There has been a lot of discussion on various threads about college internships and how readily available or easy it might be to get them at certain colleges or in certain cities. So I thought maybe a thread might be helpful. I’ll start with what I know.
Some kids get internships via connections that their families or friends of families have. This was actually pretty common.
In our case, one parent company (engineering) had a policy that every child of an employee who was majoring in engineering would be welcome in the summer to intern. My engineering major kid declined the offer because she had found other employment that she enjoyed, and that paid her well (she didn’t call her job an internship…but that seems to be what a lot of folks call summer jobs now).
Some of our kids’ friends got internships via interviews through the career centers at their colleges. No real pattern…they went to school all over the place but seemed to find things of interest to them.
Some kids looked online for potential summer internships, applied and were accepted.
I’ll add…neither of our kids had “internships” per se while on college but both had summer jobs. And both did just fine post college.
My D had several internships while in high school…The first one she actually found and applied to through LInkedIn - that one was to research some legal topics for a law firm that has an internship program. For the second one she had been a speaker at a conference that the org had hosted so she later followed up with them and got an internship with them doing their social media and community outreach. Another she cold contacted some university departments she was interested in and found a professor willing to take her as an intern (labelling specimens at first, then she worked up to reviewing curriculum for one of his classes). Then she did some internships with local politicians - first an assemblymember, then she used that experience to get an internship with a state senator. She also got an internship at a government lab senior year and she is still interning there now as a college freshman. Honestly, I still have no idea how she found that one and got her foot in the door, but by the time she landed it, she had already built a pretty impressive resume for a high school student. But she has really enjoyed that one and she has finally worked her way up to conducting experiments independently. She hopes to stay there at least another year.
S21 had an internship this past summer with a well known performing arts non profit in NYC. He applied to every performing arts related internship that he could find and sent out probably 50 resumes and applications. He got three interviews and got two offers.
One of my kids worked during summers. She didn’t have any internships and went straight to grad school.
My other one had an off campus research position that she found herself. I am not really sure how she found it. The remaining summers were spent on campus doing research. She found that position by asking her professor- she was then invited to join.
For DD’17 (graphic design), my sister was showing a customer the logo DD designed for her office. Customer owned a print shop and asked if DD would come intern so in her case, family connection. She had been applying to what few she found online with no luck, prior to that.
For DD’19 (recreation), she started cold emailing various places in the metro area she wanted to be that summer. As it turned out, one that she emailed on a Friday said he was about to ask the city council on Monday for permission to hire an intern and that one worked out.
Another one she did prior to her “official” one was because of a scholarship. She had applied for a $500 state-wide scholarship and got it for freshman year. She applied for a renewal for sophomore year and the administrator replied with information on the internship. She ended up making $10K on that so that little scholarship paid off…
In high school two of my kids interned at a rehabilitation hospital. It was a volunteer position but gave them a broad overview of biomedical devices and how they are used with patients. Our son, who plays guitar, volunteered there on the weekends playing for patients as well. They both enjoyed the experience and it definitely helped with later internships/jobs.
S18 got his high school internship by writing to our mayor, who was sufficiently impressed with a 16 year old doing this entirely on his own, rather than relying on a parent, to hire him for the summer. He went back the following summer (before college) as well.
In college he put in an online application to a well known DC think tank in sophomore year and was lucky enough to be picked for the summer as one of 2 out of ~500 applicants based partly on the specific experience during his HS internship (he later found out most other interns got their jobs through professor connections).
Then his junior year internship (at the firm he now works for) was again through an online application (though he subsequently found out he had connections through both one of his college professors and his think tank internship, who proactively reached out to the firm to recommend him).
I mentioned that one of my kids did not have summer internships. She worked. She did have an internship during the school year that was part of her major. That was organized/handled by the school.
My oldest is a cpa, git her internship through college (job fairs?), pretty easy to get one as an accounting major at a state flagship in the NYC area, she’s working there 6 years later.
My next was a finance major, actually got one senior year through his business fraternity with a lot of alumni at a valuations firm, still there 3 years later.
The third just got jobs working at PT clinics summers, now in grad school she gets clinicals (no pay, pay for the credits).
My current junior just accepted her summer internship for next summer with a nice signing offer. She actually got an offer at every company she applied, the interview process was long, with several rounds, she went with he best experience for her future (actuary), even turned down DH’s company, this one has a very high job offer rate.
My sophomore has an “internship” here in town at an accounting firm (he commutes), a close friend (who’s known him forever) just asked him if he wanted to work, he does a lot of lunch pick ups! He’s a business major.
I’m going to say it’s a hustle, the students do a lot of ground work. My junior was at a job fair, talked with another student who mentioned his dad was an actuary, my daughter asked for the company’s name and contacted them, got an interview (but went with another company).
My D was fortunate to go to a school that is known for their career readiness on multiple levels - career center, partnerships with companies, job fairs, industry integration into classes, co ops, etc… It was still amazing to me how many students didn’t take advantage of what was in their back yard. IMO, every student should go talk to their schools career center - get the resume updated, practice interviewing, practice the elevator spiel, and go to every job fair to at least practice talking to companies. (And many schools have lending closet for interview clothes if students don’t have them).
If your school doesn’t have those resources, use your network. Look through alumni directories and don’t be afraid to cold connect. Talk to professors and advisors, they can be great mentors. Talk to family and friends, let them know what you are interested in doing. Bottom line - hustle!
Timely thread! My D22 is on her grind looking for internships now. I’ve been trying to help with the few connections I have and she’s also has multiple sessions with the career office at her college. They have a great signature internship program that is sponsored by alums and only for students at their college. Hope she can land a good one.
Be active on their college campus to build a resume. Both just interviewed at college fairs etc. Another one was an outside agency /org for international internships.
Both my kids got internships via indeed - where companies post their regular postings. In essence, Indeed has the link to the corporate job sites.
Given that we were less concerned with location for my son (he needed experience), he reviewed nationwide jobs and yet luckily he ended up where he wanted - in automotive. Not “where” he wanted but the industry and even company. The second summer he was brought back near home as a plant is nearby.
My daughter also used indeed - she looked more locally as she has a long distance b4 home for the summer as well. - and she ended up working with the state who posted like 20 internships one week.
Both kids “over applied” - meaning it’s hard (for them anyway) to get that first internship - and even if they had to take something unrelated, I think it would have helped them later - experience begets experience. So every day for a couple months it was 2-3 apps.
My son’s school/major had ample career fairs but few companies excited him - he did apply and interview with a couple like Airbus and Honda. My daughter - not sure of her career resources but given her major (Poli Sci/International Studies) the career center is likely less likely to help find a role. They did list a few she applied to and had one interview.
Yes Indeed was the primary source of opportunities for my S. He also actively developed his LinkedIn profile and built out a network of 500+ connections.
At first, my daughter learned of (research internship) opportunities and made contacts with institutions through a university-sponsored career fair.
By Junior year, she followed up on word-of-mouth recommendations from professors, who knew of more specific long-term studies conducted at various places/universities in town.
(She consciously always made use of office hours, which put/pushed her face in front of professors; and many of her classes were small, seminar style - which might have further helped chance-conversations and “networking”?)
My younger daughter competed an 11 week research position at a well known hospital. I seem to remember her receiving an email about it from one of her professors.
D sent cold emails to all the PIs she was interested in working with and landed a great internship that distinguished her in the applicant pool for her current position.
S has applied to a couple of internships via the usual channels (e.g. Handshake, LinkedIn). His previous mentors, who work in his desired field, have also reached out and encouraged him to apply to their company’s internship programs.