I enjoyed my long Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday weekend, spent staring longingly out the window while I study
for my 3 exams this week… and the 2 after that… and paper and exam the
week after that. But do you know what happens the week after the week after the
week after next week? Summer break!
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| You know it's about to get real when there's a throwback to HSM. |
By now, you hopefully have your summer plans figured out,
whether it’s a part-time job back home, classes on campus or online, an
internship, or any combination of the three! I’m finalizing my summer plans
now, but I think I’ll wait until next week for that great reveal (which I’m
sure you are all eagerly anticipating).
In the meantime, though, I’d like to talk to all the
procrastinators in the room. Hey, guys. It’s me again. Sorry I couldn’t make it
to the last meeting, but I was being productive and didn’t want to feel out of
place. Also, I was the one who broke the coffee machine. If you’re still not
sure what you’re doing this summer, that’s ok. You’re not alone. Now, I’m not
going to lie you – most internship deadlines have passed, and most summer
positions have been filled by now. If
you want to gain some experience in your field, there are still ways for you to
do that. Below are my suggestions for finding that last-minute summer
opportunity.
Don’t stop looking. JumboJobs updates almost every day, and
every company is on their own timeline. There is always a chance that you’ll
get lucky and find a job or internship through diligent checking. Although it’s
not very proactive, this is a good strategy to employ.
Network, network, network. At this stage in the game, you’ll
have the best luck asking as many people as you can if they know of any
positions available. Email a professor (even if you haven’t taken a class with
them before) and ask them if they have availability on any of their research
projects or know someone who does. Ask past employers, friends, or family
members if they’ve heard anything around the water cooler. You can even do the
legwork on your own – like I’ve mentioned time and again, my internship last
summer was the result of a shot-in-the-dark email to my dog’s veterinary
clinic, and it worked out perfectly. The worst that could happen is that
someone says no – and they still might forward your name/resume along to one of
their colleagues/friends. Remember to check out the Career Center’s guide to networking if you need to brush up!
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| Shake off the networking fears and put yourself out there, April. |
Take whatever you can get. If you’ve waited this long, the
opportunities may be few and far between. Full-time internships are probably
not going to pop up out of the blue unless they don’t start until later in the
summer, and you might be similarly hard-pressed to find a paid position. If all
you can find is small-time volunteering, shadowing, or administrative jobs, don’t
think that you are below these roles – in fact, you’re at the very bottom as an
intern anyway. In a recent sample of American CFOs, 46% said that they felt
that millennials were too entitled (read here for more about millennials in the
workforce) – try to challenge these stereotypes. These positions could start
out small, but they may lead to something more – remember my post on volunteering to gain job experience, and the story of the UCO student who began as a nursing volunteer and ended up with a job? Things like
this happen more often than you’d think!
Learn from this experience, and be more proactive next year.
Although this won’t help you find an internship in the next three weeks, it’s an
important point to bring up. If you’ve found that you keep missing deadlines or
can’t find anything that interests you, use these realizations for growth
instead of self-deprecation. Think about how much you’ve learned from being let
down, and channel that disappointment into new vigor for the following summer or even during the upcoming fall and spring semesters.
It’s never too early to start looking for summer internships during the year,
and now you know what you really want out of an internship and when to start
thinking about applying and starting your search. Having a fancy ~internship~
every single summer is not what gets you a job, but you do need at least a few
experiences to prove your skills and accomplishments to future employers.
To sum it up into one phrase, don’t give up hope! You may feel
like everyone around you is doing big things or landing all the internships in
the entire world, but they’re just as confused as you are, although maybe a bit
more eager. Use the last few weeks of the year to have fun, study hard, and
plan ahead. Just think of how close we are to four months free of classes,
homework, and tests (although hopefully filled with working hours!).
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
