How Not to Get the Summer Internship of Your Dreams

Feb 11, 2009 by Suzy Ogé    1 Comment     Posted under: Corporate, In the news, Unsolicited Advice

Dear Madames:
My name is Hxxxxxx Xxxxxxx.  i am a masters student in the Hague.  i am looking for a part time job/internship in your esteemed organization.
i will send detials of my educational and professional background as soon as i get your response.
i would appreciate if you could forward your support, may be in linking me with organizations who would fit to my enquiry.
thank you in advance for your prompt and unreserved help.
Sincerely,
Hxxxxxx X.

Dear Hxxxxxx,

We are in fact looking for an intern at the WBII.  Unfortunately, due to your decision not to use proper capitalization in your writing, I am unable to consider you for the position or recommend you further.

I would also like to suggest that you take a different approach with your letters of interest.  Instead of asking for a favor based on nothing, you might get further stating how you would add value to the organization.

Good luck to you in your search.

Regards,

Suzy Oge

Think my response is a bit harsh?   We get a lot of inquiries at the WBII from international students seeking internships and the number of poor quality e-mails and letters we receive is shocking.  I don’t always take the time to respond, but lately I’ve been working more often with undergrad students and believe that they really benefit from feedback.  This  was not a borderline case with a simple typo either.

Here are a few tips for Internship Seekers.

1.  Do not wait for your University to hand you a plumb internship.  Seriously.  What are your chances of receiving the following letter?  Dear Billy, Based on your interest in Communications and your good work on the recent group project, we have decided to “assign” you a  summer internship handling Public Relations for Queen Beatrix.  Keep up the good work!

2.  Tell everyone you know that you are looking for an opportunity and what your particular interests are.  I was recently able to place a student with a company, only because the Executive I knew had also had trouble finding his first  internship and had an unexpected soft spot on the subject.  (The student would have gotten nowhere with HR.)

3.  Communicate and, even better, demonstrate that you will make a tangible contribution. In these tough economic times, every company is paying closer attention to costs.  If you could pick up the slack resulting from reduced headcount, etc., you will be seen as a solution.

4. Research the organization before you contact them.  Take a few minutes up to a few hours or days (depending on how much you want a specific opportunity).  If you are contacted for an interview, invest even more time to prepare!

5. Proofread!  If you are sending an unsolicited e-mail to a stranger, that one e-mail is you!  It is the only thing the receiver has to make his first impression about you.  Don’t screw it up!  Have a native speaker proofread your correspondence.   If you don’t want to bother, then don’t bother sending the request.

Finally, remember it could be worse.  Just be grateful that you are not graduating imminently and looking for your first “real job”.  Invest the time it takes to secure a great internship and it will pay off when you are ready to look for your first job.  Hopefully the job market will be much improved too!

Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!