<p>I have heard that another option for finding an internship is contacting small companies which don't have formalized internship programs. Do you have any advice as to how to go about doing this? I am two years into my engineering education and have a unique schedule this year which allows me to work during a period most students would be busy with classes. I can imagine that an internship found this way would probably be unpaid, but that is okay - I just want the experience.</p>
<p>You can do a formal internship at anytime, not just the summer. Why don’t you just do that? I did a spring internship and it worked out well.</p>
<p>The summer after soph year s couldn’t find an internship and read an article about a small startup that was involved in the automotive sector. He sent an email expressing his interest in their project and offering his services as an unload intern. A couple calls and one meeting later and he had the job.</p>
<p>varska, out of curiosity, was this internship paid?</p>
<p>Yes! This totally works! I emailed random marketing companies and got many responses and im only in high school! I eventually got a great and PAID internship with this one small marketing firm and am thrilled. If you ask for an internship youll get great feedback!</p>
<p>the internship was unpaid since it was a small strtup. But because it was small he was able to get right into the mix as far as design decisions. It ended up being a nice thing on the resume and an interview talking point that led to a paid internship (different company) the next summer which led to employment on graduation</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear it! Do you have any advice as to how to go about contacting companies? Formal communication is not a personal strength of mine.</p>
<p>Find some companies that are doing things that interest you and do some research on them. Then send an email saying that you are interested in what they are doing, (be specific) and ask if there would be any opportunities to intern with them. You might have better success with a smaller firm.</p>
<p>I don’t recommend anyone take an unpaid job. It may be illegal for the company to do that and in IMO is unnecessary. If a company has work of any value to be done they should be happy to hire you at relatively low wages. </p>
<p>Back in the Paleolithic era the only way we cave dwellers found summer employment was to arrange our own internships, i.e., we researched local companies and contacted them directly. Yes, it was cold calling but that was the only way to get work. It’s not uncommon for companies to have stuff that needs to be done but they don’t have the time or inclination to formally recruit students for temp work. They may think that students won’t be interested because the work is not likely to lead to a permanent position. If you come in with a proposal to handle short term needs it could be a win-win solution. Good luck.</p>
<p>@varska (or anyone)
The local companies I am most interested in are larger and had competitive internship programs which I have long missed. So what I am trying to figure out now is how to find the companies I haven’t heard of, less cutting-edge but perhaps more flexible in structure. Any tips on this?</p>