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Internships

Last minute internships: five tips for finding them

So, you were busy all year and you never found time to search for a summer internship. Now it’s June and you’re not sure what to do!

Here are five tips from career advisors on finding an internship, even when it’s late in the hiring season.

A student sits cross-legged with a laptop open on their lap. To the side is a graphic of an online search bar with the words "internships near me"

1. Reach out directly.

Is there a company you’re interested in working for? Check out their website or LinkedIn page. Even if you don’t see an internship posted, contact someone at the company to check! Employers don’t always publicize their internships as heavily as they do full-time jobs. The best way to find out if someone’s hiring is just to ask.

Tip: If you’re not sure what companies to contact, use the Buzzfile Employers by Major tool. Buzzfile is not a job board, but a great site for finding all the employers affiliated with a certain industry in a specific state or city – try searching for employers with keywords related to your major, who are located near your hometown or the city where you plan to spend your summer.

2. Use your network.

Many jobs come not from spotting a posting online, but from a personal connection. You may not think you have a professional network yet, but you have connections through OSU whether you realize it or not! A few networking ideas:

  1. Ask career advisors, professors, friends, parents, co-workers and TAs who is hiring and who they can introduce you to. (Don’t know who your career advisor is? Check the Career Development Center staff list or email us to connect.)
  2. Connect with OSU alumni! Use OSU Connections (OSU’s online professional networking site) or LinkedIn (search for Oregon State University and then click the “alumni” tab) to find alumni who are working at companies you’re interested in.
  3. Even if someone isn’t hiring currently, you always can ask them for an informational interview. An informational interview is a brief call or meeting where you can get to know someone at a company you’re interested in, and learn more about what that industry is like. An informational interview creates a relationship and can lead to more opportunities. Check out the Career Development Center website for more about informational interviews and how to request one.

3. Customize your materials to each position.

Many companies are now using automated screening tools to filter applications. If your resume and cover letter don’t contain the key words the AI is looking for, your materials might not ever get in front of human eyes.

Look carefully at the job description and see what skills they are looking for, then find commonalities in your own experiences that you can list to show how you meet the specific requirements for that job.

Tip: The experiences you list to meet job requirements or keywords don’t have to only come from paid work! Classroom experience and non-paid work like volunteering, clubs, sports, Greek life and more can all help you gain transferable skills that are very relevant, and they’re valid to include when you’re applying! 

4. Use a college-focused job board

Handshake is a job and internship search tool that’s specifically for college students and recent grads. While some jobs posted on Indeed or other job boards might be looking for people with years of experience, employers who post on Handshake are looking for college students. All OSU students have free access to Handshake via their ONID account – log in at oregonstate.joinhandshake.com.

A few tips on Handshake: this is a national job board with thousands of listings, so use filters to see exactly the kinds of jobs you want! You can filter by location, remote work availability, keywords and more. If you see a job you like, even if you don’t apply for it, favorite it – when you favorite certain positions, Handshake will show you more jobs like that next time you log in.

5. Use OSU’s free career services

Stop by the Career Development Center for a drop-in appointment or schedule an appointment in advance to work with an advisor who can help you tailor your materials and give you ideas about the best places to search for jobs. 

You can also access free online tools through the Career Development Center’s website:

  • a free online resume checker: Vmock
  • An online interview prep tool: StandOut
  • A career assessment tool that will help you figure out what would be a good fit for you: Focus2

More internship search tips

  • Want to work on campus? Many OSU departments hire students for the summer or all year long. Even if the department you work for isn’t directly related to your major, it can still provide a great experience for your resume.
Categories
Career Fair Internships Success Stories

Internship exploration

Can an online search really lead to landing an internship?

Oregon State student Adam Henderson found that if you’re searching in the right places, it actually can.

Adam, a finance major, already had solid work experience and a foundation of coursework from the OSU School of Business when he began thinking about internships during his junior year. In the past, he had worked in retail, at The Home Depot near his hometown of Sammamish, Wash.

But as he pictured his options for the summer going into his senior year of college, he was hoping for something more directly related to his goal of a career in finance – and something that would allow him to stay closer to the connections he’d formed while in school.

“I was trying to get ahead, and I knew I wanted to stay in Corvallis if I could,” Adam said. “So I went on Handshake and started looking up job offers and internship offers in the Corvallis area.”

Handshake, a job and internship site designed for college students and recent graduates, allows students to personalize their job search experience, setting up custom filters for job types, locations, and roles they’re interested in. Handshake job postings are vetted for legitimacy before they’re made visible to students.

As Adam browsed through the Handshake listings that met his criteria, a position with State Farm Insurance caught his eye – it was local to Corvallis, it would give him relevant business and sales experience, and it was with a company he trusted.

Adam Henderson, wearing a black OSU polo shirt and khaki pants, poses in front of a sign that says "State Farm, Jim Kuhlman Agent"
Adam Henderson, a finance major at Oregon State, found a local internship via the Handshake job search tool.

“I have State Farm insurance,” he said. “I feel like it’s a very reputable company. So I thought, why not give it a shot?”

His application caught the eye of Jim Kuhlman, an independent State Farm insurance agent in Corvallis. After the application, Adam was invited for a phone interview, followed by an aptitude test and in-person meeting with Jim, where he was offered an internship with the agency. 

Six months in, Adam’s summer internship has been extended into the school year, and he’s still glad he gave it a shot.

“I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve had pretty good success,” Adam said. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and how much potential I have.”

