Getting an internship isn’t as difficult as hyped. College life is the best time period to get new experiences and expertise, and internships are one of the best ways to get real life practical exposure and personality development. You get to work with experts of the field for a few months, who become responsible for directing you in the correct way. Besides this, internships also add greatly to your CVs, which in turn enhances the quality of your future by multiple times.
Internships can be either paid or unpaid. Considering that you are a college student, and you want to upgrade your skills through an internship, whether paid or unpaid, this blog will guide you through the roadmap and strategies to get an internship right in the first year of your college.
- Prepare your CV
CV preparation is the first and the most important step to get an internship. All the details of your education, skills, awards and experiences are required to be mentioned in your CV, as it is the first thing that your employer is going to go through before considering you further.
Students often get confused about how to prepare a CV and end up creating it in a much complex and unattractive format.
- Keep your CV simple. Do not decorate it unnecessary to get employer’s attention. Work on the content instead.
- You can use the built in CV and resume formats of MS Word, Google Docs and Canva.
- If you have more than 1 skill, say if you are both a graphic designer and a coder, prepare one CV for each. Do not merge multiple skills in one CV. Use the CV relevant to the internship you are applying for. For example, if you are a content writer, your CV must reflect similar facts. It should not mention about your coding proficiency.
- Keep updating your CV with recent achievements. Always check your CV once before applying for an internship and make the required changes.
- You may or may not attach your photograph in your CV. Attach your picture only if it is formal and decent enough.
- 2. Be ready with Sample Works
Considering that you are a college student, it is understandable that you may have zero past experience for the internship you are looking for. However, the best thing about internships is that they are majorly skill based. If you are good at a certain skill, you will get an internship without a doubt. In this case, you need to be prepared with sample works of your skill so that the employer can get the estimate of your quality.
It is recommended that you either insert a link to your sample work (if digital) or attach it with your CV (if manual). For example, if you are a video editor, you can upload the best edited videos of you on google drive and insert a link to it in your CV.
- 3. Expand your network
Be it internships, jobs, or normal life, networking with people is extremely necessary. It will help you contact and get attention of several recruiters and your chances of getting an internship will be multiplied. With the rise of social media and digital platforms, networking has become even more easy.
- LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to build your network and get job and internship alerts matching your skills.
- Use platforms like Internshala to get thousands of internship opportunities relevant for your skill. Search for more such online internship platforms.
- If you are in college, it is advisable to keep an eye on the notices of your placement and internship cell. You will get a lot of opportunities from there.
Once you possess a skill, prepare your CV and sample works, and start networking, you will find yourself surrounded by opportunities.
- 4. Cold Emailing
This is the most ignored and yet one of the most effective ways to grab an employer’s attention. Cold emailing refers to sending e-mails to certain person expressing your desire to work with them, even if they haven’t posted any kind of job alert. Of course, the probability of getting a reply would be less, but if you are successful in choosing the correct words and delivering the benefits of hiring you as an intern, the probability becomes much more than an open competition.
- Search for the e-mail address of the person you want to work with. If it is a company, search for the e-mail address of the HR. You may try general guesses if e-mail address is not available publicly.
- Always communicate directly about how you can add value through your work. Keep the language polite and respectful. Language plays a very important work here.
- Express your expectations clearly.
- Always attach your CV and a sample work with the mail. This will increase the chances of reply if they are interested.
You may get one reply for 10 mails sent, but it is still better than competing for a declared internship where the probability goes down.
- 5. Stand out
Why should the employer choose you among the thousands of options available to him? You need to have a pinch of uniqueness in your presentation in order to stand out from the crowd. Consider the things that majority of the people aren’t doing. For example, everyone sends text mails and messages. You can stand out by attaching a video of yourself expressing your thoughts. As it is something very rare, the employer is more probable to give you time. Think of more such creative initiatives to make your application unique.
Patience and consistency, by default, are the main ingredients of this dish. The tips given here are only to increase the taste and attractiveness. Keep devoting time and energy in your skill and you will definitely, without a doubt, find an internship matching your expectations right in the initial years of college.
