How to Conduct an Internship/Summer Job Search

How and When to Begin
Assembling your Documents
Learning About Opportunities
Applying

HOW AND WHEN TO BEGIN

Internships have several important benefits. They can help you to:
• Gain work experience, learn new skills, & explore various career options.
• Learn more about your skills, values, and special talents, as well as likes and dislikes in a work environment.
• Network and learn from professionals in field(s) you are considering.
• Obtain work references and maybe even get a permanent job offer!

Identifying your priorities for your internship experience will help you focus your search. The first step involves self-analysis. What do you want from the internship?

• An opportunity to learn more about a particular field or industry?
• Experience with a particular employer?
• Work in a certain geographic region?
• The chance to provide community service and/or public service?

Narrowing the scope of your search will focus your efforts as you research internship options and can assist you in breaking your search into manageable pieces.

Identify what you have to offer a prospective employer. Specifically, think about your:

Skills: analytical, verbal, graphic, design, quantitative, artistic, interpersonal, linguistic, technological, etc.
Qualities: cheerful, diligent, reflective, energetic, compassionate, patient, etc.
Experiences: work experiences, extracurricular activities, travel, volunteer work, etc.

Establish a timeline for your internship search. Use the fall semester to think about your expectations and hopes for an internship and to identify some potential employers/organizations where you'd like to work in the summer. The vast majority of summer internships do not require applications before January at the very earliest. Be aware, however, that some competitive internships will have fall deadlines (Click here for a list of some of these).

For students participating in Summer On-Campus Recruiting, we hold orientation sessions in December, and again at the beginning of spring semester. Applications for these (and other business-related internships such as banking, consulting, marketing, etc.) start in January. Keep in mind that most OCR positions go to juniors, as corporations recruiting on campus use the summer internship to groom candidates for permanent positions after graduation. OCR summer recruiting represents only a very small portion of the wide range of internships available. Be sure to check PennLink for additional internship opportunities.

Students looking into internships in communications, law, research, politics, arts and culture, advocacy, etc. -- the full gamut of "liberal arts" options -- can begin applying at the start of spring semester, but it is much more common for these internship programs to receive applications slightly later in the semester (generally before spring break).

We continue to receive internship announcements throughout the year, so that it is even possible to find internships as late as May-June.

For information on international internships, visit Wharton's "Guide to International Internships" and our "International Opportunities and Fellowships" site. Students interested in international internships should begin searches in the fall.

ASSEMBLING YOUR DOCUMENTS

Samples & Guidance:

• Your Key Documents:

A resume is the keystone of your internship application. It is a one-page document that presents your educational background, work and volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities, and skills. (Click here for CAS Resume Guide.)

A cover letter is a one-page business-style letter that accompanies (nearly) every resume you send to prospective employers. It serves as an introduction, telling the employer who you are and why you are sending a resume. Your letter enables you to highlight the special features of your education and experience that qualify you for a particular position or organization, as well as communicate why you are interested in a position with a specific employer and/or in a particular field. It also serves to demonstrate your writing skills. Once you send your materials, be sure to follow up with a phone call or email a week or two later to confirm the receipt of your materials, reiterate your interest in the position, and inquire about interview opportunities and/or the employer’s hiring timeline. (Click here for CAS Cover Letter Guide.)

• Other Documents Employers May Request

Sometimes employers request transcripts (official or unofficial). For an unofficial transcript, visit your Penn-In-Touch account and cut & paste your unofficial transcript onto a new Word document. Be sure to add your name to each page, and do not alter anything on the document. For an official transcript, visit the Registrar’s office.

Writing samples, unless indicated otherwise, should be brief (a 2-5 page paper or project, a 2-5 page excerpt from a paper or project, a newspaper article, etc.) and relate in theme and/or style to the internship opportunity.

A list of references should give the names, titles, contact information, and the nature of your relationship with people who know you well and can speak to your abilities, character, and interests.

LEARNING ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES

• On-line Job Listings: This is one of the most common places for looking for any job, but typically less than 30% of jobs are found through job listings. While this can be a valuable tool to use in your internship search, be sure to use other methods as well.

