So You Want an Internship

I have had the pleasure of having two really amazing internships.  One I have already talked about in my article “To Internship or Not to Internship”.  I have recently gotten my other internship.  Both of these internships have made my dreams become a reality.  My first internship was a summer internship, where I lived in Washington D.C. for two months and volunteered at an inner city youth camp.  The internship I have now is in a law office.  I am busy at work making client files, drafting various court documents, and writing legal briefs.  Through these internships, I have gotten the chance to live in my dream city and see my chosen profession in person.  I have fallen more in love with the law and am ready to make a difference in the world.  I thought that I would share how I got my internships in today’s article so you can turn your dreams into reality!

1.  Mail your résumé to different companies.  This approach is how I got my current internship.  I knew that I wanted to intern with family law firms in my hometown, so I did a Bing search on just that.  Once I got my list, I narrowed down the firms I felt like I would connect with and sent them my résumé along with a cover letter explaining all the facts about me that my résumé did not have.  At first, I thought that nothing would come from this, but I was wrong.  The law firm that I wanted to work with the most ended up scheduling an interview with me, and I got the internship!  This approach can work with any internship.  Just do some research on where you want the internship and in what field, clean up your résumé (it is recommended that you only include college activities and not high school ones), draft a cover letter specific to that firm or office, and send them out!  Like I have said before, you never know what will happen unless you try.

2.  Find an internship program online.  This is how I got my summer internship in D.C.  There are many types of internship programs that have internships in several places.  These programs usually take a long time to set up.  I know with mine, I had to fill out an application to be accepted into the program, and fill out an application for financial aid.  Once I was accepted, I had to fill out another form detailing what type of internship I wanted.  Then I had a phone interview with the first offer I had (thankfully, I got the internship that day).  This was a long process, but it is one that I would do again in a heartbeat because of the wonderful experience I had.  These programs are usually for summer internships, but some also have fall and spring semester internships.  

I hope this article helped to give you some tips on how to find your perfect internship.  Let me know if you are in the process of looking for an internship or if you have any other useful tips!