How to get an internship after college

You should consider getting an internship when you are nearing the last semester of your college life. An internship will provide you with a chance to use what you learned in college, in real-world applications and test your skills.

Internships are a great way of gaining experience

If you don’t have work experience in your industry, an internship is the best thing for you. You can try an internship to see if the job is a fit for your skills and personality. An internship has the potential to lead to a full-time job or open more doors for your career. While you will not be tasked with anything important on the first few days of your internship, you will be working with professionals who have a lot of knowledge to share.

There are two different kinds of internships: Paid and Unpaid

Though the term “Unpaid internship” may sound like slave labor to you at first, it isn’t necessarily that. Internships cost money for employers. Your employer will be spending a lot of resources on educating you and training you for the job. Most employers don’t want to pay you on top of all that during an internship. Unpaid internships can be an option if the company is reputable in the field and there is a lot of competition in the industry. Paid internships are better for you financially and will give you more incentive to stay there.

So, what must you do to score an internship after college?

First, you need to create a compelling resume

Just like for any other job, you need to apply for an internship with a good resume. Understand that employers will get hundreds of requests for internships every year from college graduates like you. How can you make your college grad resume stand out? The first step is, not using an online resume builder. There are a few resume sections that you must create when making your resume template. These are contact information, resume summary, education, key skills, work experience, projects, hobbies and interests, and languages.

Start filling in the details of your resume

Here’s a brief breakdown of what you must include in each section of your resume:

Contact information: Your name, professional email address, city and state, and links to your related social media accounts (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) go in the contact information section of your resume.

Resume summary: Since you don’t have work experience, your resume summary must be a brief statement that highlights your best professional skills and academic achievements.

Education: You must add your university name and location, the name of your degree, and relevant dates. You can expand on your education section a little by mentioning your GPA, academic achievements, any awards you have won, and related coursework.

Key skills: This is where you get to incorporate keywords into your resume. So, go with a good mix of soft and hard skills that are essential for your industry. You can refer to a few sample resumes in the industry to get an idea of the skills you should add.

Work experience: You will likely have little information to include in this section. However, you can mention volunteer jobs you have had to emphasize job-related skills on your resume.

Write a convincing cover letter

The cover letter is an important document for your internship application. Your cover letter must talk about how passionate you are about the industry and what this internship means for you. If you have done any projects related to the industry in college, you can use them to emphasize your skills.

Start applying for internships

Great! Now you have your job search documents ready. All you have to do is find the right opportunities. There are many resources you can use to find internships. First, you can use job and internship boards online to find an opportunity that feels right for you. However, there will be an overwhelming amount of jobs on these sites, so don’t get distracted. Look for internships that do not require work experience. You can also attend job fairs or career fairs organized by your university to find the right opportunity. Be sure to take enough copies of your resume with you. You will need to dress professionally, as some employers will be willing to do a short interview with you then and there.