How I Landed My First Internship
Starting My Hunt
Back at the beginning of the spring 2019 semester of my sophomore year, everyone around me started questioning what they would do over the upcoming summer break. I knew for sure that I wanted an internship to get valuable job experience and professional development in the web development field. There was a very steep learning curve because I was new to the whole internship hunting process.
So how did I start my hunt? I Googled ” web development internships in Charlotte, NC,” found a few job listings on Indeed, and saved the contact information to apply later. It was later brought to my attention that USC has a career networking website for students and recent grads named Handshake. Some upperclassmen said they’ve gotten internships and even job offers for after graduation from companies hiring on the website, so I decided I’d start there. I set up my profile and applied to five summer internships in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. In the following two weeks, three of them emailed me rejection letters and to this day I have not heard from the other two (although I suppose it is a good thing they have my resume in case they decided to give it another glimpse when hiring in the future). I had not anticipated how competitive internships were.
A few rejection emails and a couple of weeks later, a senior I sat by in my management class gave me some very insightful advice based on his previous experience with internships. He explained that there are tens of hundreds of people applying for internships listed on job hunting websites and often only one person gets each position. He then said that he got many of his internships by scouting out companies himself and then contacting them and requesting to intern. Basically, do the job hunt yourself instead of allowing websites to do it for you. Find the jobs that you want, not the jobs that an algorithm thinks you want. Another great point he made is that not every company has the HR staff necessary to post jobs online, scout talent, interview, and onboard interns. This does not mean the company doesn’t want to host interns, but rather that you must do a little more work, go out of your own way to show interest, and pursue these opportunities yourself.
Basically, do the job hunt yourself instead of allowing websites to do it for you. Find the jobs that you want, not the jobs that an algorithm thinks you want.
Making My Own Opportunities
Following his advice, I opened Google Maps, located my house, and searched for “web development businesses” within a 30-minute drive. Fortunately, I live in a suburb of Charlotte close to a handful of business districts, so about 15 popped up. Then I visited each of their websites and social media accounts to get an overall feel for their cultures and work environments (as well as looked up what the closest restaurants for lunch were). I narrowed down my options until I found a few I could see myself interning for.
Next, I buffed up my resume and cover letter, updated my LinkedIn and GitHub profiles, added some of my recent projects to my portfolio, and put together an email expressing my desire to intern. Then I clicked send, hoped for the best, and went on with my day.
Success!
Five hours later I got a call from one of the many great people at Tanner Grey, a web design and digital marketing agency, where I described my experience in web development, detailed some of the projects I’ve worked on and the classes I’ve taken, as well as what I’d like to get out of the internship. We then discussed when I could start, the hours I would be working, and pay among some other important details.
After arriving home from college, I refreshed my work wardrobe, drove to the office a few days ahead of time to gauge traffic and calculate how early I would need to wake up in the mornings. I am super excited to start my first ever internship on May 20th. In another blog post (likely at the end of the summer-don’t worry, I’ll come back and link to it from here after it’s posted!) I will talk about my overall experience as an intern and provide some insight and tips, so stay posted!
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Garrett is a 2021 graduate of the University of South Carolina where he majored in computer information systems. He serves as the lead developer of Paving Your Path to College. In his free time, he volunteers for The Special Olympics and tinkers with software and programming. Check out his projects on Github!
