Quest for Internships: Small Changes Make a Big Difference

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Dave Ellis

Yesterday, I came across a series of tweets from an internship seeker that caused me to stop what I was doing. The despair was palpable…

“I can’t find an internship… I’ve applied to everything.” “Feels like I applied to a hundred internships.” “Is anyone out there hiring?!” “I was up til 2am applying for internships.”

While I understand the anguish, and know this is far too common an occurrence in today’s economy, my appeal to those in this situation is this: Make a change. Make several changes! Do yourself a favor and stop doing the same thing over and over.

Now, I realize that there are candidates out there who are doing everything possible to find an internship and may still be having trouble. And I don’t want to sound like a Pollyanna saying “just make a change and everything will be ok.” We know better.

But for those candidates who really haven’t taken time to make any changes (and you know who you are)… if you’re honest with yourself… what are you waiting for?!

The list of opportunities for improvements is nearly endless – YouTern’s blog (as just one of many high-quality blogs) is full of helpful posts… find a mentor… utilize online resources and classes to improve your skills set… engage the Twitterchat community, which has many experienced people who love to help struggling candidates… read advice on resumes and interviewing… take advantage of networking opportunities, both online and in your city. I could go on and on…

The opportunities are there. Almost all of them are free. You can do most of them on your own schedule… and some can be done in just a few minutes!

But for some people – here’s the hard part: It’s entirely up to you.

You have to want to change – and I’m talking REAL change – more than just making a few adjustments to get an interview, or just enough to get hired to make the immediate pain go away.

If the set of tweets at the beginning of this post resonated with you…

Make some changes. You’ll see a difference.

 

About the Author: Dave Ellis is an original member of the YouTern team and instrumental to its success… in fact, he’s so awesome there wouldn’t be a YouTern without him (and he might have written this bio himself). In his spare time, Dave volunteers, rescuing and rehabilitating sea lions and baby elephant seals. Follow Dave on Twitter!

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  • http://michaelcarusi.com Michael Carusi

    Truthfully, coming across as desperate isn’t going to help, at least in my experience.  You’re interviewing companies as much as they’re interviewing you, and if they get the sense that you’re so desperate you’ll take anything, it may put them off.  Or worse, it could let them exploit you a little in terms of salary or what you do.

    Bear in mind that most employers are going to take at least a passing look at your Twitter account.  This is something you probably wouldn’t want to show up.

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