Internships are one of the best ways to heighten your skills, especially those you hope to pursue in your future career. I 100% recommend taking an internship with a company that does what you want to do, as it's one of the best ways to get hands on experience and mentorship from those who know the industry. From there you may even get a job secured at that company if you perform well, or a recommendation to give to a future employer! If you're in school don't worry you can find internships that are flexible with hours so you don't have to flake on studies, and they can fill out forms for any volunteering hours you need! (as long as they are unpaid internships) Now let's face it, with the global pandemic and all we're not exactly in a time well suited for going out and leaving the house to work when some of us might not even go in for school, but here's the beauty of the whole thing. My favorite of all, icing on the cake: remote internships! I understand that not everyone is able to drive themselves to an internship, or even have their parents drop them off, so remote internships are amazing because you can do everything from the comfort of your own home!
Below I have included a step by step guide from figuring out what type of internship you may be interested in to nailing the interview and getting to work! The basic steps on the process and basic information are on this page, with some additional buttons correlating with pages containing more in depth information on each step if you're interested! :)
Below I have included a step by step guide from figuring out what type of internship you may be interested in to nailing the interview and getting to work! The basic steps on the process and basic information are on this page, with some additional buttons correlating with pages containing more in depth information on each step if you're interested! :)
it's never too late to start
First of all before you can jump into the process of acquiring an internship, you need to understand that it's never too late to start an internship! People often associate interns with college students pursuing a major applicable to the company, but people can intern at any age!! (Take the movie 'The Intern' for example!) You can intern as a high schooler or long after you graduated college. Many people change their majors a thousand times a week in undergrad school, and some even graduate, build an entire career, and then decide to start over from scratch in something new. So never feel you are too old or young to intern, you put in the effort and you will succeed!!
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your interests
This may not seem like the place to start when thinking about an internship, but it's crucial that you find an internship based on your interests so that you can actually enjoy what you do, therefore put more effort into your work and gain more from the experience overall! If you're not sure what you want to do in the future you can take quizzes online to get you started in thinking about what you can picture yourself doing. There are links to pages about hobby and career quizzes below for you to check out. Another thing you can do is browse the different types of internships by searching on the web or by looking at the internship websites without filters set for what you are specifically looking for. Once you do have an idea of what type of internship you are looking for (types of internships also linked below) you can set keywords to find them and from there submit your application to become an intern!
finding an internship
Now that you know what type of internship you would like to pursue you are at the hard part of the process: Finding ones you'll enjoy. Remember that it is critical you find one you enjoy so you have that intrinsic motivation to work hard on it and succeed. I have included a link to a page which will give you a list of websites that allow you to apply for internships, from there are links where you can find step by step guides for the apply process with each site I have included.
your resume
Click the link on the button below for lots of information about the types of skills that would be beneficial to have on your resume and would be helpful for you in the long run with jobs or internships you aspire to have. There is also the distinction between soft and hard skills because it's important to have a mix of both on your resume.
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cover letters
Cover letters are essential when applying for an internship. You don't want to write an essay but it's also important to establish who you are besides the random facts and activities on your resume. These are short and sweet and the number one piece of advice I have for these is BE SPECIFIC!!! You are going to hear many different opinions and ideas including the fact that you should do a general cover letter because you're applying to many internships. They are not wrong, you should apply for many internships because you have more chances, however, you have to modify the general templates of your cover letters to fit the job description-make sure that skills you mention are relevant to the responsibilities that you would have. If you would like for me to go more in depth about this you can click the more details button below.
the interview
The next glorious step in the internship process is the interview! (no not the movie on Netflix) Some internships may ask you based on your resume alone to join the team which just goes to show how important a neat and organized resume can be. However it also can take you so oh so far because they need to make sure they are giving this opportunity to somebody who really wants it. I will go more into detail about the professionalism you must bring into the interview and some prep you can do on the page linked below.
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declining an offer
(if you're lucky enough to do so)
You are going to be applying to lots of internships, so if you hear back from too many and you feel that you can't fully commit to the amount of work that would be expected of you from them, you should decline the offer. You are establishing a better image for yourself by being honest and saying you can't handle it, than taking on too many and flaking on them which doesn't give the best image of you because you're overwhelmed. Here's a small template of something you can say to respectfully and kindly reject the offer so that you don't ruin the chances of receiving this offer again in the future.
a schedule a day...
When you are starting off this new internship there are some things to keep in mind. First off you should make a schedule of however many hours you will be working that week on your calendar or whatever you use to organize yourself so that you don't flake. Let's say you need this internship for a school credit, keeping track of the amount of hours you worked each day with a short description of what you did is the best way to have quantifiable information about what you did when jobs or colleges ask. If you keep a document of this you can send it to your internship for them to sign which will be a record of your work as an intern. You can also ask your school if they have any specific forms they need you to have signed and ask the person who talks with the interns to sign it or give it to a higher up personnel in the company. Try to fill out (digitally or literally) as much of the forms as you can yourself so it's less for the company to do unless your school gives you direct instructions against doing such.
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the
PROCRASTINATION monster
As with school, work, and many other things in life, procrastination gets the best of us. I have included some links that can help below with locking down your browser, and calming music, so you can buckle down and focus. If you would like more websites for research and stuff like that I recommend heading over to the school websites page.
pubmed.nebi.nlm.gov - credible research paper sources
sci-hub.st - access to research papers
noisli.com - mix different sounds to make a sound environment to work
simplynoise.com - free noise generator with soundscapes
ambient-mixer.com - sounds from fictional worlds and other ambient sounds
just focus - chrome extension that blocks distracting websites for however long you set so you can focus
pubmed.nebi.nlm.gov - credible research paper sources
sci-hub.st - access to research papers
noisli.com - mix different sounds to make a sound environment to work
simplynoise.com - free noise generator with soundscapes
ambient-mixer.com - sounds from fictional worlds and other ambient sounds
just focus - chrome extension that blocks distracting websites for however long you set so you can focus
Congratulations on your internship and I wish you well on your career journey! If you need any more tips check out my YouTube Channel!
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