GETTING YOUR IDEAL INTERNSHIP - Universum

Getting Your Ideal Internship
CHAPTER 1
Internships:
The Big Picture
CHAPTER 2
The Search
CHAPTER 3
Getting Hired
CHAPTER 4
Navigating
Your Internship
CHAPTER 5
real intern
profiles
CHAPTER 5
For Your
Reference
Types of
Internships
› This guide uses the term internship to cover any
experiential learning opportunity: a position, paid or
unpaid, developed for people who are in a school program
(undergraduate or postgraduate), have recently
left college, or who have professional experience but are
aiming to change careers.
Summer Internships
This is the most common type of internship, bringing
students on board during their summer vacations.
Some companies may hire interns for a quarter or a
semester during the school year. These positions are
labeled according to the academic period involved, such
as fall intern or winter quarter intern.
Summer Associate Program
If you have an internship in the legal, banking, or
strategy consulting fields, particularly if you’re in law
school or getting an MBA, you’re likely to have the
title summer associate. These firms, even more than
other employers, look for new full-time associates from
within the ranks of their interns. The title itself is something
of a marketing tool used to attract candidates,
implying that summer associate is the step before associate.
In some MBA disciplines, you can’t get a diploma
without having served as a summer associate between
your first and second years.
In the banking industry, the title summer associate
has supplanted junior associate in corporate publications
and recruiting materials. However, the latter title is still
used in the everyday language of partners and executives.
In law firms, a summer associate is typically a student
between the second and third year of law school.
Cooperative Education (Co-op)
A co-op is an employer-sponsored work program
that generally lasts longer than a summer or a term.
Although internships are usually independent activities
outside the school’s purview, corporations will
often design co-ops in partnership with universities and
will be considered part of the educational experience.
Co-ops are usually paid.
Technology employers, such as engineering and
computer/IT companies, are the most likely to have
co-op programs. Career centers for engineering and
computer science are especially familiar with these
programs. Longer-term co-ops generally involve the
student more fully in meaningful projects. Much like
an apprenticeship in many trades, a co-op position can
serve as an employer’s way of screening and training
future professionals.
>
TIP
Develop a solid command of the industry and
the employer to demonstrate your knowledge
and your desire to work with your target
companies.
Other Routes to
Experiential Education
Temping
If used shrewdly by a student, temporary agencies can
become a sort of paid internship. General temp agencies
typically offer standard office work, but specialized
staffing agencies fulfill requests for temporary
and permanent staff in particular fields. A number of
national as well as smaller regional staffing firms include
specialized divisions such as management/consulting,
accounting/finance, legal, technology, and creative/
marketing.
If no specialized staffing agency serves your area, you
can go with a general temp agency and request particular
placements, such as with biotech companies or PR
firms. The agency may see you as picky, but try to make
it worth its while by developing an in-demand skill—
expertise in website production, as an example—for
which it has a hard time fulfilling orders.
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