How To Land An Internship As A College Student

It is typically hard for students to land an internship simply because most internships ask for experience that college students do not have. Here are ways to gain some experience and land a position.
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An internship can be a stepping stone into a lifelong career. It is important for college students to look for an intern opportunity because it could help them attain a job faster after college. Getting an internship isn't easy, it takes a lot of application denies to finally receive one opportunity. You may notice when you're looking for an internship on sites like Linkedin, indeed, and Ziprecruiter that many of the internship opportunities are looking for a candidate that has experience.

You may be thinking "I'm a college student how am I supposed to have experience in a career field I am learning about". I remember being in the same boat you are in with my experience only being an employee at a retail store. I remember filling out hundreds of internship applications and I either got denied or never got a response.

I had to ask myself how bad do I want to succeed after college, you think landing an internship is hard imagine looking for a job after college. I am going to give you tips on how to land a internship.

Start by looking at the experience and qualifications that the business is searching for.

Looking at the qualifications or requirements can give you an idea on what skills you already have for the job and what skills you need to gain in order to be considered a candidate.

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In order to get an understanding of what the business is looking for in a candidate you need to focus on the required skills or qualifications. This is the most important part of the application because you'll see how your skills and knowledge matches up with what is needed.

For example, I wanted to get into digital marketing I had no experience what so ever. I did not know where to start but, as I kept reading the qualifications I realized a pattern. Every internship position I applied to wanted experience in social media marketing/management.

I started searching up ways to gain experience in social media marketing and then I came across HubSpot. This can resource is very helpful especially if you are a business major. HubSpot academy offers free courses and certificates once you complete all of the requirements. I took two courses and got certificates in social media marketing and email marketing.

Even though I still had trouble finding an internship it was a step up from my previous experience and shined a little light on my resume.

Use all of the resources you have available to you like Google, YouTube, or even friends.

If you want to gain more knowledge and skills for a position you want, use what you have in front of you.

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You'll need to use everything you can to better yourself for the position you are looking to apply for. One resource that helped me a lot was YouTube, anything you want to learn how to do you can find it on YouTube. Google is also a good resource to use as well because you could find various resources that will give you the knowledge you need to have a better understanding of what you are doing.

You may want to ask a friend, teacher, or family member who has experience in the position you are looking to apply to for help. People who has experience in the career field you are pursuing can be a great push ahead of your competition. Be sure to ask even if you think that they have no experience because you never know who they may know.

Applying to unpaid internships can benefit you in the long run.

I know it may suck working for free but, sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to succeed. Don't look at it as free work just see it as a free course to gain an certificate.

unpaid internship
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No one likes to work for free, but you may have to if the opportunity presents itself. Unpaid internships is still an internship at the end of the day, it is there for you to gain the experience that you need in order to succeed. I see an unpaid internship as an advantage because in college we pay to learn, why pay to learn when you can have hands on experience for free.

Unpaid internships aren't as bad as you may think because you are typically working 10-20hrs a week and you get to choose how many hours you want to work. They aren't working you to death and besides an internship can lead to a full-time position. Also some unpaid internships offer commission so you can actually get paid for an unpaid internship.

Make sure you write an excellent cover letter.

A cover letter can be a great way to introduce yourself to a business. Your cover letter has to grab the attention of the reader.

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Even if you have no experience you can still impress a company searching for an intern with a great cover letter. Introduce yourself to the company, but make sure your introduction isn't lengthy because they are more interested in what you can bring to the table.

Describe your skills to the company and explain how you could have a good impact on the company with your skills. Tell them why you believe you are a good fit for their company. Also tell the company that you would love an interview from them and leave your contact information. Lastly thank them for their time. Remember don't make the cover letter lengthy and make sure you're skills are at the top of the page.

Take the opportunities that are offered to you.

Take the opportunities while you have the chance even if it is something you don't want to do. As long as it lines up with your career field that's all that should matter.

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Do not let the opportunities pass because you may end up regretting it in the end. If you do not have multiple offers lined up from different internships than do not deny any offer. If you get one offer and deny it you may have to wait weeks or months to receive another.

If it is something you are not interested in doing just ask the employer how many days do you have to accept the offer because you have to weigh all options even if you do not have any other offers. This gives you a couple of extra days to receive other offers. Push come to shove, take the offer and if you receive another offer that you are interested in just tell the employer that you have found something else that would align with your future goals an thank them for the opportunity.

You can also accept multiple offers, but make sure the amount is attainable do not accept a lot of offers at once if you aren't able to balance them at the same time.

You have to have the grit and motivation if you want to land a internship.

You have to have that grit mentality because you are going to be denied many times and you have to have motivation in order to push yourself.

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Grit is the most important factor for applying to internships because you're going to get rejected many times, but you can't let rejection stop you from your ultimate goal. You have to have that mentality of "I'm going to keep coming no matter what". You may not get an offer for a couple months, but that's fine just keep filling out applications.

Have a motivated mind set because sometimes being rejected so many times could hurt your pride. Keep pushing and stay motivated because someone will give you the opportunity. Just believe in yourself and don't let the rejections get to you.

In conclusion internships can be hard to obtain because many students do not have the experience. There are many ways to gain the experience to help you achieve your goal of getting an internship. I hope that these tips mentioned will help someone who is seeking guidance because I could've sure used these when I was looking for an internship.

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