How do you get an internship coming out of freshman year?

Summary List of Article:

Challenge of Freshman Internships:

• Lack of experience makes it harder for freshmen to secure internships compared to upperclassmen.

Building Connections in High School:

• Take high school classes that offer job experience and credits.

• Leave a good impression on employers for potential future opportunities.

• Use connections from high school to secure an internship post-freshman year.

Boosting Your Resume:

• Participate in activities, co-op programs, and work-study opportunities in college.

• Begin networking early, understanding rejections are common.

• Focus on gaining experience, not necessarily the perfect internship.

Creating a Strong Resume:

• Keep it simple and include all relevant high school jobs.

• Highlight leadership roles in clubs and any advanced college classes taken in high school.

Cold-Calling and Networking:

• Contact local companies, explaining your background and goals.

• Be ready for rejection but see cold-calling as good practice.

• Consider emailing instead, with a polished, concise message.

Attending Career Fairs:

• Have a strong resume and dress professionally (business casual at least).

• Research companies in advance to show knowledge and interest.

• Compete with older students by being better prepared.

Importance of Persistence:

• Consistently seek opportunities, as internships rarely come easy.

• Attend resume workshops and use career services offered by your college to stand out.

Final Advice:

• Keep pushing through rejections, as persistence and effort will eventually open doors.

How do you get an internship coming out of freshman year? 

Getting an internship out of college freshman year can be very hard to do because you simply don't have enough experience on your resume to get employers to buy into you. It would be a much higher risk for them to pick you over someone closer to graduation. How do you end up getting an internship your freshman year without going through having a regular job in the summer coming out of your freshman year? This article will answer this question however, it will take work on your end to successfully get an internship coming out of your freshman year of college. 

You need to build connections in high school to be more likely to have success in getting an internship coming out of your freshman year. This may not be great to hear if you're currently already in the middle of your freshman year of college and looking for an internship. But to build these connections I suggest taking a high school class that allows you to get high school credit and get job experience at the same time for one or two hours a day. This is a great way to build up experience and a name for yourself in whatever company you're working with. The class does the leg work for you in finding an employer and gets you experience. All the connections will be between your teacher and the high school. This is nice because it's not your own and you don’t have to do the work of making the connections. Making connections can take a lot of time and you may not have this time or want to take this time in high school. Also, make sure you leave a good impression on the company you are working with so you can come back after you're done with your first year of college. Also, you probably receive a grade in high school for this experience.  Even if you don’t like your experience it is still important to leave a good impression because you may need them as a resource for job interviews.. It will allow you then to have a good base and proof that you are a good employee. Which in turn makes it easier to find an Internship during your freshman year of college. 

This will boost your resume and then will allow you to get more internships later on in your college career that you would like better. Additionally getting more internships sooner can help you weed out what you do and don't like to do. This is important so you don't have to keep jumping ship when you're actually through with college and have a real job. Your job greatly affects your life in that it takes up most of your time and your outlook on how much you enjoy your life. It's ok to come out of college and find out you don’t like your job however you should have a plan to find something you like to do. Use this first job as a stepping stone. That same thought process can be applied to your first internship too. Odds are you are not going to find what you like the best on the first swing. Just keep searching and trying until you find the right fit. 

Now, if you don't have this High School connection moving forward, it would be good to boost your resume with whatever activities you can get into in college and maybe see if there are any co-op options. There could be work and study programs too that you could find to gain some experience in your major. Another thing I would be looking for is internships way sooner than most and realizing that you may get denied on a lot of occasions because of your inexperience. The earlier you look and start to network the more time you have to put a bug in a potential employer's ear. You will likely find the answer to getting an internship with said company is no then yes but don’t get discouraged by this. You don’t need multiple internships. You are trying to have one in the summer to build your resume. You don’t need to find gold you're only trying to get the experience so you can have the gold come to you later. 

