I am currently a junior in the business school. I am very nervous right now because I do not have plans for the summer. I would like to have an internship and get some good experience for when I graduate. So far I have been unsuccessful. What should I do? Where should I look?

From Almost senior

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Dear Almost senior,

Internships are one of the most important additions to your college classes. As you said, getting an internship is going to give you real-life experience and getting one the summer before senior year or even fall semester of senior year is definitely your best bet.

I am a print journalism major, so what I had to go through to get an internship might be a little different from how the business school handles it. I am going to start off by giving you some tips before you start the search.

First, have your resume done and perfected. Make sure that you were not the only one to check it. The more people that look at it, the more chances there are to catch mistakes, even if they are minor.

Second, have a general cover letter already made up. You will have to specify the cover letter to each business you apply to, but it is always good to have one already, so you won’t be rushing around to write a cover letter if you find the perfect job opening for you.

Third, you want to know what you are exactly looking for. Check if you need internship credits to graduate. If you don’t, I still recommend you take on an internship position and an added bonus is that a lot of places even pay interns.

O.K. so now when you are prepared to start searching, there are many ways to find places that want to hire an intern. Once again, I am not completely sure about the business school, but you can contact Jill Ferrall for advice, since she runs the career program for the School of Business.

There also might be companies that you already know of. Even if you are not sure if they have any openings for interns, it never hurts to send them your resume and a cover letter stating that you are interested in their company and would love to experience working as their intern.

In some instances, you will get a direct response with exactly the answer you were looking for. Other times, you will need to follow up with them and keep them thinking about you. Never back down and be persistent.

Remember that everything does happens for a reason, but you have to make it happen. Apply to as many companies as possible. Anything that catches your interest, try it out. The worst that can happen is they say no but don’t give up.

Remember to be professional, to always send thank you notes and to push for what you want. Good luck!