An internship is the stepping stone to every career. And rightly so. Because, when you do an internship, you’re actually gaining the much-needed work experience in the career of your choice, albeit for a short period. This means you’re not entering any profession with little or no knowledge of the field.
Actually, employers also look for candidates whose Resume indicates they’ve done some internship. That’s because an internship reduces the training costs to the employer since you will have at least some basic working knowledge and skills necessary for the role for which you’re applying.
This brings us to one vital question: how can a college student with no experience get a good internship? In this article, I will discuss various steps that you need to take as a college student to get a superb internship.
Getting Internship as College Student
Follow these simple steps to get an internship as a college student, even if you have no work experience. These steps can help you land a superb internship and open the doorways to a superb career for the future. All these steps are simple and hence, easy to follow.
Identify Your Field
The first and foremost step to finding a good internship starts when you identify the field where you wish to make a career. This would usually be the field in which you have a lot of interest. Identifying the field where you wish to make a career also helps you to overcome any problems that could be caused by a lack of educational qualifications. For example, if you’re a high school graduate and wish to make a career in a field that requires higher educational qualifications, you can overcome the handicap to some extent through an internship. Actually, an internship is the best way to enter any career, even as a fresher. Therefore, when you identify your field, you can decide where you wish to stand in your career at a later date. Therefore, identifying the field where you wish to make a career is most important while looking for internships.
Type of Internship and Location
The next step is to select the type of internship that you wish to do and its location. Here, the location is most important because some skills are relevant only in a specific geographical zone and there would be several companies operating in that field in that area only. Another reason to select the location depends on where you’re studying. If you’re studying at a college in a city away from your home, you could consider doing an internship there.
Or, if you’ll be going to your hometown for holidays or upon completion of your studies, you could choose an internship at that location. The type of internship also depends on what career you wish to follow. For example, if you’re studying law, you might wish to do an internship as a law secretary to gain some valuable insights into the profession. The same holds true for other professions as well.
Start Freelancing
Freelancing is an excellent way to look for internships. You can start working as a freelancer, usually online, for some companies. And later, approach them and request internships as a college student. Generally, freelancing can give you some valuable insights into the profession or field that you wish to enter. Freelancing can help you acquire the basic skills necessary to enter that profession.
Though you might not get enough money as a fresher freelancer, you would definitely get a lot of contacts through whom you can look for internships. The best way to start off as a freelancer in the field of your choice is to register on a freelancing platform such as Fiverr and start finding some assignments that match your educational qualifications.
Look for On-Campus Hiring
A lot of companies do on-campus hiring for interns and train them as future employees. This is an excellent way to find amazing internships. As a matter of fact, some of the largest companies of America do on-campus hiring because they’re looking for fresher applicants with no work experience. Therefore, they look for college students who exhibit an aptitude for specific work and are interested in a particular industry.
These corporations, for example, Lockheed Martin, generally offer wonderful internship opportunities and later, also a chance to become a full-fledged employee of the company. Therefore, keep your eyes open for on-campus hiring events either in your college or at nearby educational institutions. These will prove vital when looking for internships and career-building.
Create a LinkedIn Profile
If you thought that LinkedIn is only for professionals, think again. In fact, LinkedIn is rapidly emerging as the single largest platform for people to find amazing internships and jobs. In fact, at least one person gets hired every six seconds on LinkedIn. Therefore, you can find excellent internship opportunities through LinkedIn. To get started, create a killer LinkedIn profile. Mention clearly on your profile that you’re looking for internship opportunities. List your educational qualifications and interests. One of the main things to do on LinkedIn is to provide references. You can provide the references of your faculty members. Also, create excellent posts to upload on LinkedIn that indicate clearly your preferences for a specific field or profession. You can also view internship opportunities on LinkedIn.
Search Job Boards
And finally, job boards. These are excellent resources to look for internships across your country. You can search job boards such as Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, ZipRecuriter.com, and other websites that are specially designed to find an internship of your choice. You can also register on any job board and upload a Resume. This allows you to apply immediately for any internship vacancy, without the need to upload a fresh Resume again. All you need to do is write an excellent cover letter for your application, where necessary, and apply online.
In Conclusion
All these ways to get internships for college students with no experience are time-tested and proven. You too can utilize these ways to find an amazing internship in the field of your choice and launch your career.
