Whether I was in high school or college, I always heard about internships. “You need internships for a good career!” But an internship may be hard to find considering some of us don’t find out what our career is until after sophomore year in college. Even then, a person is said to have seven different jobs throughout his or her life.
Finding an internship can be a long and difficult process. Here at Cabrini, I must have visited the Career Center about six times in one week. I started at the Career Center to ask how to fix up my résumé. The only résumé I ever did before this meeting was for a high school assignment, which was very outdated and poorly written. As I fixed my résumé after two appointments, it was time for the internship questions. I was given two websites to search for an internship. But, because one website was fairly new to Cabrini and there weren’t too many opportunities and listings yet, I focused on the one website called CareerShift.
I would go on to search this website for many hours at a time and favorite many internships that I would apply to later on. As my desired career choice is a Video Editor, there weren’t too many opportunities. Add in the fact that I wanted a paid internship, and my findings kept dwindling down as I thought about what I was looking for. It helped tremendously by searching for not exactly what I needed, if that makes any sense. Instead of searching for “Video Editor summer paid internship,” I would search with keywords such as video, communication, and digital media internship. These keywords allowed me to find many more opportunities to apply to.
When it comes to internships, the truth is that it is in fact a difficult process. It usually comes down to searching with broader terms rather than being very narrow. Websites like CareerShift and WayUp allow you to favorite many internships and place them into folders. I sorted them in folders to help me apply for different internships easily with different résumés and cover letters.
Internships shouldn’t be stressful when working toward a college degree. Websites like CareerShift and your peers can help the process be less difficult. I am thankful that I networked throughout high school and college as it had helped my internship process go a lot smoother.