Getting Started
- Begin by asking yourself what you want to accomplish during your undergraduate years. Distinguish between the goals that you will achieve during the academic year and those that must be accomplished when you are not in class.
- Determine your basic needs. Do you need to earn money? Do you need housing? Ideally you will be able to satisfy both your interests and your needs through the choices that you make.
The Benefits of an Internship
- An internship helps you narrow your career choices, solidify career goals, learn more about where you might want to work, or gain insight about a specific industry or career field.
- An internship is a way to “get your foot in the door” of an industry or a specific company. It provides you with the opportunity to make an impression that might lead to a full-time job offer, job referrals, mentors, or close professional contacts in your targeted field of interest.
- An internship can enhance your marketability. It develops and builds on your professional skills, demonstrates that you are familiar with the industry, and reinforces your demonstrated interest in the field.
- Internships may take place during some of your college summers, however, they need not fill every summer. Most employers place special emphasis on hiring rising seniors and perhaps rising juniors. While it is certainly possible for freshmen to compete for internships, it is not absolutely necessary. Don't forget your other goals and perhaps accomplish the non-career goals in your early years.
Finding an Internship
- Review the internship listings on the Crimson~Experience Internship Database and the UCAN database available through the Office of Career Services. The Crimson~Experience Internship Database includes postings for employers participating in On-Campus Recruiting (e.g. they conduct their interviews on campus) as well as those that will conduct their interviews off campus. The UCAN database is a pool of internship listings shared by 19 peer colleges and universities.
- In the OCS library you will also find several internship directories, including the Vault Guide to Internships that lists some of the most popular internship programs available to college students. Several industry-specific internship guides are also available including sports internship and media internship guides.
- Join one or more of the OCS listservs. There is a summer listserv from which you will learn about recently received internship listings as well as workshops and meetings that may be helpful in your summer search.
Creating an Internship
- Searching for an internship requires resourcefulness and initiative. It is unlikely that every organization will offer a structured internship “program,” and even those that do won't necessarily recruit or even advertise their internships at Harvard. Once you know the type of internship you are seeking, use the internet to find other organizations in the industry. Look to see if they give any reference to internship opportunities. If you don't see that internships are available, try to find a point of contact so that you can ask about creating a summer opportunity.
- Network with your family, faculty, friends, fellow students, former supervisors and co-workers, and neighbors to get job leads. Let them know where (by company, type of job, or industry) you are looking for an internship and ask them for referrals to contacts or potential openings.
- Create your own internship proposal. Get into the habit of reading industry publications for the career field in which you are interested. You might uncover an article about an organization of interest to you. Maybe a company is engaged in a project or has one stuck on the “back burner.” Perhaps there's a problem they are trying to solve that their current staff doesn't have time to handle and it requires extra help. If the key contact's name is not readily available, find out who manages that area from your network, call the company and ask for the person's name or address a cover letter and resume to that department head. Highlight your interest in the project and propose to volunteer your time. You'd be surprised at how favorably employers might respond to the prospect of having a talented student on board for a short-term project.
Succeeding in the Internship
- Set specific goals for the summer. Before you leave campus, think about what you want to accomplish this summer.
- What skills do you want to develop? What knowledge or experience do you want to gain and how does that fit into your post-grad plans?
- Once you start work, be on time every day.
- Learn about the organization, what it does, and what its priorities are before you get there.
- Behave in a professional manner that is consistent with the organization.
- Dress in a manner that is consistent with the organization.
- Respect your co-workers both in the work that they do and the time that they spend with you.
- Find ways to add value to the organization.
- Ask questions and volunteer for assignments.
- Demonstrate appropriate teamwork skills.
- Be yourself.
- Be confident.
- Be open-minded.
- Know when to talk and when it's OK just to listen.
- Take the time to meet people during your internship. Even if they are not your direct supervisor, colleagues can become effective mentors offering information and advice that will assist you with your career decision making.
- When the internship ends, remember to express your appreciation to those who have made it possible and especially those who have made it a positive learning experience for you.
