Create Your Internship

Our Internship Office is not an employment agency; our purpose is to give you helpful information to enhance your learning process. When it comes to advice on the job search or the work you will eventually begin, please do not be shy about asking us, your Internship supervisor, and everyone else you can think of whose career achievements you admire.

Since most internships are rarely paid positions, your compensation is the significant information you will gather from the experts you encounter at every stage of the job search and your employment experience.

Remember that the people to whom you will talk are busy and may seem unnecessarily abrupt at times; however, you will find that if you are always respectful in your attempts to get through, there are many people who will be reminded of how initially difficult the job market can be and how someone once gave them their break when they were starting out as you are. In fact, you can always ask how they got started in the business as a means of making friendly contacts.

Step 1 - Setting up Internship Interviews

Before making contact, focus on the work you propose to accomplish for this firm: Several employers have told me how much they are turned off by "generic" job applications. This means they receive hundreds of applications from people who know nothing about the company to which they are applying; their application states, "I'd like to work for your firm because I am looking for a good management position." If possible, try to say something specific about the firm; you may be able to find out a little about this firm from the library, if it is a big company. Or, you could ask some questions about the company and its goals/achievements/marketing area etc. from a company spokesperson (often a secretary is an excellent source) over the phone. The prospective employer will be favorably impressed if you can demonstrate a specific interest in his/her firm's business and its relationship to the career you are pursuing.

Examples from previous interns' experiences include:

Another student told me she had a talent and desire to work with children. Though she was an Economics major, she'd taken several childcare courses and worked as a nanny. After some discussion, we decided she might approach a firm about setting up a corporate childcare facility at their workplace; she would help them look at the economics of such a project. Our idea was that perhaps a Japanese firm would be most willing, since they have a traditional family orientation in business; she approached Sony with the idea, they agreed to sponsor her internship, and eventually gave her a paid contract.

She was twenty-two years old when she began her own consulting company working on similar projects for many firms, and published a book on the subject of childcare, selling over 2,000 copies during its first two months.

Making contact: By mail, phone, or in person? It is easiest to say no to a letter or phone call; it's much tougher to turn someone down in person. Nowadays, faxes tend to receive more immediate attention, whereas mail may be stacked for perusal later. Generally, you will first fax or mail an employer your resumé, but be sure to include a cover letter stating your interest in an internship interview and also specifically stating your intent to follow-up with a telephone call once the employer has had a few days to look over your resumé. A suggested letter of this nature follows, with a summary sheet on Internship Requirements for the firm's information. Note: be concise; experts say these letters receive only 30 seconds of attention!