6 Tips To Secure An Internship and Graduate With Real-World Experience

6 Tips To Secure An Internship and Graduate With Real-World Experience

The job market is more competitive than ever, especially if you’re a fresh graduate looking to build up your professional experience. As a college student, the best thing you can do to boost your chances of landing your dream job once you graduate is to find an internship now. Employers value real-world work experience, so demonstrating that you’ve worked in a professional setting before will be tremendously beneficial for you. 

However, internships themselves can be difficult to secure, which is why it’s essential that you find the perfect opportunity that aligns with your professional career goals. If you’re a college student, it’s essential to follow the right steps to land a placement. In this piece, we’ll go over what these steps are and how you can boost your chances of getting the perfect internship to kickstart your career. 

1. Optimise Your CV

First and foremost, a strong CV is essential if you want to land an internship. Many companies have to sift through dozens if not hundreds of candidates for each position, so it’s crucial to create a resume that stands out from the crowd. 

As a student, your strongest selling point will be your educational experience. Mention the degree you’re currently studying for and any others you might already hold. You also want to list the most relevant classes you’ve taken. 

If you already have some work experience, you should also mention it. These don’t necessarily have to be full-time internships. Experiences like freelance positions, casual jobs and club positions can also strengthen your CV. 

2. Use Your Network 

Sometimes, who you know matters just as much as what you know. When looking for an internship as a student, your professional network will be among your most important resources. 

You likely won’t have vast reams of past professional experience you can point to, so having someone with a connection to the business you’re applying to put in a good word can be the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful application. For graduates, your strongest connections are likely to be your educators, so don’t hesitate to reach out to your course coordinators, lecturers, and tutors for guidance and to stay in the loop with any industry opportunities, be they professional roles, graduate positions, internships, or scheduled industry events.

It’s important to know that building a network takes time and effort, however. While you’re in college, take the opportunity to speak to as many people as possible. This might include your professors, classmates and industry speakers. Once you’ve made connections, make the time to build your relationships with them. Your network will be incredibly important throughout your career, so make the effort to build it while you’re in university. 

3. Prepare for Interviews

Most jobs will require you to pass an interview after getting through the initial stages of the application. As with all things in life, preparation is key. Learn as much as you can about the company and the role, and be prepared to speak about why you want this job in particular. We also recommend brushing up on the most common interview questions and preparing responses for them. 

As you might imagine, honing your speaking skills will be crucial to doing well in interviews. Learn how to speak clearly, modulate your voice and organise your speech. You should also strengthen your ability to answer questions on the fly. No matter how much you prepare, there might be one or two questions that surprise you. Knowing how to improvise while still putting your best foot forward is key to succeeding at job interviews. 

4. Follow a Systematic Approach

It’s important to know how to go about applying for jobs. Many students simply send their CVs to every opening they find online. While this may eventually land you a couple of responses, it’s not an efficient use of your time, as it takes away from your capacity to really invest in the positions that are best suited to you. 

First, know exactly what sort of job you’re looking for. Most job boards include an option to filter the results you’re shown, which should help you narrow down your options once you have an idea of your dream job. Then, optimise your application documents for each job you apply to. This doesn’t mean creating a brand new CV or cover letter, but it does help to highlight the schoolwork or work experience that’s most relevant to a particular job.

5. Be Open to Different Opportunities

While it’s good to know what you want, you should also be open to different opportunities. Traditionally, an internship meant going to a physical office, working for a set number of hours and going home at a certain time. Today, there are plenty of other kinds of employment you can consider, including working from home and hybrid arrangements. If you’re having trouble landing an internship in your dream industry, working in a different but related role can still be of value. 

When searching for an internship, it’s important to remain open-minded. Sometimes, an opportunity will come along that’s not exactly what you have in mind, but can still help to progress your career. 

6. Stay Strategic with your Upskilling

Finally, it’s important to hone your skills strategically. This goes back to knowing the sort of internship you want. If you’re interested in a marketing or PR internship, for instance, you might want to start learning about corporate blogging and social media management. You can pick up new competencies by taking certain classes in university, signing up for online courses and attending workshops. 

While hiring managers won’t expect you to have lots of experience, they still want to know that you can contribute from day one. Improve your skills while you’re in college to make yourself a more desirable candidate. 

Gain the Real-World Experience you Need as a Young Graduate

Finding an internship can be challenging in this day and age, especially if you’re a college student without much work experience. By going about your search in the right way, however, you can boost your chances of landing a placement and gaining real-world experience before graduating. 

In this guide, we’ve gone over six key steps you should follow when applying for roles. Make use of what you’ve learned today and land the internship you’ve always dreamed of.