Seeing as for many HC UEA girls graduation is just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about life post-university. It is a horrible thought that in a matter of weeks our student life of luxury will be over, marking the end of student finance, greasy fry ups and crazy nights out at the LCR, but it is something that we need to accept in order to advance.
To progress professionally in this day and age it is often necessary to start at the very bottom of a business and ‘pay your dues’, usually in the form of an internship. Although many internships consist of making coffees, photocopying spread sheets and running errands, the opportunity can offer entrance into the business world and first hand experience of your chosen profession. There are countless success stories of interns who have proven themselves to be invaluable and have been promoted within their desired company, not to mention if you are not so lucky, an internship will look fantastic on your curriculum vitae. The bottom line is that an internship is a great opportunity to gain access into the professional world. Unfortunately the issue is that due to today’s competitive world of work, Internships are hard to come by and it is necessary to work hard in order to even be considered for an opportunity.
As aspiring magazine editors, the HC UEA team are if anything too organised and have already applied for and accepted our internship positions for the coming year. Fear not though Collegiettes! We have compiled a few essential tips to help you all to apply for and acquire the internship positions that you want…
1) Get Organised
The first step of the application is working out exactly where you want to work and what you are interested in doing.
2) Research
After determining what it is that you want to do, it is necessary to research all of the potential businesses that you want to work for and the available internships that you want to apply for.
3) Perfect your CV
Once you have decided upon the internships that you want to apply for, you should perfect your CV, tailoring it to your desired opportunity and making sure that there are no mistakes. Make sure that you include what you are proud to have accomplished and a few things that you have done in order to make your application stand out.
4) Send off
Once your CV is complete, you must do some research into the businesses that you are applying to and who it is best to contact. Research on Linkedin and try to find out the name of the person that you should send your CV to, then write a cover letter highlighting your aims and experience for the role, emailing it to the contact that you have found.
5) The waiting game
Next comes the waiting game and this is by far the most difficult of all of the stages. Applying for an internship is time consuming and when you are so proud of the final application that you have sent off it can be hard to be patient. It could take a long time for you to hear back from the companies and waiting weeks for a response can be disheartening but it is important to persevere. When applying for internships you will get rejections, everybody does but you cannot take it personally. You will be competing against lots of capable people and for every acceptance you will receive multiple rejections. Do not be disheartened, remain patient and remind yourself that every leader and CEO that you aspire to be had to overcome setbacks to get where they are today.
Good luck Collegiettes.