The summer begins right now

Being at one of the world’s top universities has its perks when it comes to getting employed. You are lucky enough that companies actively want to give you the chance to shine through a summer internship which could hopefully lead to the holy grail; the offer of a full-time job after your graduation. The opportunity to do well is yours to throw away. The internship does not need to be the seven-headed monster that it is sometimes made out to be.

If you take the time to understand what a summer internship is, the chances are that you will be able navigate the maze of applications and interviews much better than someone who thinks it is just something you do at the end of your penultimate year of university because of the zeitgeist.

This article chiefly aims to get you thinking along the right tracks, and is not necessarily heavy on practical advice as the information you are able to find online will be far superior to anything we could condense into this paper.

Being in the right frame of mind to think about internships in the right manner means that what you really need to do is become familiar with what an internship is at its very core, what it means for the company and what it means for you. This is absolutely paramount and something most students tend to overlook.

First and foremost, the internship is a talent seeking exercise on the company’s part and an investment to find the best people they can

Let’s begin by thinking about what the internship means for a company. Some firms take on hundreds of interns every summer, paying each of them up to £1,000 a week for a period of roughly two months. It does not take much arithmetic genius to figure out that this can easily add up to millions of pounds over the summer, not even taking into account the the salaries paid to the usually very efficient campus recruitment teams that spend literally thousands of man-hours trying to find you. First and foremost then, the internship is a talent seeking exercise on the company’s part and an investment to find the best people they can. It also gives firms a very long time to make a decision of whether or not to employ a candidate full-time without having to rely exclusively on rushed interviews. If you understand this and the company’s motivation, you are halfway towards being a fantastic applicant.

For yourself the internship is an unmissable chance to find out for real what it’s like to, a) work at the firm from which you have received and accepted an offer, and b) work in the industry you have chosen.

If you think you will find out about the work itself by adding an immense amount of value in the work you do, or creating revolutionary solutions to the firm’s problems, you may be in for somewhat of a disappointment. While the work you will be doing can often be interesting, it is likely that it will not be as challenging or important as the tasks being carried out by full-time employees. This can be for regulatory and legal reasons, or simply because you do not yet have the knowledge required. The main idea for you therefore, is to find out as much as possible about the real work other people do. Sit with them, ask them questions. Obviously be intelligent in the way that you approach anyone and always use common sense, but people usually like talking about their job, provided you pick the right moment. It is the only you way you can find out if you will be happy in any job or in any industry. Be aware that there is no shame in realising you do not actually like the industry, the culture or the work. Not everyone wants to work 80+ hour weeks in an extremely competitive environment. You are better off coming to this realisation during the internship when there is time left to figure out alternatives for when you graduate, than starting a full-time job you really hate.

Be aware that there is no shame in realising you do not actually like the industry, the culture or the work

Something many internship applicants also fail to conceptualise is that cultural and personal fit is extremely important, and the reason there are so many interviews. Whoever employs you will be spending more time around you than their own family, so building a personal rapport is of utmost importance. It is imperative that you like the firm and the firm likes you. If this doesn’t happen, things can turn sour very easily. When recruiters mention culture, we tend to think it is just a buzzword, but after spending a long summer interning, you will see that this is rarely the case.

It is only the first issue of the year, but already time is wearing thin. For most firms, it absolutely pays off to apply earlier rather than later, as a lot of firms offer places on a rolling basis. With this in mind, make sure you attend the Careers Fair happening 27th October on the Queen’s Lawn Marquee - there will be dozens of employers from whom you will be able to get a really fantastic insight into companies, provided you ask the right questions. It’s also a great place to start selling yourself to companies that you know you are already interested in. Just make sure you leave hubris at home.

Get applying now and most imporantly remember the following winning cocktail of characteristics in anything you do: be personable, be hungry, be intelligent and be humble.