Jiawen Cai, a second-year information systems graduate student, talks with a recruiter from Accenture.
Trying to find an internship can be a daunting task. Tracking down the perfect company, perfecting the resume, meeting the deadline to apply and then — hopefully — landing the job.
To ease the process, the University Career Center regularly holds opportunities to help University of Maryland students find jobs, such as conducting mock interviews, advising appointments and on-campus interviews.
At this semester’s first “How to Find an Internship” seminar on Sept. 10, Erica Ely, the center’s internships program director, along with Theresa Hale, experiential education graduate assistant, spoke for about an hour, giving tips and strategies to help students secure an internship.
Self-Reflect
Ely started the discussion by emphasizing that students should decide what kind of internship they are looking for before beginning their search.
“Before you start looking for internships, reflect on yourself,” Ely said.
Students should try to configure all aspects of their ideal internship before applying, such as their preferred field of work, location and starting date, she said.
The search process
Students looking for off-campus internships can consult websites such as Careers4Terps, Indeed, Idealist and GoGovernment.org.
Ely said there are several internship opportunities that tend to get over looked on the campus, such as federal and global semesters, Work4Change and the Public Leadership Internship Program.
Another option, Ely said, is to shadow someone in the chosen field of interest through the center’s Intern for a Day program, which pairs students with employers or alumni to get a closer look at a job for one day.
The resume
When crafting a resume, Hale said to remember the importance of relevancy. It is vital to include and list any experience on a resume that relates to the desired internship position.
When describing the previous experience, focus more on the unique aspects of it and the impact they had, as opposed to menial tasks like retrieving coffee or making phone calls, Hale said.
Interview tips
Once you’ve secured an interview, research the employer and desired position fully by using the company’s website and other Internet resources. It’s important to also brainstorm power stories, or examples of when your work really stood out, to make a memorable impression. Stream, the Career Center’s virtual mock interviewing tool, can also be useful for practice.
Sophomore physiology and neurobiology major Iris Zou is part of the university Civicus program, which requires students to complete an internship. Zou and dozens of other students came out to the workshop during the second week of school to learn about the available options.
“It’s comforting and motivational to have somewhere where they are dedicated to helping you,” Zou said.
