<p>My son attended the career fair this fall and has been applying online for various internships. We've also put the word out to a few people we know that he is looking for something this summer. It seems early to be doing this, but I guess not, right?? Are we ahead of schedule, or does it really take this long?</p>
<p>It is never too early to apply for internships. The schedule for summer internships runs from now till may be March or April next year. Some offers for summer internship might come as early as October and November while others might be in February, March, or even April. Apply early will open to more opportunities.</p>
<p>A lot of deadlines have already passed, so I would definitely start them ASAP</p>
<p>I’m also a parent & have a question along the same lines. What happens when the internship the student REALLY wants has an application deadline in early February with a notification of acceptance in mid-March? It’s very competitive, but it fits in really well with my daughter’s future plans. If she doesn’t get accepted & waits until March to apply for something else, she might end up with nothing. Not quite sure how to advise her on this.</p>
<p>TCMom, what your daughter is facing is a challenge to a lot of students regarding internships application. If that is the internship she really wants she might just apply and see what happen. If she does not get accepted then she applies to any that might still be available at that time. Many companies actually start making internship offers already. My son got two summer internships offer last year. One in October and the other in November. The offer in November is better than the one in October. However, since he already accepted the October offer before the November one came, he had to turn down the better offer.</p>
<p>TCMom - I would tell your kid to apply to any internships that she might want right now. If she gets her dream internship, she can back out of another one that she has accepted (not ideal situation, but might be necessary). Multiple offers are better than no offers, and a non-dream offer is better than no offer.</p>
<p>Okay let’s not propose that someone violate general ethical standards. You should never renege on an offer you have already accepted; it may seem like a good idea now but could really come back to haunt you in the future.</p>
<p>Internship timelines vary but are generally consistent within industries. If you are extremely interested in an internship that has an application deadline of early February, you are interested in an internship with standard timelines, which is very fortunate! Obviously, you can apply to as many internships as your heart desires. You can interview wherever you want and receive as many offers as you can get. TCMom, your daughter should apply to several DOZEN internships if she really, truly wants to be an intern this summer. If she gets an offer to the one she wants, then she accepts it and that’s the end of the story.</p>
<p>Many people have the problem of exploding offers. Companies occasionally make an offer and say that you must respond within three days, or else the offer will expire. THIS IS NOT STANDARD PRACTICE! Although some employers do this in order to see if they can get people to respond sooner, most will agree to extending that deadline if you explain that you are waiting to hear back from other companies by a certain date.</p>
<p>My advice to your daughter is to do the following…</p>
<p>From now until her return from winter break:
- Research industries and companies. If she has a dream job, great! But she should still research alternatives, including industries that are similar but not exactly the same. Come up with a list of companies (probably around a dozen or so) and do more in-depth research on what they do and, more specifically, what their entry-level employees do. That will give her a good sense of what she’s getting herself into, and it will make writing cover letters much easier.
- Update her resume. The resume should have all of her relevant experience and be written concisely. She should have her resume reviewed by her career services office, or at least by a friend (not a family member!). If there is the possibility of applying to multiple industries, she should consider whether she has experience that is more valuable to one industry than another and change her resume accordingly.</p>
<p>January and February
- Apply like nobody’s business. Absolutely apply to the companies she has done research on and decided would be viable alternatives to her first choice.
- Look around for other internships. Most schools offer on-campus recruiting of some sort or at least have job postings on the career services website. Even if she doesn’t want the jobs, she should apply to several internships with early application deadlines - if she can get several interviews under her belt before interviewing with the companies she really wants, she will have a competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Now, advice to FT job seekers is to continue applying to jobs until you ACCEPT an offer, but that is not the case for internship seekers. It usually turns out that after March, most internships still available are relatively undesirable, so it could honestly just be better to look at finding a summer job. If your daughter is looking to get into the workplace the following year, it is crucial that she do SOMETHING, whether it is academic, internship, research or job. If your daughter is an underclassman, it is less necessary that she do things; jobs/internships/research/classes will all help bolster her resume for the future, but it isn’t as big a deal.</p>
<p>The short version: Do research, apply early and often, don’t accept and renege and don’t get terribly down if no internships come up.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice! I’ll certainly pass it along to my daughter & we’ll see how it all plays out.</p>
<p>All I’m saying is that there’s no need to wait to apply to other internships until you hear back from the one you really want. If all the internships in the field are around the same time, then this is not an issue.</p>