The landscape of job hunting has certainly changed a lot in recent years, and with the rise of social media, traditional approaches our elders and mentors would have favoured are simply no longer practical. But securing internships in London, or another major hub could make the difference between another run of the mill graduate and a truly stand-out candidate.
If you’re just finishing off your education or looking to start a new career in a new field, you need to face the harsh reality that right now – competition is fierce! Nothing like an economic meltdown, global recession and the horrors of furlough to motivate people to cling to their jobs as hard as possible. So what can you do to stand out from an overwhelming sea of competition?
When you’re fresh out of school or university, it’s taken as a given that your first job is not going to be glamorous, and likely with a woeful salary. However, if you want to aim for a better jumping-off point for the rest of your career, an internship is the most strategic way to go. When an employer scans through your resumé, they want to see that you spent your summers gaining invaluable experience and showed commitment to your chosen field.
Yes, finals are tough and after a gruelling degree, you just want to spend your summer kicking back and relaxing – and by all means, do, an internship won’t do diddly if you’re completely burnt out – but alas, going above and beyond is now considered the bare minimum if you want to compete for those really great opportunities.
And be careful how you use social media. The likes of LinkedIn or Facebook can provide fantastic resources and direct access to recruiters, internal HR and hiring teams, so you can streamline your internship or job search in a focused and systematic way. But there is a drawback. If you’re not aware of this already, you need to be – anyone considering you for an interview will Google you.
Obviously, you’re free to spend your spare time however you wish, but it does say something about you as a person and more importantly, how your behaviour will reflect on the hiring company. Absolutely no judgement on your personal and social lives, but before submitting yourself to professional scrutiny, change your social media name or make your account private.
If you’re an influencer, of course, it’s a different story, but unless you want your potential future bosses to see you on a particularly hard night out or wearing something that would make the Kardashians blush, just don’t run the risk. The wrong photo or shared status can cost you that all-important interview or job offer!
But remember that internships aren’t just about looking good on a CV. If you’re truly passionate about what you want to do with your life, you need to go that extra mile and gain as much hands-on experience as possible. An internship is not like a standard stint of work experience – where maybe you fetch coffee or research someone nobody will use anyway.
My own time spent at a law firm mainly involved running errands, dropping off mail and making photocopies for the junior associates. Hard work that requires a great deal of grey matter, but at least the associates were cute! My internship at a major architectural firm in London was a very different story. When you’re an intern, you’re a potential new member of the team – and most importantly, an asset that they won’t want to lose to a competitor. So companies are conscious of your impression of them just as much as the reverse.
I was assigned a mentor and given simple, but actual engineering problems to work on, taken from their real projects. They spent time tutoring me, gave presentations on the work their company was doing, introduced me to senior members of staff and even gave me a design assignment that was actually added to one of their proposals. You won’t be trusted with anything that could end the world, but you are given a real taste of what the day to day of your industry looks like and the chance to make tangible contributions.
Bottom line, an internship is a perfect vessel to bridge the gap between formal education and the professional world. You’ll get the chance to make useful connections, make a great impression on potential employers or future collaborators, get fantastic recommendations and when you eventually land the job – you’ll be that much more knowledgeable and confident because you will have gained an entirely new skill set that those candidates that decided to skip the internship stage will be without – so start saving for a killer outfit that befits an imminent promotion!
