Finding an internship

Most of the times, as it is at Delft University of Technology, you get the opportunity to go on an internship as part of your curriculum. If you don’t, you should still consider doing one (during the summer months for example).

Experienced the whole process myself at my internship in the UK, here are some thoughts on finding the best place you can (and making sure you don’t end up like the comic-guy).

Define your goal

Reaching the end of your degree, there is no doubt you are considering your next career options. An internship is the best opportunity you get to further clarify your thoughts in the often difficult decision.

You could either test whether you really like what you want to do, or you could use your time to check the other option you doubt about, but is on the lesser hand.

This will make sure that you never have to look back at your decision whether you made the right choice since you actually experienced both fields of work.

Content first

 An internship is your first real world experience and you have to make sure it’s good. It can lead to a reference letter or even a job offer, both very valuable as a graduate student entering the job market.

An internship often comes together with time abroad and I would definitely encourage you to see another country and go out of your comfort zone. Keep in mind though that this factor should be inferior to the content of the work you’ll be doing. Negotiate your assignment well in advance to make sure you have a clear problem to work on and thereby add real value to the company.

Realise that interning at the biggest or most famous company isn’t necessarily the best. Often you fall in the trap of getting a boring task to do or you will be one of the many and thereby missing lots of the so valuable mentorship.

Use your network

The last (and hardest) part is approaching the company and arranging your internship. The easiest and least effective method is to put your email between the hundreds (thousands) of other emails the company get at his contact form or info email address.

 Your goal is to connect to a person in the company (preferably not human resource or you’ll get back on the big pile) via introduction.  If you are lucky that the internship is part of your programme, hundreds of students have been on internships years before you. Try to get info (e.g. your department head or the university international office) on where they have been, hopefully somebody has already been in the same company as you want.

 An even better way is to approach your professors. They have a massive network of companies and have a lot of weight in the balance. They have to be sure though that you are worth risking their credibility, something you can achieve by working closely together with them on some assignment or by showing good grades (preferably in their course).

Keep all this in mind and I’m sure you will have a wonderful experience and kick start the best career you can have.

What are your experiences in arranging an internship? Do you have any extra tips I’m missing? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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