The best place to start is PennLink (www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/pennlink.html) -- Career Service’s job and internship database. For the password, contact Career Services.

You will also find internship opportunities through On-Campus Recruiting. Employers visit campus in February to recruit directly for summer positions. OCR is generally made up of business-related organizations, as those are the only types of firms that recruit. (www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/recruiting/recruiting.html)

The “Recommended Internet Links” site on the CS homepage as well as the “Internship and Summer Employment Resources” page (that you can link to from the “Recommended Links” page) will link you to many other general and field-specific sites. (www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/internetmenu.html)

• Books
Review internship books in the Career Services library. These are excellent resources for identifying specific positions and for learning “what’s out there.”

The Library's internship section contains several thick books with national listings of internships:

The Library also contains guidebooks dedicated to internships in specific fields, for instance:

The Penn Career Network, Career Service’s database of alumni mentors, is an excellent source of contacts. The PCN has over 3,000 Penn alumni who have volunteered to talk with students about careers and job search techniques. You can access PCN at: (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/college/pcnhomeandguidelines.htm). For the username and password, contact Career Services (215.898.7529).

• Employers
Directly contacting employers to inquire about summer opportunities is another method for finding an internship. Identify organizations of interest – those you’ve heard about in the news or in classes, encountered in research, or learned about through experience with their products or services. Conduct research on the employer through informational interviewing, reading employer literature and websites, and/or researching the employer in the news. Think about the ways your education, skills, and abilities could match well with the needs of the employer.

Call the organization or review their website to determine the name of the person to whom to send your resume and cover letter. Prepare a personalized cover letter and follow up with a phone call or email once the employer has received your materials.

APPLYING

• Figure Out To Whom To Send Your Resume And Cover Letter. When a contact name or recruiter is not stated on a job listing, it’s not always obvious or easy to figure out to whom to send your resume. In general, you want to address your resume to the senior-most person who is in the position to make a hiring decision. Often this will be a department head, manager, vice president, etc., and you will have uncovered this information through the “identifying employers” phase of your search. Sometimes this will be the Human Resources Department (particularly if you want to work in the field of H.R.), but often it is not. Use the organization's website or contact the organization to determine whom should be the recipient of your letter.

• Contact the people with whom you've networked to find out what they know about the organization for which you want to work, or the specific position you’ve seen posted.

• Contact the company to find out more information about the position and job application procedure(s). If appropriate, call the organization for which you hope to work, or one that has listed a position (as long as it doesn’t say “no phone calls”) to find out more about the position. If you do not have a contact name, call Human Resources, or go directly to the department or unit that interests you. Prepare a thoughtful list of questions that you’d like to have answered. Be prepared to talk about yourself and your qualifications.

• Fine-tune your resume and cover letter. Armed with a depth of understanding about the organization and the position, along with the name of the right person to write to, you will need to prepare an individualized cover letter for every position you apply for. The Career Services Web site has excellent information on writing cover letters. You might also consider tailoring your resume to emphasize your skills and experiences that will speak most directly to the specific jobs for which you apply. We'll be happy to critique your materials as you need us to.

• Send out your cover letter and resume via mail, email, and/or fax to all employers you've identified through networking, library research, and job listings.

• Follow up your cover letter and resume with either a phone call or email about a week after they've been received. Confirm that your materials arrived and express interest in the opportunity. As appropriate (i.e. the employer may not have the time to go into depth during your call or in an email), inquire about the position, the employer's timeframe, interview opportunities, etc.

• Prepare in advance for your interview. Check out Interviewing Tips from the Career Services Web site and in the Pathways manual. Attend an interviewing workshop and consider scheduling a mock interview with a CS counselor.

• Write Thank-You notes. Follow up every informational interview, telephone interview, and actual job interview with a thank-you note. If you want us to, we'll be happy to review drafts.

Tip: Though this may seem burdensome, thank-you notes make a big difference and are always received positively.

CAREER SERVICES

Career Services is here to help you in your search. In an appointment with a CAS Career Counselor, you can go over search strategies or any questions you have about the internship search process. We also offer mock interviews, critiques of resumes and cover letters, workshops and programs on career fields and job searches, and much more. The Career Services Library has an abundance of great resources as well.