How to Land an Internship
Or Graduate Role
This advice may need to be tweaked for your degree and career path
COVID-19 has shaken up the job market, and this can be felt even for internship and graduate positions. Many companies have paused their internship and graduate programs, whilst others have drastically reduced their intake. This means a lot more competition, stress and desperation for university students aspiring to get their foot in the market. I hope to elucidate some advice based on my own experiences for you to beat the competition and In shaa Allah land an internship and graduate role.
Provision is Ultimately from Allah
It is incumbent upon us to first rely on Allah — Ar-Razzaq (The Provider) — for our rizq (provision) as He says,
وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا ۚ كُلٌّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ
“And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision, and He knows its place of dwelling and place of storage. All is in a clear register.” (Quran Surah Hud: 6)
Give in charity and constantly make dua to Him to increase you in wealth and grant you a halal source of income. Below is a beautiful short Quranic dua you can recite for this,
رَبِّ إِنِّي لِمَا أَنزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ
Rabee inni limaa anzalta ilayya min khairin faqeer
“My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.” (Quran Surah Qasas: 24)
True reliance on Allah implies that you also take the necessary means for the provision you are seeking, as our Prophet ﷺ mentioned,
لَوْ أَنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ تَوَكَّلُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ حَقَّ تَوَكُّلِهِ لَرُزِقْتُمْ كَمَا يُرْزَقُ الطَّيْرُ تَغْدُو خِمَاصًا وَتَرُوحُ بِطَانًا
“If you were to rely upon Allah with reliance due to him, he would provide for you just as he provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with empty stomachs and return full.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi)
Just as the bird must fly out before it receives its food, I will highlight in this article the steps you should take to secure an internship or graduate role.
1. Build Your Experiences
Commencing uni, it is unlikely you will have many experiences to boast in your job applications. Even in your first year, you should be aiming to build yourself up to land an internship. You want to be building your experiences to show employers you have the skills they are looking for. Here are a few things you can, and should, do;
Volunteer for Societies (not just MSA)
Societies are a great and readily accessible opportunity to volunteer, build important soft skills and add your resume. I like to divide the societies at uni into two categories; industry related and non-industry related.
Industry related societies are those that are focused directly around a professional field. Think UNSW Business Society (BSOC), UNSW Mathematics Society (MathSoc) and the likes. Volunteering for these is an excellent way to gain invaluable industry insights, develop useful technical skills and network with professionals and colleagues. A caveat with events run by these societies is that you should be mindful that their environments don’t contain any haram elements. Usually meaningful and halal opportunities to network always exist which you need to search for.
Non-industry related societies, as the name suggests, are everything else such as UNSWMSA (que the subtle MSA plug, “Volunteer for UNSWMSA!”), any cultural/religious society, UNSW Cat Appreciation Society (CatSoc) and the likes. A lot of companies value diversity, inclusion and community involvement for which volunteering for these societies is amazing and an excellent addition for your resume. Volunteering for things outside of university also has the same effect.
A final point I want to add for this section is to keep track of the events run by relevant industry related societies. For example, UNSW Actuarial Society previously ran an Excel VBA workshop, a careers expo and a site tour at EY. These are initiatives you should pounce upon. Some societies also run case study competitions which I highly recommend doing because they show recruiters you are capable of performing challenging technical tasks in a high pressure environment.
Uni Provides Great Opportunities Too!
Regularly check your uni emails since development sessions, virtual internships and competitions are often marketed through email updates. During my time at uni, I participated in the UNSW Next Step Program and a few video interview sessions and from these, was lucky enough to be selected for exclusive mentoring sessions with a KPMG Consultant and a Salesforce Senior Manager. Furthermore, UNSW Careers often posts paid and unpaid job openings, from anything such as a casual volunteer to full fledged graduate programs. If you are regularly at uni, a casual job at uni is a great way to build your experiences and earn some extra money.
Work Part-Time or Casually
The incentive of earning money compels many of us to work part-time or casually, and it can also be a great addition to your resume. Your job can be something totally unrelated to your degree, such as an Administration Assistant (i.e. receptionist) or a Tutor. Tutoring is one of the easiest jobs you can do as a uni student and demonstrates strong communication skills. Another great job is a Customer Service Consultant (i.e. call centre worker). Even better would be a job that directly relates to your career path, such as a casual Data Entry Officer.
2. Show Your Experiences
Now that you’ve built your experiences, you need to show them off in job applications. The first step is creating a high quality resume and cover letter.
Resume
UNSW Careers has some good resources and templates to start you off in this regard. In your resume, you want to provide a summary of your experiences, responsibilities and skills. Below is an example of the first page of a good resume.
