<p>Thoughts on: Walking into a company professionally dressed and resume in hand :)</p>
<p>It can work. You need to have a lot of charm though. Here’s what I suggest. Machiavellian tactics lolz. Approach with a different purpose and lie if necessary. Say something along the lines of, “Hi! How are you? I was just wondering if you can help me with a somewhat unusual request. You see, I was just doing a school research project on ________ (company name).” The people will most likely be willing to help.</p>
<p>Plan a fake project and do lots of research, know what questions to ask to impress the dudes, and talk a lot, be charming. And at the end, while you’re about to leave, especially if you actually get to meet an influential person in the company, gently slip in “I’m sorry sir/madam, one more thing. This may sound ridiculous, but I loved it here, everyone knows each other so well, and I was just wondering… with internships and all that stuff, if I can come work for you one day? It could just be a desk job or something, but I’m just really interested” or some other stuff, just make sure you keep a smile on your face and stay confident. Don’t let anything obfuscate your sagacity, and if you play it right, you’ll get your internship :)</p>
<p>-This strategy has worked for me b4.</p>
<p>Really, what company(ies) did you employ it on?</p>
<p>Someone that Machiavellian is generally not as clever or opaque as they might think. The tip off of “lie if necessary” is one that tells me that someone is one that I wouldn’t want on company premises.</p>
<p>I appreciate people who are straight up even if green and somewhat naive. If someone demonstrates a strong work ethic and at least some middlin’ smarts, they’ll probably get a look somewhere. But it’s a numbers game. My D’s outfit had 500+ applications for 10 internships last summer. A 3.7gpa was the minimum required to even be in the semi-final pool. And this was a non-profit, albeit a high-profile one.</p>
<p>I actually have tried similar tactics as Jayster has suggested with much success, so I agree with him. In fact, I have gotten to meet with and establish relationships with many influential CEO’s during my college career by employing such techniques…so go for it!</p>
<p>At the end of the day, it is well known that you will not get anything if you don’t ask for it, so go out and ask with no fear!</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>