By Leah Reyes, SDSU Public Relations Senior
As a student who has never had an internship, you tend to
convince yourself that there’s no way you’ll get an internship because you have
“no experience,” right? Wrong!
With the help of my mentors at school and spending hours on
my resume and cover letter, I was able to land a summer internship with
(W)right On Communications. And guess what? It’s my first internship. It is
possible, ladies and gentlemen! Here are a few tips on how to survive – and
hopefully conquer – your interviews when searching for your first internship:
1. Educate yourself
about the organizations you apply for.
Before you start perfecting your resume and cover letter,
make sure you know what the organization is about, what they’re looking for and
what they value. Check out their website, blog and social media accounts. This
is really important because you might learn that although you’ve heard awesome
things about an organization, it’s not exactly for you.
It will also make you stand out from everyone else when you get
to the interview and you reference what you already know about the
organization. When Elyse Charlesworth, (W)right On’s account coordinator, interviewed me, she was happy to know that I
took the time to look at the agency’s website and blog.
2. Cater your resume
and cover letter to a specific organization.
No generic cover letters or resumes! This is one of the most
important things I have learned. You should have multiple applications for
multiple organizations. After I researched (W)right On Communications, I learned
their values and made sure to incorporate them in my cover letter and resume.
Be sure to study the internship description so that your
cover letter and resume reflects what the organization is looking for. Employers
don’t like generic cover letters because it doesn’t show that you want to work
with them, specifically. It looks like you’ll take any internship just to have
an internship, which is not good.
Also, don’t forget that when you email employers with your
attached application, the actual email message has a lot of power! Employers
might not open your attachment if your email message doesn’t impress them.
Cater the email to them, too!
3. Writing samples
set your application apart from the rest.
When Elyse contacted me to schedule an interview, she said
that my writing samples impressed her. I used my writing samples from school
and attached it to my resume and cover letter. Before I attached my samples, I
had multiple people look them over, and I made sure the samples were
appropriate for (W)right On Communications. I’ve never had an internship, but
my samples from school were enough to get me an interview. If you don’t have
anything from school you’d want to share, you can write something yourself,
like a blog or a mock news release.
4. Practice interviewing
with friends and family.
Whether you have someone pretend to interview you or you
practice alone, it really helps to talk out loud! I had a list of interview
questions that I practiced with my friends. This helped me master how to answer
questions. The first time you answer a question isn’t always perfect, which is
why you should practice to make your answers sound awesome. The way you answer
a question is more powerful than what your answer is. By practicing, you will
become more confident and less nervous.
I had a couple interviews prior to my interview at (W)right
On. Both times, I was asked about my strengths and weaknesses. This is an
important question to prepare for. It is probably one of the most asked
questions in any interview because it wraps up who you are in a few sentences.
Practice, and before you know it, doing interviews will be one of your
strengths!
Don’t forget to tell the interviewer what you can contribute
to the organization’s success. The purpose of an interview is to prove that if
you get the position, you can contribute your creativity and talents. Highlight
your strengths and don’t be generic!
5. Ask questions at
the end of the interview.
I have heard from many professionals that their biggest
“turn-off” is when they finish an interview and ask the applicant, “Do you have
any questions for me?” and the applicant says, “no.”
Ask questions that show your interest in the organization
and in the person who is interviewing you. I made a list of questions to ask
Elyse when she asked that final question. Here are a few questions I asked:
- What is a typical day at (W)right On Communications?
- What is your favorite part about working at (W)right On Communications?
- What is your least favorite part about working at (W)right On Communications?
- How did you end up at (W)right On Communications?
- What got you interested in public relations?
These tips won’t guarantee that you will get an internship,
but I can guarantee that they will make you a stronger applicant. I can also
guarantee that by following these five tips, you will become more confident in
applying to organizations and doing interviews. Interviewing for your first
internship is definitely intimidating, but if you do everything you can to
highlight your skills, you will land that first internship before you know it!
Trust me, it’s not as bad as you think!
