The Lowdown on Internships: what they can really do for you, and how to land one

Pam Dixon

Updated August 10, 2004

Internships are both the bane and the boon of college students, new grads, and career-changers. The bane is that most people feel like they’re highly underpaid while they do an internship. But the boon is that with an internship, you can tilt fortune in your direction.

It’s not fair, but it’s true: internships have become the new entry-level jobs in today's world. Some employers won’t even look at a new grad’s or a career-changer's resume if there isn’t at least one internship experience listed. Instead of feeling rotten about low or no internship wages, think ahead -- because internships can boost your beginning salary by as much as two to ten thousand dollars a year.

Here's why: an internship gives you real work experience, more skills, and the employer gains confidence that if you are a new grad, you have gotten through the learning curve of productively fitting into a workplace. Plus, internships allow you to acquire a stack of top-notch recommendations. Those are more than worth their weight in gold when it comes time to negotiate your salary and prove your potential value to a company.

If you are about to graduate, or if you are trying to change careers and you have zero internships, do yourself a favor and bite the bullet. Before you go out and and try to land a job, go for an internship or even two. Even if it is only for a few weeks or months, it's worth the effort. You will more than make up for two or three months’ low or lost wages in total annual salary with the right internship. Remember -- a good internship record lets you start higher on the ladder, sometimes much higher. If you are a new grad, it gets you in your very first post-college door. If you're switching careers, it is just about the most effective way to get your foot in the door of a new profession.

Finding the right gig

The real key is to get the right internships, spend the right amount of time on each one, and to know how to work the contacts you make so that when you go job-hunting, you have some major bargaining chips and references at your disposal.

To find and land an internship, there are several avenues to take. If you are in school right now, and you want an internship during the school year, go to your on-campus career counselor. They are typically very well-connected with local companies and can usually find you very good internships in a week or two. It’s important to note that counselors also often have the best access to the best-paying internships.

If you're already employed and you're just taking a class for certification, ask around and see if there is someone available to help you land a spot. You'd be surprised at how many career resources -- namely in the form of highly competent career counselors -- go untapped by adults taking certificate courses.

If you're looking for a summer gig and you're a full- time student right now, you can also check with a counselor for that. But if you live in a different state or city than where you attend school, you may need to do some digging on your own. If so, no problem. Your best bet is to do an online search for the internships that are already advertised. Use the Web resources I've listed at the bottom of this page to start your search, and begin applying to every opportunity that interests you.

But don't forget to be proactive. Contact specific companies in your home town that you're interesting in working with and ask for a spot on their team. And think creatively. One enterprising young student who was a government major went to a book signing a U.S. Senator was holding. He and his parents met the senator, and as they shook his hand, they schmoozed and mentioned that the student in question was looking for a summer or fall internship. The student followed up with calls to the office, went through a round of serious interviews, and landed an internship that is unpaid, but priceless.

I know, I know -- it isn't easy insisting to a company or a person that they should let you intern with them. But don't let the fear of approaching a company without an invitation rob you of terrific opportunities that could be yours. Gather up your courage, and make yourself a friendly pest.

When it comes to internships, it's like landing a job. You need to be persistent. Start with an email to the human resources department. If that doesn't get you anywhere, call the company up and talk with the receptionist. (Read: schmooze with him or her, and find out who you really need to talk to.) Don't quit! I talked with a person in a respected biotech firm who got her internship because, in her words, "They knew they were never going to get rid of me." Now she's an employee of the company.

How many internships, and for how long?

Generally, the more specialized your major or profession, the more internship experience you need. And the more general your major, the more variety of internships you should acquire.

Liberal arts:

For liberal arts, communications, and literature or English majors, most employers like to see between three to five internship experiences. They can be shorter, as variety is key here.

Science:

For science majors, three long, intensive internships are good.

Computer:

For computer science-related majors, (including business-related) a minimum of three internships at a variety of tech and traditional companies is best.

If you're a serious programmer, you'll want to get in a good lab setting and sink into some serious research for as long as they'll let you. Work on as many different kinds of systems as you can, and try to gain practical experience on systems currently used in a variety of business settings.

Fine  Arts:

Fine arts folks, start early in your education to land working gigs in a wide variety of disciplines related to your major. Develop relationships with the best professionals in your area, and offer yourself as an intern as early as your freshman year and stick with it. One of my majors was music performance -- I interned for several years with one of the best principal clarinetists in the world, and call myself the luckiest person on earth for having done it. This experience informed my other majors, and even my graduate work.

Practical Matters

Ideally, an internship is your time to have fun and to discover what it is that you really like doing. If it isn’t working out, then it’s no harm, no foul to move on and call it a learning experience. My internships were enormously valuable to me in that they taught me what I liked and what I absolutely detested. After my internships, I was much more able to tune into what I really wanted out of my life and my career.

As far as listing internships on your resume, just put it right in your work experience area. List the company, the date, the title you had, and your responsibilities. Next to your title, put "Intern" in parenthesis. Employers will understand that you took the time and effort to intern, and they very much count your efforts as a job, so you can, too.

And one last tip. If there’s a specific company you really want to work for after you get through your education or career change, then make every effort to get an internship with them. Start as early as you can, and stay as long as possible. Internships are the very best way to get into highly competitive companies while side-stepping the head-to-head competition with the thundering herds of other candidates who have also sent in their resumes.

I'd like to sound a few notes of warning. First,  know when to stop interning. Companies will let you work for free forever if you let them. Be careful to find that balance between what you are getting from them, and what they are getting from you. If you have been interning a long time and are no longer getting important experience, don't be afraid to move on.

And as you search for internships, be wary of sites or people that ask for money or extraordinary amounts of personal information before you begin. Some internship ads on job search sites are scams. If, for example, you are asked to send a scan of your drivers' license, that would be one of the classic signs that the internship is a scam. Check the World Privacy Forum consumer tips on avoiding job scams for more details on staying away from this sort of thing: http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/jobscamtipspayforwarding.html.

Resources

• Check your college Web site for an internship database or list, and by all means work with your college career counselor.
• Also, work with your parents. They may have contacts, or friends with contacts, who can help you.
• Definitely take time to browse through two internship resources: http://internships.wetfeet.com/  (Requires registration; I recommend that you use a temporary email address, not your educational address. You can supply a first initial for your name. There is no reason to give away all your information at registration.)
• The database at Rising Star Internships, http://www.rsinternships.com/ 
• Finally, use a tool like the "Yahoo! Get local" to find companies in the area where you live or will be spending the summer. Go to <http:local.yahoo.com>, then type in a city name. That will bring up the "Get local" listing for that area. Get the phone number and email addresses of companies where you might want to intern, and start hammering away. Even if a company doesn’t list an active internship, many will create an opportunity for you.
• Many students get an internship by simply approaching a company with a proposal. If you are uncomfortable with approaching a company, you can ask your college career counselor to make the first contact and to negotiate the terms for you.

And remember, persist, persist.

Pam Dixon is the author of seven books, including the award-winning Job Searching Online for Dummies and Virtual College.