My biggest piece of career advice for college students is to complete paid internships! The more the better, but make it a point to complete at least one internship before graduation. The experience and perspective you’ll gain from the formalized, on-the-job experience an internship provides will be invaluable as you market yourself after graduation and identify the best roles for your professional fulfillment.
How do you find paid internships?
I recommend students use two avenues to search for paid internships: word-of-mouth networking and published job banks. The first step a student can take is notifying their immediate network (friends, family, and social network connections) that they are seeking summer internship opportunities in a specific field. Making your intentions known early is key. Your network may not know of any opportunities at the moment; however, when they do hear of them, they will be able to let you know!
The second and very popular way to find paid internships is through published job banks. It is important to note that since this is an easier way to find opportunities, your competition is much greater! As a result, I recommend getting organized and applying to multiple internships that are of interest to you. Without further delay, here are five places to find published, paid internships.
If you don’t already have one, be sure to make a LinkedIn profile. Follow companies in your industry that you are interested in potentially working for one day and stay up-to-date on their company and internship opportunities. You can also search for jobs and internships using LinkedIn! It is important to make sure your profile is complete prior to applying through LinkedIn though. Don’t leave your education, work experience, or profile photo incomplete!
Indeed
One of my favorite online job banks is Indeed.com. It is very large and allows you to search with multiple criteria. Perhaps you are a business marketing major specifically interested in digital media marketing. Indeed will return a large number of opportunities for a specific search. In addition, you can be emailed notifications when new opportunities arise that match your criteria. A proactive action is to download the Indeed App and spent at least 15 minutes a week browsing opportunities while you are eating lunch, waiting for class to start, etc.
Career Services & Career Fairs
Every university will offer career services to students in some capacity. Locate the office and browse their listings. In addition, this same office likely hosts a career fair each semester. Find out when that is and make it a point to attend. Take a polished resume (link to resume package) and prepare ahead of time (link to career fair article) to set yourself up for success!
Way Up
Way Up is a website designed just for college students and upcoming graduates. That’s right! They do a lot of the work for you by posting positions at companies that don’t require years of experience or fancy industry credentials. They specialize in entry-level jobs and internships – a perfect resource for students looking for paid internships!
Glassdoor
Much like Indeed, Glassdoor is an online job bank that allows candidates to search using multiple criteria (paid internships being one of them). What I like about Glassdoor is that it takes its services a step further! Students can look at company reviews to get some insight into what it is like to work there. That’s not all! Prepare yourself for interviews by looking at lists of questions and tips from candidates who have interviewed with the company previously. This website is an excellent resource for students seeking full-time employment and paid internships!
Jooble
Jooble is a job search engine, like Google but only for jobs. It enables you to look for jobs on all of the major job boards and career sites across the United States all in one place. Jooble automatically filters out duplicated jobs, so similar jobs, posted on several career sites, are shown as a single one. Jooble’s primary goal is to help people find the right job in minutes and save time and energy doing it!
Help Finding Paid Internships
A quality summer internship can very well be the beginning of an extremely successful career for a student. The issue is most students don’t know how to get a great internship and need some help and guidance and really thrive during this process. I can help! I devote each spring semester to coaching students to their first paid internships. Read about my services and the successes of past student clients!
How I Can Help You Get an Internship
Gone are the days of a college degree being the ticket to a good job after graduation. Employers value and expect candidates to have industry-relevant work experience during college. I help students navigate the career planning and job search process to ensure they are set up for success after graduation. Learn more about my services and former client successes!
Book a free consultation to discuss your next internship or job opportunity!
