College Being

Is it worth it to do an Internship?

A 2014 study on the Southwestern University students found that students who completed one internship program while studying at college had 13% more chances of finding a full-time employment later. The odds improved with the number of internships students completed. The study also revealed that students who completed at least one internship program were happier with their career outcomes by about 7%.

Other studies also indicate that internships are rapidly gaining priority in the employers’ checklist for choosing college students as their potential employees.

Kelley School of Business reports that 94% of its Class 2017 students were actively engaged in seeking an internship as they see it as an opportunity to explore different industries and careers, gain real-world experience, and be more attractive to potential employers after completing their graduation. The site goes on to say that in the age of fierce competition, employers use internships as recruiting tools and offer full-time positions to interns they deem successful.

Looksharp’s 2016 State of Millennial Hiring Report offered an interesting insight. As many as 81.1% graduates reported that internships played a significant role in helping them find their true passions and change their majors or even career directions.

Best Ways to Find the Perfect Internship Program

College Career Services Office

If you are in college, the wisest thing to do is to start your internship search from the Career Center or Internship Programs Office on your campus online or offline. With their extensive resources, they might be able to direct you to the companies who are already open to hiring students from your college or subject area.

Your college’s website and network should always be your starting point as it makes it much easier for you to find mentors and referrals and opportunities and gain an edge over other interns in line for a particular position.

Personal Connections

LendEDU’s 2017 Internship Report made a startling revelation. 91% of student participants in the survey said that ‘connections’ were the most important factor when it came to land an internship program. 43% participants said that they found an internship opportunity through family connections while 31% participants were able to secure internships they found online.

Cold Calls

Chalk out a dream list of companies that are at the top of your chosen careers. Go to the ‘Careers’ section of the company websites and see if they offer internship opportunities open at the moment.

If they do not list any such opportunities, you can still make cold calls on the numbers listed in their ‘Contact Us’ sections and ask them how you can apply to be an intern in their company or whom you can contact with your internship proposal. You might also want to make notes on what works and what does not work with such companies.

Internship Aggregator Websites

There are several websites where college students can look for summer internships. But it takes more than simply on searching for a job online and applying for it to really get hired. Most of the internship opportunities posted on leading job board aggregators like Indeed or SimplyHired or Monster are either already taken up or get filled up through a personal connection.

Some of the best sites where you can find good opportunities or referrals are:

• Glassdoor: Since the past decade, Glassdoor has evolved into one of the leading internship listings websites. It aggregates opportunities from job boards, company websites, and directly from employers. You can compare salaries and stipends here easily – and also ready company reviews.
• Google: The most powerful search engineer for all purposes, Google is still the best place to look for internships. The modern-day search monster turns up several websites and links you didn’t know about earlier – and might take a few days for you to sift through.
• Internships.com: Very popular with college students, this website allows you to see which of your Facebook friends (or contacts) are linked to a company you are interested in. Like Chegg (who owns the website), there are several other websites that offer online tutoring services providers, management assignment help, or academic support to students across the world and are always on the lookout for interns who can work with them as subject experts or professional writers.
• WayUp.com: Much like Internships.com, this website also lists paid and unpaid internship opportunities and entry-level jobs in about 30,000 companies. Here, you can find internship opportunities at some of the star companies like Facebook, Zappos etc.
• LinkedIn: This 16-year old professional networking site helps you to reach out to people you know and get recommendations. You may click on the jobs tab, type in the type of internship you are looking for in the ‘Search Jobs’ tab and your desired location in the ‘Search Location’ tab to find specific listings that you might actually apply to. For example: ‘Marketing internship’ in ‘Washington, D.C.’ LinkedIn does not allow you to see paid and unpaid internships separately but it does offer you instant access to your contacts working in that company or in that industry who might be able to help you with references.

There are other sites too that you might want to try, such as YouTern that connect mentors and interns, Idealist that lists internships and jobs in the non-profit sector, Global Experiences where you have to pay to get a chance to an internship abroad, and CoolWorks that offers very interesting summer jobs in places like ski resorts and national parks.

Author Bio: Nishant Sinha is the co-founder of Transtutors.com, an Online Assignment Help platform for students of Graduation and Post-Graduation level. He believes that brightest of students need help at times and that academic excellence begets thirst for more knowledge. You can contact him through his LinkedIn or Facebook profiles.