How to Boost Your Chances of Getting an Internship
By: Aditya Mittal
Tags: Internships, Future, Goals, Learning, Enjoy Writing

I’ll be upfront with you, getting internships is hard. Like really hard. If you don’t have the right connections or a general idea of what you want to do, you may end up trying to get one for months with no success.

Although it may be difficult, there are many things you can do to optimize your chances and produce a strong application. Below are some steps to boost your chances.

Note: Most of these steps will actually help you with other forms of employment as well, from freelance work to full-time jobs.

A Quick Background

Many of you may think that a high schooler may not be qualified to answer this, so I wanted to give a quick background about myself to show how the tips I’ve implemented below have worked out.

Currently, I have two part-time internships at startups (one in the telemedicine sector and the other in social work), and I have consulted with a contact-tracing company for statewide deployment. The amazing thing is that these opportunities only came after I implemented all of the steps I have below.

Step #1: Create a Resume

A resume is a document that contains a person’s skills, accomplishments, and background. It’s important to add these things to your resume:

Skills: These can be soft skills (communication, collaboration, time management, leadership) or hard skills (programming, marketing, etc.).

These can be soft skills (communication, collaboration, time management, leadership) or hard skills (programming, marketing, etc.). Work Experience: This includes your past education, as well as previous jobs that you’ve worked in. Note that this can be substituted for volunteer experience if you don’t have enough work experience as of now.

This includes your past education, as well as previous jobs that you’ve worked in. Note that this can be substituted for volunteer experience if you don’t have enough work experience as of now. Projects: Especially for students, it’s important to show what you’re working on, as this will show potential recruiters that you’re passionate and experienced about the field you are applying for.

Especially for students, it’s important to show what you’re working on, as this will show potential recruiters that you’re passionate and experienced about the field you are applying for. Contact Information: Add contact information to let employers know where to contact you in the future.

Add contact information to let employers know where to contact you in the future. Achievements/Certifications: Make sure to add any awards you’ve gotten as this shows credibility, especially if these certifications have been given by a reputed organization.

Opening Statement

The opening statement is a way to provide a quick introduction into what you’re applying for and how you can provide value. Start with strong traits, have 2–3 specialized skills, describe your professional goals, and then transition into what you hope to do for the company. Remember to keep it short and to the point.

Importance

Resumes allow you to condense the sum of your skills into a few pages. It also provides a quick document to reference to inform employers about your career objectives and communicate in a concise manners the benefits that you will bring to the job if you are hired.

CVs

CVs are a longer version of resumes that detail your entire work experience and the entire course of a candidate’s academic career. Note that resumes are usually more important to employers than CVs, so make sure to get those first.

Templates

There are many good templates for resumes, but I would recommend some of the templates from this website as a starter.

Step #2: Make a LinkedIn Profile

Create an account here, and fill in all of the requisite information on your profile. It’s extremely important that you spend a long time perfecting your profile page on LinkedIn, because this is what recruiters look at heavily. Here are some things to put in:

About: This is similar to your opening statement, but may turn out a bit longer. Create a 3–4 paragraph explanation about who you are, what your interests are, and what projects you are currently working on.

This is similar to your opening statement, but may turn out a bit longer. Create a 3–4 paragraph explanation about who you are, what your interests are, and what projects you are currently working on. Job/Education/Volunteer Experience: Make sure to fill in the description for these experiences, as these will show recruiters what you did in those positions.

Make sure to fill in the description for these experiences, as these will show recruiters what you did in those positions. Awards/Certifications/Projects: Again, similar to your resume, make sure to fill these out in details, as these are what students will rely on for getting internships, especially with no work experience.

Again, similar to your resume, make sure to fill these out in details, as these are what students will rely on for getting internships, especially with no work experience. Skills/Endorsements: Put your top skills; these can be hard or soft skills. It’s important that you get endorsements for these; make sure to ask your friends, employers, and family to endorse you.

Put your top skills; these can be hard or soft skills. It’s important that you get endorsements for these; make sure to ask your friends, employers, and family to endorse you. Other: There is a lot of stuff you can add on LinkedIn, so make sure to browse the website to see what else you can fill in.

Step #3: Connect and Expand Your Network

Now that you have the basics, it’s time to connect and expand your network.

First Steps

When you have little to no connections in the beginning, it’s important to continually gain connects. There are a few ways to do this:

Reach Out to Industry Professionals: Reach out to professionals and ask if you can meet with them. The worst case scenario, they say no. The best case scenario, you now have a mentor and guide that you can go to for advice and knowledge.

Reach out to professionals and ask if you can meet with them. The worst case scenario, they say no. The best case scenario, you now have a mentor and guide that you can go to for advice and knowledge. Connect with Everyone: Connect with everyone you know, from your friends to your family members to your associates at your job. It’s important to expand your network by doing this.

What you should not do is connect with people you don’t know. This will do absolutely nothing for your network, and although it may look like you have a large network, you really don’t have anything.

Next Steps

Your next steps will be to keep growing out your network by looking at 2nd connections (connections of your connections) and seeing whether you’re interested in talking with them. Remember that the more you build out your network, the more likely people will be to come to you for internship opportunities.

Step #4: Find an Internship

There are three main ways I think there are to find an internship: finding it yourself, recruiters, and luck.

Method #1: Finding It Yourself

This is probably the method that you’re going to have to rely on the most. Apply literally anywhere that you want that allows you to. Continually search for job opportunities, and don’t wait for someone to respond. The hard truth is that 90% of the time, you won’t get the job.

Here are some resources for finding internships:

Tip #1: Even if it says that you have to be a college student, and you’re in high school or middle school, if you have the other requirements, go ahead and apply and see if the company is still interested in hiring you.

Tip #2: Create a personal website that you can send to recruiters to look professional. If your LinkedIn profile is already good enough, then you skip out on this step.

Method #2: Recruiters

By building out your network, your resume, and your Linkedin profile, recruiters are much more likely to reach out to you. Remember to keep a professional tone when talking to them: you want to sound older than you actually are.

If you’re asked to do a video interview, dress formally, and make sure to be prepared for questions. Don’t keep the conversation forced, and try to keep the recruiter interested in you.

Method #3: Luck

There’s some times where your friend may have a friend that is working on making a startup, or you have a relative that is looking into a business venture. Take these opportunities! They are extremely rare, but when they happen, it will likely be the most meaningful internship you can get.

Conclusion

As you can see, there isn’t one clear-cut way to getting an internship. Getting one will take time and hard work, but the results will be worth it if you do get one. Internships open up job opportunities, teach you about the field you plan to major in, and give you an opportunity to expand your network.

Getting my first internship took me nearly six months of refining every aspect of my application and delving into numerous projects. If you wait until the end, you’ll find that the journey was definitely worth it.

If you want to talk more about how to get an internship or anything else, schedule a meeting: Calendly! For information about projects that I am currently working on, consider subscribing to my newsletter! Here’s the link to subscribe. If you’re interested in connecting, follow me on Linkedin, Github, and Medium.