Applying For Internships With No Career Plans? I Got You.

By: Alexandria Frank ‘21

I am a Psychology major with minors in Journalism and Classical Civilization and an interest in Screenwriting. That is, to say, I don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up. I just have a lot of interests and no specific drive or pull to any specific one. And I know that can be common to a lot of undergraduate students.

Therefore, when it comes to looking at internships, which are supposed to help you gain experience for your future career, it can be challenging to figure out where to apply and how to narrow your search. And let’s face it, sometimes you can’t afford to just not work during the summer until you figure your life out. Luckily, I’ve gotten a little experience in this realm during my last two years and would love to share some tips about applying to internships when you don’t know what you want to do with your life.

1) List out your interests. All of them.

What’s your major? What are some jobs that interest you that people from that major take? Think of any possible career or field that you find compelling and list it out. My list looked something like this: psychology, writing, journalism, movies, cartoon, editing, human resources, television, academic research. It can be pretty varied and maybe not even specific, but that’s good because it means you have plenty of options. Just  Google “_____ summer internships” and start browsing for things that sound interesting.

2) Look up some companies you admire.

For each of those subjects you love, perhaps there are specific brands or companies you admire or would really what to work for. Chances are they have internships! When I started applying for internships, I would just type in companies I thought would be awesome to work for and browsed their internships until I found ones with job descriptions that interested me. It landed me an interview with CNN, which I never thought would happen. Not to mention, companies appreciate applicants that have followed them for a bit and care about the brand more than just building their resume.

3) Let’s see that resume.

There are tons of articles on organizing and building a resume when you don’t have a ton of experience,  so I suggest checking those out. But after you do that, see where the direction of your resume takes you. What does your resume paint you as naturally? Perhaps you’ve highlighted a lot of your creative writing courses, which might make you look more credible as you toss out applications for internships in digital content creation. Or maybe your skills section is packed with Adobe Creative Cloud and lends itself naturally to video-editing or graphic design internships. It can be helpful to have other people look at your resume and tell you what they think you might excel at based on it. Or just ask people who know you what they think you’d be good at and see if any of those interest you.

4) Apply. To. Everything.

Now that you have this giant list of possible internships and companies, just apply to them. There’s no harm in applying to an internship, but if you don’t apply then you won’t get it.

 On top of that, studies have shown that women tend to not apply to jobs unless they meet 100% of the requirements, while men will shoot their shot even if they only fit about 60% of the criteria. However, many workplaces are willing to accept and train employees who don’t have all the preferred skills but show an interest and readiness to learn. So just apply and let your passion and drive to excel show through in your cover letter and interview process.

5) Diversify your assets (I mean, options).

Now, the purpose most commonly cited for why people should intern is to gain experience in your career field. And that’s true. But internships are also a great trial run for feeling out career fields and seeing if that’s actually a job you’d want to do long-term. Therefore, if last summer you were able to land an internship in graphic design but aren’t sure if you loved graphic design enough to keep pursuing it, then maybe take the next summer to try something new. Not only will you be trying your hand at different fields, but you’re also  building a diverse skillset. That’s what I’m doing now. I did a digital content creation internship last summer, and now I’ll be doing a talent acquisition internship.

It can be difficult to go through college without a surefire sense of direction, especially when it feels like your peers have been honing their passions since the 3rd grade. Don’t fret! College truly is a time of great exploration, so if you remain open to the possibilities and opportunities you get at this phase of your life, your future is bright.

Want more from Trojans 360?

Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content! You can also Ask A Trojan an anonymous question, and we’ll try to answer it in a future post. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.