Below, we have outlined 4 simple STEPS for you to follow to help you prepare for getting an internship.
1. What is your goal?
The first and most important step to obtain an internship is to really think what is your goal? I would strongly recommend that you spend a good amount of time planning what your future career might look like and the skill shortages you may have that could be filled during your internship.
For example, if you want to eventually run your own business in the future and therefore want to gain as much experience as possible in the general running of a business; your internship has to be varied and give you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience.
Deciding the career route you want to take might be tricky, so you may need to ask your university tutor, parents or a recruitment agency for some guidance at this point. Once, you have completed this step this will make step 3 a lot easier.
2. Updating your CV
This may seem an obvious step but worth mentioning as I know many students haven’t updated their CV since applying for University or part-time employment. Therefore I would recommend that you ensure you have a fully current and updated CV, as this will likely be the first thing most hiring managers or employers will look at.
I understand writing a CV or talking about yourself doesn’t come naturally to everybody but there are lots of free resources out there that will help you with this.
I would recommend reading this blog written by one of my colleagues at a starting point.
3. What internships are available?
There are hundreds of employers offering internships, however now you have identified your career route, it should be easier to filter your search. A good place to start is by signing up to various job search platforms; I have included a selection below that I would recommend signing up to:
By using the filter bars, you will be able to tailor the search to a business sector, when the last advert was posted and some search engines let you see how many applicants have already applied to see how competitive the internship is.
I was keen to only apply to smaller independent companies, so I could gain a more rounded and varied insight into how a business runs from top to bottom, which I felt would help me in my future career.
4. Resilience, patience and a bit of luck!
Now prepare yourself for the long, tedious and sometimes a demotivating process of applying for internship after internship and attending interview after interview. However, I can reassure you that this is not time wasted because interview skills, like any other skill, needs to be practiced. Some of you may never hear back from the companies you apply to and you might have to be willing to try a different route.
This is what happened in my case, I knew what I wanted to learn and gain from doing an internship, so I took another route and started searching for independent companies close to my university.
Thanks to certain keywords on my CV and an algorithm I was approached by my now boss Ben Thompson. After a phone call, the next week I was in the office for an interview and soon after offered the job.
Although, I refer to this ‘journey’ of getting an internship. I am so thankful and would recommend to others to at least try because every job application and interview you attend, you gain more and more experience in this field and these are key skills that you can master and develop for when it really matters i.e. after you graduate.
Tips:
Before starting really think what you want to get out of the experience. It may be quite specific or very broad, but think it through.
Try not to compare yourself to others applying, everyone has a different story!
Aim to update your LinkedIn account just as much as you check Instagram or Facebook!
Unsuccessful interviews are definitely not a waste of time, in fact for me it was quite the opposite.
If I or any of the team at Thompson & Terry Recruitment can help you in any way please get in touch.
