8 Deadly Sins You Can Make in Choosing the Internship

Are you on the hunt for a great internship? They are becoming highly important for students who intend to work in the industry straight out of college. Indeed, an experience of working in a company that operates in the future job field is great. For example, it can provide some valuable connections, improve professional expertise, and help to make a choice of a career path.

When choosing an internship, many students make various mistakes that cost them all the benefits of the entire experience. Thus, it could be said they commit deadly sins that prevent them from making the right choice.

Here are the most common ones.

1. Waiting too long to apply

Some students wait for days and sometimes weeks before they finally send an application. The reasons for such behavior are different, ranging from procrastination to fear of rejection. Regardless of the reason, you will be rejected if you forgot to send your cover letter within the application deadline.

2. Not following application guidelines

This one can easily cost you an opportunity to get an internship even if you provided your documents within the application deadline. Just think about: should someone hire you even if you were lazy enough to follow all the instructions in the application? They were included there for a reason, right? Thus, the way you completed the applications will define the first impression of the employer.

3. Not sending a resume

If an employer provided an opportunity to send additional materials along with the application, be sure to upload your resume. It will help to have more information about you and your expertise. Besides, what could possibly happen if you send your resume? That’s right, you’ve got nothing to lose while potential gains are great. For example, an employer might see how valuable you can be for them by reviewing your skills.

4. Sending an outdated resume

Suppose you found out that you can send a resume along with the application. After browsing your computer a little bit, you found it. Wait. Hold on. You also discovered that the resume was created a year ago and nothing was added there. Should you send an outdated resume? The answer is most likely no. The resume you’re sending to a potential employer should contain everything you’ve done until the day when you want to use it. So, you need to add everything that could be relevant to the internship.

5. Applying to just a few internships

This is a deadly sin that greatly decreases your chances to get the opportunity to work in a dream company. Let’s be honest here, chances are you are not going to get every internship you apply for. So, by applying to just a few, you’re significantly liming your chances to get even one. To increase your chances of getting an internship, apply for a bunch. Of course, you shouldn’t think any internship is suitable for you, so choose very carefully.

6. Not “cleaning” your Facebook feed

It’s been said before and it will be said again: you should clean your social media profiles! Employers check all of them before they make a decision to hire you because they can provide an insight into your personality. “Just put yourself in the shoes of an employer, and Google yourself,” says Sidney Hayward, a senior recruiter at Assignmenthelper.com.au. “If a distasteful picture or a nasty comment come up, that’s it for you. So, make social media work for you by cleaning the profiles on Facebook and other platforms.”

7. Not following up

A recruiter at a large company typically receives thousands of applications during the submission deadline. For example, the guys at Google get around 3 million applications a year but hire only 7,000, which means only one in 428 applicants succeed. The figures for internship programs are very close to these, so just imagine how hard it is to evaluate each candidate.

This is to say that it’s very easy for an employer to forget about you, so you should follow up with them before they announced who was appointed. A simple email is enough.

8. Applying only to one type of organization

Of course, you want to get an internship at large companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. So do tens of thousands of others! Applying only for well-known giants of the digital world could be a bad idea because of all that competition. Instead, you should diversify the search and try to send applications for smaller companies as well. As the result, you will increase your chances of getting an internship.

Over to you

Avoid these deadly sins while choosing an internship because they can significantly reduce your chances of success. Instead, be attentive and smart about it, and get a dream position!

About our guest blogger: Lucy Benton is a writing coach, an editor who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger. She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. Also Lucy has her own blog ProWritingPartner where you can check her last publications. If you’re interested in working with Lucy, you can find her on FaceBook.