Student Internships – The Must Read Guide

Being a Student Intern Can Help for the Future

An Internship is probably one of the best ways to get a leg up into big industry and can even earn you a few £100 over the summer holidays. There are Internships available in almost every exclusive or well-paid industry and they mainly occur in the Summer Holiday for University students.

Big bank internships can pay up to £10000 as they try to get the best talent to remain with their bank. But how does one go about getting one and impressing while we are there? I shall now enlighten you –

How to get an Internship

Internships are usually advertised on the internet, but if you have a family member or friend who is in the industry, they may be able to guarantee you a place on the Internship. You will have to apply a long time in advance so make sure you start looking in September or October so you don’t miss out on some of the early deadline entries.

Of course most will not close until much later than this, but it is terrible to miss out on one that would’ve been perfect for you. Once you submit your application, they’ll consider it and either accept or reject you, this will be based on what you are studying, where you are studying, your predicted or obtained degree level and the quality of your CV.

These weeks will not only give you a leg-up into the industry but also let you see whether it is actually what you want to spend the rest of your life doing. You’ll get to talk to some of the people who work there and see what their opinion is, just remember to take it with a pinch of salt as they will want to hire you after you graduate.

What you should expect from an Internship

Don’t expect it to be a baptism of fire into the industry where you are making million $ trades and leading talks to influential clients. Although you will be doing this in a miniature way, there will be some monotonous moments where you may simply be filing, but this is what you’d be doing if you were working there as a new graduate anyway.

You will work with a team in the sector you want to work in, be sure to listen and try to make contributions where you can as they always look for enthusiasm. Enjoy your time and make sure to get the contact details of as many people you can and possibly add them to contacts on LinkedIn etc.

 

My final piece of advice, look around for the internship that most suits you, but be sure to apply for a few as you may not get the one you want and it’s better to have something rather than nothing.