Notice how the Career Profile and Education sections provide a succinct summary of this person’s experiences, career ambitions and educational background. They then outlined their professional experiences, focusing on their responsibilities and skills and backing them up with stats and figures. The same was done for their UNSWMSA experience. This person can complete their resume by listing a few more extra-curricular experiences and relevant projects (such as case study competitions) in a similar fashion, before briefly outlining their technical proficiencies. A resume should also be tailored for each job application.
Cover Letter
The cover letter expands on the resume, delineating your main experiences and how they demonstrate the skills and capabilities required for the job you are applying for. It is tailored for each specific application. Below is an example of a good cover letter.
Throughout the above template, notice the layout, structure and word choices. The first paragraph highlights this person’s academic background and why they want the role, touching on the company’s values and purpose. Each of the next three paragraphs detail a particular experience. They begin by mentioning a particular skill, which usually addresses something from the job description and then a specific experience is introduced and expanded upon, highlighting key responsibilities and outcomes. At the end of each paragraph, they tie this experience back to the role they are applying for.
Remember to always tailor your resume and cover letter for each application by using terms from the job description and researching about the company. Larger companies often run applications through an automated program which identifies key words found in the job description, so it is important to include these key words. You should also ask multiple people to look over your resume and cover letter. In fact, you can book a consultation with UNSW Careers to do just that. Also, you really should create a LinkedIn account since it’s a great way to show off your experiences to recruiters, managers and other networks.
3. The Application Process
Now it’s time to apply for internships or graduate programs. I would strongly advise everyone to think about applying for internships from their first year of uni. First-year is also optimal to do an unpaid internship since it will put you ahead of everyone else when applying for paid internships in future years. So, apply early!
You also need to gain connections throughout your time at uni, and use those connections to the fullest. The right connections can transform your application process and if you networked effectively with people from your industry, they can even help you land a role.
Where to find Internship Opportunities
An obvious starting point would be your conventional internship programs. Their openings are listed on GradConnection, UNSW Careers, LinkedIn Jobs, Seek and GradAustralia. You may have to set filters to search for internships in your desired field, regularly checking these sites for any new listings. You can also try searching in other job boards. Traditional internship listings usually have a lot of competition, especially post-COVID, so patience and adequate preparation is required.
You can also apply for other entry level roles. These roles usually have titles along the lines of ‘associate’ or ‘assistant’. Check their job descriptions to see if you meet their eligibility criteria and apply for as many as possible. A bonus is that these roles often have a lot less competition than usual internship positions.
Another option is to cold message recruiters and managers, and this is where LinkedIn really comes in handy. Although I haven’t tried this approach myself, I’ve heard it can be quite effective if done right. Consult with someone who has a bit of experience doing this.
Different Stages of an Application
When applying for a job, it is critical to read every aspect of the job description and a bit about the purpose and values of the company. You need to incorporate this information into your resume and cover letter, as well as any application questions for the role.
Depending on the role, there might be a few stages in the application process. For a lot of internships, the first stage is a psychometric test, usually a personality and/or capability examination. Having a consistent approach for the personality tests, doing practice tests online and installing brain training apps such as Peak and Luminosity can help to prepare for these.
The next stage is usually a video interview which is usually a series of short recorded questions to gauge your motivations and skills. To prepare, research the purpose and values of the company, and create a short document that answers common behavioural questions. Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to draft your answers, drawing on past experience. Practice addressing different questions whilst maintaining a confident and natural persona (smile at the camera). As a hack during the video interview, keep your prepared answers document open in a small window on your computer. They look for your presentation style and if you demonstrate the skills they are looking for.
Bigger companies usually have an assessment centre as their final recruitment stage, which consists of an individual interview and group activity. The interview is very similar to a video interview so to prepare, go through your question bank, memorising the main points and practicing in front of other people such as your friends. You want to embody a confident and relaxed persona whilst addressing the skills they are looking for. Use the STAR method for behavioral questions, drawing from past experiences. You should have a detailed understanding of the company and the role and ask targeted questions to the interviewers at the end which demonstrates your ambition for the job.
The group activity is a hypothetical case study in which you and usually 3 other people must work together in a set time. You can passively take the lead by volunteering to track the time, and in that way structure the different tasks for the team. Try to bounce off other’s ideas, use names and involve quieter people into the discussion. Assessors look for your collaboration skills more so than what the team’s ideas are. Usually group activities are pretty fun.
To give full justice to explain how to excel in interviews and assessment centres requires a separate article on its own. You can ask around for more detailed advice.
Keep Trying and you WILL get Something
Applying for internships or graduate jobs can be disheartening. You have to keep applying, and constantly seek feedback about your performance. After that In shaa Allah you will land something. Place your trust in Allah and exert the required effort.
By Rafa Rahman
