the notion that I may not have one for the summer.
However, I think that I’m being a little bit pessimistic. I’ve applied to a few and have a few others in mind that I need to apply for — so I should have a decent shot, right? I mean, how many applicants can there be?
That’s where I freak out. I’m sure there are hundreds of applicants for the position that I’m applying for. But if you’re like me, and you feel like your chances of landing the perfect summer internship are slim, get ahead of the crowd in these five easy steps!
1. Put together a bomb resume. Use a thesaurus to get great words instead of “hard-worker” or “quick learner” — use words that make you sound more professional. You can go to the Career Center’s website to build a one-page document using the resume builder. It’s really easy and you can export it any way you want! @@http://career.uoregon.edu/students/prepare/resumes@@
2. Get some great references. Try and gather as many people to say nothing but wonderful things about you. Grab family friends, past employers, people you do extracurricular stuff with or even your teachers to agree to praise you. Almost every internship asks for references and in my opinion, teachers are the best ones. They can speak about your ability to be punctual, efficient and responsible.
3. Send in your stuff early. Don’t wait until the last day to get your application and supplemental material in. That shows them right off the bat that you procrastinate. You want to show them that you’re early, on top of your shit and really excited about interning with them.
4. Call in for a follow-up. It’s not a bad thing to call and ask if they’ve had a chance to look over your application yet — it shows them you really do want it. They want people who want to work for them. It shows that you’re involved. At the end of the conversation, thank them for their time and that you appreciate the help. Be polite — mother always said.
5. Be charismatic as crap at the interview. Most internships will need an interview to make sure that you aren’t crazy or won’t represent them in a poor manner. Make sure that you know your strong suits and which strengths you can run with. Don’t be afraid to boast about the fact that you type really fast or you are really good with people. They want to know what sets you apart from others.
If you’ve landed the perfect internship then please, feel free to let the world know how you did it! Some of us are freaking out and some of us are just hoping that one will fall into our laps. However, as long as you’re professional and plan ahead, everything should work out just fine.