Bryan Connor - Young and Freelancing

How To Get the Summer Internship or Job of your Dreams

Yesterday we discussed How To Find the Summer Internship or Job of your Dreams as a part of Summer Employment Month at Young & Freelancing. Once you’ve found your dream internship or summer job, there are a few things you can do to ensure that the opportunity does not pass you by.

In yesterday’s post I came up with a rough time line for the internship and job search. These are dates and deadlines you should set for yourself to set yourself up for success this summer.

How to Get It

Have your documents refined and ready – Out of the 5 Essential Tools Every Freelancer Should Have you will need a resume to be certain, a potential cover letter to go along with each position, and your email pitch for a summer internship. Keep your tools sharp and put them to good use when the need arises.

Meet face to face – Much more personal than an email with a resume attached, a face to face chat can drastically increase your chances of being liked and remembered. Ask for an informational interview with a potential employer and find out a bit more about the position while making a great first impression.

Be a professional in every way – That means no forgotten attachments, everything has been proofread, and you are properly dressed to meet with them. Even off topic banter should be kept to a minimum as you are striving to be the best candidate possible which means avoiding any hot button topics of conversation. Just use common sense and practical manners and you will be all set in this department.

Create promotional material – In a giant stack of resumes printed in black ink on white paper, what about yours is going to make it stand out? Create some promotional material about yourself to send out along with your resume to ensure it will get noticed and recognized. Create a pamphlet explaining what you do or bind a small book. Anything outside the realm of the resume and business card can help you tremendously.

Learn how to talk about yourself – Put together a presentation and a short spiel for when you meet a potential employer or representative. This is the time when your pitch needs to be highly buffed and waxed and ready to go at a moments notice. Don’t be shy and don’t be afraid to point out what is really great about you and why you’re better than the rest.

Ask old employers and clients for references – A well written and favorable reference can be a huge boost in the selection process. I’m sure many of your past employers would be happy to write letters of recommendation for you to get the summer job or internship of you dreams.

Research your top 3 – Do significant research on your top 3 choices of places you’d want to work and try to learn as much as you can about them. Take notes and use them in an interview to impress the people asking you questions. Find out what kind of work they do and, if you can, what they are looking to improve about their business. Work these things into you discussion and appear highly knowledgeable and interested about the company with which you are interviewing.

Add an extra marketable skill to your resume – and then learn it before your first day. This may seem a little risky and not necessarily what some would call honest but it might be the turning point for the employer that leads them to hire you. It’s an excellent way to force yourself to learn something new in what will probably be a small amount of time.

Stand out from the crowd – Sometimes to get an interview you need a little bit extra. Employers have giant stacks of resumes at this time of year to go through and as I’ve said a few times, standing out from the crowd is very important to your success. Send off your resume with a little something extra, some branded cover letters, a letter head, or unique self promotional material. Maybe even stick out in the stack with a different paper size.

Create a top 10 list – of the top 10 reasons why your targeted employer should hire you and emphasize the top three in your application / cover letter. The list is a good thing to make in order for you to see how talented you are and for you to be confident about the things you can bring to an internship or job this summer.

As Summer Employment month at Young & Freelancing continues I will post articles all about my search for summer employment and more articles on internships and jobs, how to beef up your client roster, the best places to work for designers, bootstrapping yourself to success, and finding that opportunity of your dreams.