Hello everyone! We can’t believe that we are nearly halfway through April, and as we near summer, we are sure that many of you are still finding yourselves scrambling to find last-minute opportunities or internships to use to gain professional experience in the “off months” of school! If that sounds like you, keep reading here to view some of our tips for last-minute internship recruiting efforts that you can engage in right now…

Late Stage Networking…

Exploratory or Externship Opportunities

An easily overlooked component of professional growth may take the form of externship or exploratory opportunities for groups of students at earlier points in their academic careers (sophomores!) or at any point throughout the job life cycle. These programs often encourage students early in the game to “preview” companies for a few days at a time, participate in shadowing roles, or emerge in an internship environment for up to a week! You would be surprised at how many companies are beginning to offers these options to students as they begin to shape their recruiting efforts for future summers and years. So, if you haven’t landed an official “internship” – look ahead to see what types of introductory experiences you can grasp for this summer!

Spring Career Fairs

If you missed the Fall career fair, or are just generally looking to practice your elevator pitch or networking skills, attending a “late” or Spring Career fair may be the perfect next step for you! Not only does doing so allow you to gauge any open opportunity still available but is a perfect way to get ahead for the following year. Establishing initial interactions and relationships with recruiters at a variety of companies is an integral component of being remembered as a candidate and becoming considered for the following internship or role. So, make sure to check your University’s online job resource tools like Handshake and look ahead to any events being offered throughout this Spring and end of the semester!

• Extra Tip: Always bring a few copies of your resume and business cards if you have them!

Informational Interviews and Networking

Our final tip of advice is too… and I’m sure you guessed it… NETWORK! Yes, we’ve said it 100 times before and we’ll say it again, get on LinkedIn, use your friends, family, and professors, and generally seek out any informational conversations that you can! Professionals love to talk about their own careers and almost all will be willing to offer you 30 minutes to learn more about their internship programs, things to do to mold into an awesome candidate for the next year, and learn more about a variety of roles that could unpredictably pique new interests.

Searching for a new position? Check out our open jobs list!