When working with students I usually recommend three strategies for finding an internship:
- Networking
It is said that up to 85% of jobs are never advertised and we can assume that there are also many internships that are never advertised as well. Networking helps us to uncover those hidden possibilities.
- Online Internship Listings
There are numerous online resources for students to find internships in every career field or industry imaginable.
- Prospecting
Prospecting involves identifying employers of interest and contacting them to see if they offer jobs or internships to current college students.
Below a number of my fellow About.com guides from the career planning/job searching and business/finance channels offer some valuable tips for students seeking to find an internship.
Inside Track to Better Careers - About.com Guide to Financial Careers
Many of the leading firms in the financial services industry offer excellent internship programs according to Mark Kolakowski, About.com Guide to Financial Careers. Mark also offers an overview on the growing numbers of virtual internships available.
How Your Career Services Office Can Help - About.com Guide to Job Searching
According to About.com Guide to Job Searching, Alison Doyle, if you are a college student or alumnus (in many cases, regardless of when you graduated) your college or university career services office can help you with job searching and planning a career or a career change.
Internships for Students, Grad, and Career Changers - About.com Guide to Job Searching
Alison Doyle describes internships as pre-professional work experiences that provide students, recent graduates, and those seeking to change careers with the opportunity to gain experience in a particular career field. Alison provides a number of tips for finding internships by using networking and online resources.
Legal Internships, Externships, Clerkships and Clinics: The Lowdown on Legal Internships - About.com Guide to Legal Careers
About.com Guide to Legal Careers, Sally Kane, tells us that legal internships provide an opportunity for students to increase their knowledge of substantive areas of law, gain exposure to a real work environment and provide valuable support to a legal employer. As the legal field becomes more complex and legal employment opportunities proliferate, the traditional internship has evolved. Now a number of different experiential opportunities for the legal student exist including judicial clerkships, legal clinics, summer clerkships, legal externships and pro bono projects.
Internships Are Not for Students Only - About.com Guide to Career Planning
About.com Guide to Career Planning, Dawn Rosenberg McKay, tells us that people usually think of internships as a way for students to get work experience before they graduate. Internships, however, don't have to be for students only. An internship can also be helpful for someone changing his or her career or for someone who is returning to work after an extended absence.
Should You Do an Internship? - About.com Guide to Career Planning
Dawn also offers some valuable tips on finding internships, how to evaluate an internship setting, and reasons both why to and why not to do an internship.
Best Practices for Employers With Interns - About.com Guide to Human Resources
Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide to Human Resources, provides a great perspective on how a relationship between an employer and an intern can be mutually beneficial. As Susan says, Interns are accustomed to learning, writing, researching, and producing work on a schedule. An employer, and its employees, can gain a lot from the contributions of an intern – if they manage the internship effectively.
