One of the most important factors for many in choosing a college/university is the co-op program and reputation. If you go to a school that doesn’t have an official co-op program until second or third year, you may be stuck wondering how does one land an internship before that?
If you’re one of the few students who is willing to take on the initiative to find their own internship without the help of their school, keep reading.
The Mindset
Imposter syndrome is definitely real— as a first year, I was surrounded by people way smarter than me, who had way more experience, and people who just “knew what they were doing”. And now I had to compete with those same people for an internship? I was scared to put myself out there because I thought I wasn’t “good enough”. My GPA wasn’t as good as everyone else’s, and I felt as if I could never land a job because of it.
Imposter syndrome doesn’t really go away (at least not yet for me), and this will sound corny but you’re the only person who you should be comparing yourself to. Persistence is key, and giving up before you’ve even started won’t do you any good.
The Problem with Job Portals
As a first year, sending in your resume to a job portal of thousands of more experienced candidates usually won’t get you anywhere. You might go to networking and career fair events to hand off 100 copies of your resume to a bunch of different companies and not hear back from any of them. But why— are you just simply not good enough?
Well… sort of. You’re being directly compared to people with years more of education, design team experience, and internships than you.
But don’t get discouraged by this.
Instead of getting lost among all the other applicants, find your own way to stand out— which I will go over in the next section.
The Strategy
The key is to really personalize your “application”— I say “application” because it’s not the traditional job application you’re used to seeing.
Cold emailing
If there’s any part of this article that you should read, it’s this one.
For larger companies, this typically doesn’t work as the HR or recruitment people will just tell you to apply on their portal, or your email will get lost in a plethora of other emails. This is why it’s vital to choose startups, or other small companies where you’d have easy access to the CEO/CTO.
Once you have your company, draft up an email about who you are, what drives you, what you can bring to their company, etc. This shows that not only have you put initiative into reaching out, but you’re also more likely to get a response since employers aren’t expecting this.
Re: Summer 2023 Internship Opportunity I hope you're doing well! My name is Samar and I'm a first year electrical engineering student. I'm reaching out to you because: - I have strengths in 'x' - I'm passionate about 'y' - I have experience in 'z' I'd love to help [company name] do [...] this coming summer and was wondering if there were any available opportunities. I've attached my resume below and look forward to hearing back from you!
Employers are not going to say yes to you just because you reached out— you actually have to be able to sell yourself effectively. What have you learned in the past year? What projects have you completed? What relevant clubs/organizations are you apart of? It definitely helps to have a portfolio to showcase your work in conjuction with a resume.
Most employees at these types of companies play roles that fit into every aspect of the company— which is why you’ll sometimes see a CEO doing everything from technical specifics to recruitment. By this nature, there is usually isn’t a specific short term job posting, which is why this method is so effective.
Where do I find these companies?
The great thing about startups is that there are so many of them out there, all in their own niche. Here are some ways I’ve found companies and opportunities in the past:
- Career fairs affiliated with your school. If you go to these and are able to drop off your resume, don’t let it end at that. Talk to the recruiters, connect with them on LinkedIn, and continue the conversation.
- Conferences in your field. There are usually a ton of smaller companies here looking for VC investors.
- Going down LinkedIn rabbit holes. Not the most effficient, but quite effective in my experience.
- Startups that are supported by local incubators. This is pretty much a gold mine, especially being in Toronto, a massive startup hub.
- Companies supported by government affiliated programs, specifically for university/college students.
It’s also important that you’re enrolled in your school’s official co-op program, which entices companies to hire you, as they would get grants/tax benefits in doing so.
When do I “apply”?
A huge mistake students make is applying for jobs too late in the semester. It’s easy to get caught up with assignments and midterms, but you want to get all your “applications” out early on in January or February. Winter reading week is a good “cutoff”.
The point is, these smaller companies will need a bit of time to get grants/funding for your position. They have to apply for programs before they get filled up with other co-op students, or else you’re probably not going to get paid. You could do an unpaid internship just for the experience, but that’s a whole other story.
Should I only apply to startups?
This is not to say you should avoid applying to bigger companies, but you definitely want to keep in mind the idea of “personalizing your application”. Don’t skip out on writing a cover letter, or even dropping a comment/message to recruiters on LinkedIn. However, keep in mind your success with larger companies (if you don’t have an internal referral), can be much lower as a first year.
Conclusion
I should’ve probably done a disclaimer that this is not a guaranteed strategy to land an internship in first year, just some tips I’d like to think are helpful. You need to spend time grinding out projects, and make an attempt to excel in your school courses, this is not an excuse to say you can just freestyle things and hope for a job with this strategy.
I guess this is it, I’m probably missing a bunch of stuff but I’ll update this post as life goes on, and as I learn new things to share. Thank you if you’ve read this far, and I’d love any constructive feedback.