The next step if you lack connections for an internship is to make a good resume, I suggest making it a simple black-and-white resume if you're an engineering major. Putting every job you held through high school that is applicable. You're trying to market yourself against your peers on why they should pick you over all the other people. This is very important to understand because the odds are there is someone more qualified at your college than you to get that internship. Then, make sure that you're ahead in your major compared to a lot of people because of taking college classes in high school, to show this in your resume. Be sure to put down classes that you're currently taking in college that apply to your major to show that you have quite a bit of experience and are closer to graduation than a garden variety freshman. This will help boost your resume and make you more likely to be hired. Also, if you're part of a club and on the board of that club, for sure, put that on there because it shows a leadership position as a freshman in college, which is an additional plus for your resume. You are trying to get whatever edge you have and using it. 

If you're still having a hard time, I would suggest finding companies in your hometown that you know about in your major and cold-calling them. Maybe finding connections within your hometown could help you find a job there since after all, it is your hometown. When you're cold calling, be sure to explain who you are, what you're studying, and why you're looking for an internship. You're essentially marketing yourself, so be sure to be confident and try to sell yourself to the company. It can be hard and be ready for a lot of no's or a maybe… which maybe is likely a no. The exercise of cold calls can be useful in the fact that you will end up working with a lot of people you don’t know. So be sure to show yourself in a good light and keep your work life professional. You can get more out of cold-calling than just an internship remember that. 

If cold calling doesn't work maybe switch to emailing instead and have a well-crafted email not too long and not too short. Make sure to thank them for their time. Additionally, I'd make sure you have your phone on you for receiving emails so you can reply promptly as well as for phone calls. This will set a precedence that you are on top of stuff and you would be a good investment for the company to hire you. Again you are marketing yourself and you are the only one who knows about you. If you know your strengths leverage them in the email that you send out. Don’t be a bystander in your employment process. Always be thinking about how would my strengths help this company when I move up the ladder and maybe give a little piece of this in your cold email. Also, take it from the perspective in that the employer who you are chasing doesn't know a thing about you. Then think about what aspects of yourself would allow me to be given a chance. Also, ask yourself if would you ask further questions if you saw this email in your inbox. If not then you need to fix that and make them want to ask you questions and get to know you more to get hired. I understand that this is not easy to do and you should not expect an email back but if you get enough out there. There should be someone who will respond. 

Another option for getting an internship is attending career fairs. However, make sure you have a very good resume for this and look professional before you attend. Do not show up in a T-shirt and Jeans. At the very least have business casual attire on. Also, do not be scared to go up to multiple booths and talk to multiple companies.  Now before going to the career fair be sure to look at the companies attending and do a little research on the ones you want to go talk to so they don’t have to explain what they do in depth. You don’t want to look clueless because as a freshman it will lower your chances since you just showed them you don’t know all that much. This will only reinforce the stereotype that exists about freshmen. 

Additionally, career fairs make it easier to find an internship because you know all the companies are looking for people to fill their spots. The only problem is you are competing with your older classmates who are farther along than you in the same major and who likely know more than you and have more experience than you. How do you get around this? Simple, just put in more time preparing than they do. Putting in a lot of time building and editing your resume. Getting good at your general pitch about yourself. The only way around this is to be better prepared than your peers. I know this is easier said than done. However, I suggest attending the resume workshops and other career-building services that the college provides. So you can get ahead of the curve and not be an average freshman. 

Overall I hope this article has provided you with some actions you can take now to find an internship. I know it can be hard to find an internship but if you're not consistently looking for one it will be almost impossible to get one. This type of opportunity simply does not fall out of the sky. Keep pushing and don’t let the no’s and no answers get you down. There will be a door that opens for you if you keep putting the work in. They will not always open simply by walking up to them you will have to take action yourself. Lastly, if you want more content consider applying to the email list to get a reminder. I will be covering a lot of different topics and even example problems for math, science, and other subjects. 

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