It seems as if the never-ending onslaught of mid-terms is
finally behind us. With only two more weeks until Thanksgiving break, and
winter break a few weeks after that, we’re more than halfway through the semester
already.
With the (temporary) lull in schoolwork before finals
start, now is the time to begin the search for summer internships (especially
if you’re looking into a field that hires interns early, like engineering or
consulting). Last year, my summer internship search began over winter break and
continued into April. Although I was fortunate enough to find a
great internship, I was more than stressed trying to solidify summer
plans in the last few weeks of the semester. Now, I’m determined to stay
on my game and secure a summer internship as early as possible. Faithful Career
Center blog readers might remember that while last year, my mantra was “it's never too late,” my new, less anxiety-producing motto is the exact opposite: "it’s
never too early." Here are some tips (and reminders for myself) for staying on
track to ensure that your internship search is a successful one.
Define and refine your search criteria. When looking for an internship, you can set a few criteria
to narrow your search and decrease the number of internship descriptions you
have to sift through. Start with the basics:
where do you want to live over the summer? Whether it’s back home, at Tufts, or
a brand new location, deciding this early on will save you a headache or two.
Last year, I thought it’d be a good idea to keep my search as open as possible,
so I didn’t limit myself to any specific location. However, the amount of time
I spent looking for internships throughout the US was so extensive that I ended
up restricting my search to the Boston area just for my own sanity. Another
important decision to make early (that goes hand-in-hand with choosing where to
live) is whether to restrict your search to paid opportunities only. Remember
that while plenty of paid internships are out there, funding is available
through the Career Center and from many other sources for facilitating unpaid
internships. But, be sure to leave yourself enough time to apply for funding if
this is what you decide.
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| What you don't want your internship search to feel like. |
Start with networking. If you have no idea what you want to do next week, let alone
next summer, start with some reflection and informational interviewing. Ask
your friend who interned at Morgan Stanley what it’s like to be a finance
intern, email that distant relative who works in healthcare administration to
see if they have any tips or pointers, or sit down with an alum who’s working
your dream job to learn where they started. If you do have an idea of what you
want to do, but aren’t sure where to start looking for positions, talk to your
old internship supervisors, professors, deans, or advisors to see if they have
any advice or know of any openings in their field. Remember, 70 – 80% of jobs
are found through networking, so brushing it off as “for older people” or “intimidating”
might not be the best idea. Read up on networking tips on the Career Center
website.
Stay organized. Microsoft Excel can easily become your best friend during an
internship search. Instead of leaving 20 tabs open for every application (did
it once… would not recommend), keep a standardized, frequently-updated
spreadsheet with all relevant information: job title, application deadline,
contact person, required documents, and so on. This will also allow you to keep
track of deadlines, so that you can prioritize which applications to fill out
when.
Utilize the Career Center resources. It wouldn’t be a blog post for the Career Center without
mention of the Career Center’s plethora of resources for finding internships.
The website has a whole page dedicated to finding an internship, not to
mention Jumbo Jobs, which updates weekly with new internship postings. If you’re
overwhelmed by the website or confused in any way, make an appointment with a
Career Advisor or stop by for drop-in hours. Finding an internship is not
something you have to do alone.
Like the title of this post suggests, it’s never too early to start
thinking about next summer. And by starting earlier, you leave yourself with
more time to ensure that whatever you do over the summer is the best possible
fit for you and your career goals.
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
