Voyage Checklist

It’s a tough world out there. My freshman year of college I didn’t even think of internships or my future (not okay, I know). I thankfully got a side job at a gym with a summer camp job at my old high school. I had nights where I only had five hours of sleep and has to work for a total of 15 hours. Two jobs that summer was not easy. The following year I decided I needed to start aiming for some resume builders and applied to probably about seven internships and five jobs. I landed the seasonal job I have now, and a local internship that has helped my resume lay some groundwork. I learned that year that I had to apply for internships really early, especially for the ones I had my eye on. That summer I found out about Time Inc.’s internship program through an Instagram post and decided I was applying as soon as the program applications opened. I submitted my application on the first deadline of December 1st 2015. I applied about four times more ever since. After, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to see if any other applications were open, and lo and behold, there were. By the day before I headed back to school in January I applied to 12 positions (all for the summer). A few months later and I can count about 50 applications that I have submitted to various internships in New York City. I’ve had my resume and cover letter looked at by four different people, and had it reformatted a few times. To this day, I’m still searching for an internship this summer. I do have a backup plan to return to the last internship from last summer, but I have hope that something might come up.

I strongly suggest that if you want an internship start applying in December, I’m not joking. Reformat your resume and cover letter to the style of every position you want. Have these documents looked at by professionals, colleagues, and advisors. Make a list of references and check in with them before you start giving out contact information to companies. Make sure all your documents are in PDF, this helps keep the format the way you want it to be seen (I learned that the hard way). If you’re a creative person, make an online portfolio because it showcases your work and dedication to look professional and perfect for the jobs you’re applying. Please, please, please, please get a LinkedIn profile. Make connections and ask some of your connections to hook you up with some available positions, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Always check LinkedIn and internships.com for available positions. Also check your school’s listserv and newsletters, professors and deans are always helpful when it comes to sharing openings for students. Do not forget to check in on Career Services at your school, they are the bomb dot com. They can help you from choosing a career path/major to searching internship and job openings that match perfectly for you. If you have a company or business that you would like to work for but don’t see a position available on the sites I’ve given you or that deans have shared with you, go to their website and search for their career opportunities section. Sometimes they don’t share these positions with everyone because they don’t want to have thousands of applicants and make the hiring process more difficult, or they only want applicants that really want the job and took the initiative to search and find this application. Companies want you, but you have to prepare yourself for their challenges before you even begin working there.

It’s never too late or too early to start thinking on jobs or internships that will help your resume or work experience for the career you want. Start making that resume and cover letters, don’t waste time. Don’t give up or be discouraged if you don’t get it, remember you are also competing with thousands/millions of other applicants from around the country and the world. It’s tough world, but keep going!