Many college students overlook the importance that a summer job or internship has to play in their future career life. Summer holiday is the perfect time for any college student to try out different career opportunities to find out the right direction before graduation. After graduation, every step you take should be done carefully and you will not have the freedom to experiment with your career. Summer internships are a great way to have an idea of how your career will be after you have interned for it.
As a student you also get the opportunity to explore different areas of work related to your subject or field. Experience always helps you to understand if the career path is the right one for you or not. Maybe you have always dreamed about doing something, but without experiencing it, how will you know if it is really your dream career. Only after having a first-hand experience, you will understand if it really suits you.
How to get?
What plans do you have to get a good internship? During the summer, most of the college students are clueless about how to get started to get an internship position for the summer. Though it is not that tough, following are some of the steps that you can take to make it a successful one:
- Start with your preference
It is always good to know about your preferences before starting to apply for a summer internship position. It will make it easier for you to get into something which you are really interested in.Do you want to do something which pays your pocket money? Do you want an internship to get good experience? The needs are yours to decide. Do a complete analysis of your wants and needs; then go for an internship.
- Research the organisation before applying
You need to understand the organisation to which you will be applying for a summer internship position. Do the organisation offer summer interns the right amount of experience that you need? What kind of applicants is the company accepting? Make sure you research the company inside out and talk with the people who are working there in order to find out if it is the right one for you.
- Develop your resume
Resume can be said to be something that gives the introductory idea of a person to a recruiter. Take the help of your seniors or even professional resume writing services if you think you will not be able to do it. Make sure that it is a presentable and professional one. Use only professional fonts and make sure that you use a format that is easy to understand. As a fresher resume, you need to focus more on your academic achievements and soft skill abilities.
- Start applying
Ok, you have your resume ready but you are still confused of how you can apply? Many organisations have a dedicate page for internship applications. You can go to the career section and apply directly. You can also find a lot of opportunities in sites like LinkedIn, naukri.com (top job website in India), etc. You can talk to your parents, teachers or other adults who might have knowledge about any good internship programmes.
- Prepare for the interviews
After you have applied for the positions, you cannot simply just sit down and hope someone will select you just by looking at your resume. There will be interviews, for which you need to be well-prepared. Learn about the dress codes and body languages that you need to maintain in an interview. This information can be easily acquired from the internet. Start preparing early so that you do not feel the pressure on the day of the interview.
Summer Internships will give you a wealth of experience and you need to take it seriously. It gives you a chance before graduation to get an idea about the professional life and find out what is right for you. The above tips will help you to land a good summer internship.
Hasib is a professional writer working with one of the top job sites in India –naukri.com. As a career coach, he helps professionals in making decisions related to career and job opportunities. He is an avid reader and lives for two things – football and food. If he is not involved in any of those, you can find him contemplating existential issues. Follow him @ twitter, Google+, LinkedIn