It’s Internship Application Season: How and Why to Apply
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When should you apply?
Fall is the season when employers are searching for graduate students for their summer internships. These are often paid opportunities for you to learn more about a career path, gain new skills and experiences, and create new professional connections. Internships can result in employment offers as well as additions to your resume that demonstrate your abilities.
Who should apply?
Internships can be excellent learning and networking experiences for graduate students in any discipline. Many companies, non-profits, and government agencies offer a vast array of internships for a diverse set of career tracks.
Why should you apply?
Internships are a great opportunity to transfer your academic skills to any non-academic career path. Graduate internships are often project-based experiences that allow you to apply your academic training to a professional objective. They can also help you develop expertise that will enrich your research as you deploy methodological or analytical skills in new contexts and better understand the broader implications of your academic work. Internships are one of the best ways to get experience in a career field, make professional connections that can be valuable upon graduation, and demonstrate to future employers that you know how to apply your academic skills in their environment.
How do you find out about internships?
The Graduate Center can help you find internships that are a good fit for you. Here are just a few suggestions:
- Check your professional society, since many companies contact them about opportunities.
- Sign in to the Handshake(link is external) database and use the filters to find paid internships for graduate students.
- Federal government(link is external) internships such as the Pathways Internship Program and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education(link is external) offer a large number of internships and fellowships for graduate students in STEM. They offer some opportunities for humanities disciplines as well.
- Search the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory(link is external) (HASTAC) for internships in digital humanities.
- LinkedIn and Indeed list many internships. You can also go directly to specific employers’ web sites to look for internship opportunities.
- Make an appointment today with the Graduate Center’s Career Services personnel to help you in your search.
When should you talk with your advisor about internships?
As soon as you identify a promising internship, discuss with your advisor why it would be a valuable opportunity, what you hope to derive from it, and how it could be beneficial for your graduate career. Be prepared to outline your plan for how to minimize disruption to your research and perhaps your advisor’s research. What new skills might you learn that you could share with other graduate students? How will you manage ongoing academic work during the internship? If you work in a lab, are there funds available to hire undergraduates or others who could conduct some of your tasks while you are away, and how would you develop their training? How long would your internship last, and would it be full or part-time? Not only having a plan for yourself but also considering your advisor’s concerns will go a long way toward gaining their support.
How can you get help with internship applications?
We have Career Resources staff and Writing Resources staff that are happy to help you develop your materials.