Landing a Internship
I have never truly realized how challenging and cutthroat it is to land an internship in this job market. Some of the internships I have been applying to only offer a few amounts of spots, but they have a surplus of highly qualified candidates fighting for the job. Also, some of the potential candidates have been grad or master students which significantly adds to the difficulty of landing one as an undergrad. My peers in my major and I are fighting for the same spots in the more prestigious internships, and I recently experienced how competitive it can get.
Last week one of my classmates asked me who I had an interview with. I replied with the firm that I had an interview with and he was in shock since it is very competitive. He abruptly asked me how I landed an interview and I responded with that I had a mutual connection with the person in charge of the internship program. He then proceeds to hide his screen. I than get a glimpse of him looking at the career website of the company. I never expected him to be actively researching the company in front of me, he didn't even have the decency to look the firm up at home or in another class. His actions shocked me but also put me in place for telling him.
I recently came to the conclusion that getting an internship without any connections to the company is very challenging for the more prominent and famous financial firms. One team member of a firm who I previously wanted to intern for told me honestly that the majority of their interns are through connections. After experiencing this internship process, I have been continuously attending networking nights and informational interview with people in the industry. Having a good network is a vital asset to have in this vicious process.
Last week one of my classmates asked me who I had an interview with. I replied with the firm that I had an interview with and he was in shock since it is very competitive. He abruptly asked me how I landed an interview and I responded with that I had a mutual connection with the person in charge of the internship program. He then proceeds to hide his screen. I than get a glimpse of him looking at the career website of the company. I never expected him to be actively researching the company in front of me, he didn't even have the decency to look the firm up at home or in another class. His actions shocked me but also put me in place for telling him.
I recently came to the conclusion that getting an internship without any connections to the company is very challenging for the more prominent and famous financial firms. One team member of a firm who I previously wanted to intern for told me honestly that the majority of their interns are through connections. After experiencing this internship process, I have been continuously attending networking nights and informational interview with people in the industry. Having a good network is a vital asset to have in this vicious process.
I definitely agree with you. Having connections is key to landing amazing job opportunities. I have a mentor from CAP that stressed to me throughout this school year to do informal interviews and build as many connections as I can. It really helped him land a high paying job when he got out of college.
ReplyDeleteIs this for a real estate internship? While I can't relate because I am in the pre-health field, I can still sense the strong competition based on the conversation you described. Also, I can sense the animosity and tension- it seems like your peer doesn't want you doing better than him. It's best to stay low-key (at least until you have secured the internship).
ReplyDeleteHey, I definitely feel you on the competitiveness of finding an internship in this industry: I actually got my first internship through a connect that I had at Electronic Arts, and from there, I was able to build a network to land my full time offer from that company, along with internships at many other huge entertainment firms. The first internship is always the hardest to get, but the ones that follow will be so much easier. If I can help, please let me know; I'd be more than keen to look over a resume or cover letter or see if I could help you network around!
ReplyDeleteeven as a freshman, I can feel such tension among my peers. Many of them attend many networking events since they come to USC... Networking and building connections are really important here.
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