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CRAFT YOUR OWN INTERNSHIP
Perhaps it’s late in the second semester and you have yet to find the right internship opportunity for the summer (or any other time for that matter). To launch an independent internship search we encourage you to meet with a career coach. In addition here are some tips to get you started:
By following these steps, you should be able to turn a “lost summer” or “lost semester” into a great opportunity for growth, networking, and experience!
| Steps | How to Complete these steps |
| Define your learning goals | Do you want to gain expertise in a field you’re unfamiliar with? Do you want to become experienced in a field that you are planning to pursue after graduation? Do you want to hone skills you developed in your course of study here at the University of West Florida? Is it necessary for you to be paid during the internship? |
| Narrow your geographic search | To do a focused search begin by identifying one geographic location. You may have many options available to you, but you will find it easier to set parameters before each search. |
| Identify potential internship sites | Your learning goals and industry interests should guide you. There are a variety of ways to do this: - Use JasonQuest, a database with hundreds of organizations worldwide offered through UWF Career Services. - For an International Search, we have resources in the Career Services office to help you with your search. - Use professors and other students as mentors to see what other UWF students in your area of interest have done in their internships. - For additional nonprofit internships, use Volunteer UWF! to make connections. Volunteer UWF! offers Service Learning and a variety of volunteer opportunities that may help you gain experience in the desired field. |
| Develop a list of contacts within organizations of interest | Reach out to people you’ve identified as current or former employees of those organizations. Begin by contacting people you know, and also remember to use UWF contacts (such as names discovered through the Mentor Search function in JasonQuest). - Seek out UWF alums to ask about the culture of the organization. When using the Mentor Search function, note that alumni have volunteered to provide information. While it’s not appropriate to ask them for internships or jobs, they can let you know whether their organization offers internships. If the organization doesn’t offer internships you might still benefit from an informational interview or a shadow opportunity. - Search the Career Events on JasonQuest to see whether a particular organization has been on campus. The directory will provide contact information. - Cold call or send an email to an organization of interest. Utilize Career Search or the organization ’s website to identify a contact. - If you need academic credit for your internship- Talk to your academic advisor and make sure that you can use an internship in place of an upper level elective. - Stay organized—Use a spreadsheet to organize and track your progress. |