How to get an internship at your dream company: a simple guide

How to find the right company

What can you do? What professions are close to you? What companies seem cool? The answers to these questions will help you form a picture of the perfect internship, cut off some options right away, and focus on finding the right place.

To better visualize the future workplace, write down the main guidelines on paper. Think about a suitable schedule and the number of hours that you are willing to devote to an internship. Analyze whether it will be comfortable for you to go to the office or whether you would like to train remotely. Ask yourself what skills you want to take away from your experience. If you feel that you are ready for independent work and do not feel an urgent need for daily communication with the team, then choose remote work. And if teamwork and the ability to see colleagues and personally ask them questions is more important to you, then look for vacancies in the office.

After answering questions about the format of the internship, move on to a more global task - choosing a direction and a company. Career guidance tests will help determine the first. However, you should not rely too much on them - the results are often generalized. But some quizzes can introduce you to unexpected careers and open up avenues you might not have thought of before.

If it's not the direction that's important, but the company, don't forget to check out their career site first. These resources contain all the information about open vacancies, as well as useful articles about the mission and values ​​of the company and how a career is built in a particular organization and with what leaders work. If the company does not have such a website, take a look at its page on HeadHunter. Check the rating of the organization and the archive of closed vacancies - sometimes you can find interesting directions there that you have not thought about before. And also subscribe to the accounts of the selected company in social networks, and if the organization has well-known, public team leads, follow their activity. The more you know about the priority job, the higher the chance of being liked by HR managers and recruiters.

How to search for internship programs

Perhaps the company of your dreams has open recruitment for internships. You can check this on her website, in social networks or on job search portals. To expand the circle is real and with the help of student events dedicated to a career. For example, visit a job fair and master classes at universities. If you don’t know which companies to monitor, look through the offers of online schools in your specialty. Such platforms often arrange internships for their students in large organizations.

If you did not find an internship at the right company, you can declare your desire to get into the state directly by writing an email. If you can competently "sell" yourself, your desire to work and study, there is a chance to get a dream internship without many hours of searching among unsuitable offers.

How to evaluate your skills

Before submitting your resume and starting the test tasks, it is useful to compile a comparison sheet of your skills and the requirements voiced by the company. If there are too many inconsistencies or you lack key skills, this is not a reason to give up. You can simply postpone the internship for a couple of months or until the start of a new selection - during this time you will have time to fill in the gaps.

And do not underestimate yourself and your experience. Sometimes you can master a specific program or theory on the right issue on your own. And the missing work experience is to be compensated by the experience of participating in hackathons and specialized competitions. Remember what university events you participated in, and consider whether you can draw the necessary skills from your practices and educational and scientific competitions to apply for a vacancy.

How to write a resume

The resume creates the first impression, so it should be understandable, competent and adapted to a specific internship. It is worth specifying only relevant vacancies, skills and achievements. For example, a victory in a student beauty contest is unlikely to add pluses to the piggy bank of an intern developer, but Python courses are. It is better to write less, but to the point. And don't forget to carefully proofread the text for typos before submitting. Errors in the resume will be a wake-up call for the employer - it means that the candidate did not consider it necessary to spend more time on verification. And, probably, not too responsible for work duties.

You can also attach a motivation letter to your resume: tell us what attracts you to the company you are applying for and why you should be chosen. Describe your goal - for example, to accelerate your career, enter management positions, or participate in large projects within a specific period. And most importantly, start bringing concrete benefits to the business as soon as possible. You do not need to praise yourself in such a message, but you can carefully emphasize your attitude to work hard and put work in priority, compensating for a lack of experience.

What to expect from entrance examinations

What they will be depends on the company. Somewhere they may be asked to complete a test task, somewhere - to go through a series of technical interviews, somewhere - all at once. In any case, you need to prepare for them. The first thing to do is to find out what is being asked on the tests. Then remember the university theory, read study materials and solve problems. Be sure to check the internship website if there is one: in addition to the selection conditions, there may be useful training materials.

One of the most common tests is an interview with an HR manager. An important part of such an interview is to show that you want to get an internship in this particular company. Answer in advance for yourself the question about your own motivation to work and study, think about how to explain why you chose a particular vacancy.

What does it mean to “prove yourself in an internship”

In order for the internship to be followed by a real offer, you need to show your knowledge. Don't give up on difficult assignments. If you have already done everything, and there are several hours left before the end of the day, offer to help colleagues. And most importantly, don't be afraid to ask. Everyone understands that an intern is a novice specialist. It's better to get the details from colleagues than to complete a task with an error or leave it unfinished altogether. And if you still stumbled somewhere, try not to become discouraged and turn the miscalculation to your advantage - turn the mistake into an educational case. Be careful, write down tasks in detail and immediately, find out the details of their implementation. Nobody likes to do someone else's work, and a hundred repeated questions about the little things are unlikely to please your mentors.

The question of employment should also not be left to chance: find out right away if there is a prospect of staying in the team and what needs to be done for this. Talk to mentors, find out what skills you need to upgrade for a career boost. Feel free to ask for feedback from the leader and more experienced comrades. First of all, you need feedback about the work done. The more feedback you collect, the easier it will be to understand where to develop.