His internship involves everything from shadowing the sales team to working on marketing projects and meeting with customers. Through what he learned in his position with State Farm, he was even able to complete required state testing and is now officially licensed to sell insurance.

Now mid-way through his senior year, Adam is keeping his options open when it comes to jobs – he enjoys his work in insurance, but is also interested in careers in finance. Regardless of where his career takes him, he can already see skills he’ll take with him from his internship.

“The whole aspect of creating value is something we talk about a lot. When you’re selling insurance, a lot of times customers only think, ‘What’s the cost?’ You can break that down and go through it with them, but it’s really the value that sells the customer,” he said. 

“That overlaps into a lot of other jobs. When you create value for someone , they’re more likely to trust you and want to work with you. Learning to create and display the best value you can bring to someone is definitely something I’ll take away.”

Handshake internship search tips

There are thousands of positions posted on Handshake — here’s how to narrow down your options to find the internship or job that’s right for you!

  1. Use Handshake’s custom filters. Narrowing jobs by “location” (the cities you want to work in) and “job type” (part-time, full-time, internship) will help you key in on relevant opportunities.
  2. Use keywords. If you’re interested in any job that’s somehow related to “marketing” or “sustainability” but aren’t picky about the specific job title, do a keyword search on your filtered jobs. Handshake’s keyword search will search all text in job titles and job descriptions to find matches.
  3. Save jobs that catch your eye. When you hit “save” on a job posting, Handshake will automatically start showing you similar jobs next time you log in. It will also send you reminders about deadlines for jobs you’ve saved.

Learn more about getting started on Handshake.

Categories
Internships Success Stories

Q & A with a USGS Intern

Name: Josh Love, U.S. Geological Service Pathways intern at the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory

Major: Geology

College: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS)

Hometown: Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

What did you do post high school, prior to becoming an OSU student?

I had a lifelong dream of becoming a professional skateboarder. After 20+ years of pursuing that dream, my first pro model was released by my favorite skateboard company (The Killing Floor Skateboards) in spring 2021.

Like most skateboarders, I have always worked random jobs while working on skate video projects in my free time.

I was a custodian/housekeeper for about six years, I worked in warehouses, restaurants, retail and rideshares. I dreaded having to work minimum wage jobs forever and decided to try out some college courses in 2017.

Black and white image of Josh Love skateboarding off a rail while other skateboarders look on.
Skateboarding was Josh Love’s primary passion until he decided to try out some college courses, and discovered a love of geology.

(Photo credit: Tal Roberts)

How did you find your way from skateboarding to studying geology?

My friend Jasmin, who works in environmental consulting, encouraged me to take a geology course at Portland Community College in 2018. My first geology professor, Dr. Lalo Guerrero, completed his PhD at OSU. His enthusiasm for CEOAS converted me into becoming a Beaver.

Tell us about your current internship.

The Pathways internship position is with the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory in New Mexico. ASL is responsible for maintaining a large portion of the Global Seismographic Network.

At the lab, I am working on an experiment using broadband seismometers under the guidance of Dr. Robert Anthony and Dr. Adam Ringler. We are investigating how increasing the depth of a borehole seismometer attenuates unwanted noise in seismic data, which often comes form things like wind, anthropogenic activity, and variation in temperature and barometric pressure. I will be presenting our results at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2022, and will be finishing up my degree from OSU remotely from Albuquerque while continuing the internship.

Josh Love, wearing an Oregon State University T-shirt, uses a seismic instrument after an installation in the ASL vault
Josh Love centering the mass on a seismic instrument after an installation in the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory vault.

(photo credit: Zeb Maharrey)

“The work challenges me on a daily basis, but I am learning a ton and I have very patient and supportive mentors.”

Josh Love, Oregon State geology student

How did you land your internship?

Toward the end of winter 2022 the Career Development Center hosted a panel of government scientists where they discussed how to get a job with the government, along with what it is like to work in government positions.

I have applied to many student trainee internships with the USGS prior to attending that panel and my application was always rejected before getting passed up to the hiring manager.

This time, I applied some of the advice that I received in that discussion about how to adjust my CV and cover letter, and later that week I applied to this internship. I ended up getting an interview and was offered the position.

See advice and resources for getting government internships

What other experiences helped you successfully get the job?

Aside from the information that I received while attending the panel discussion, I believe two other things were important for getting this internship:

  1. I stated very specific goals that I have in mind for graduate school in my application, and discussed how the skills I would learn at ASL would be valuable for graduate school.
  2. I have been working on an undergraduate research project at OSU with Dr. Jessica Creveling. We are investigating marine terraces in Newport, Oregon.

I do not come from an academic family or community, and Dr. Creveling has been incredibly encouraging and helpful when I need advice (along with many others, such as her entire lab group, Gabe Gordon, Emily Cahoon, and Andrew Meigs). I would not have received this internship position had she not given me such valuable research experience at OSU, as well as the confidence in myself to pursue things that are outside of my comfort zone.

What’s next for you? 

What I plan to do with my geology degree has varied throughout my undergrad, but working for the USGS at some point has always been at the top of my list. I am interested in tectonics and active faulting. I would like to research fault systems in order to contribute to Probablistic Seismic Hazard Analyses, ideally for a government agency.

I plan to begin grad school in fall 2023 to continue working toward this goal.


Resources for landing a government job or internship

Interested in pursuing a government job or internship? OSU’s Career Development Center can help you tailor your application materials to successfully apply to opportunities with state and federal agencies.

Downloadable info sheets

Tips for state government job applications

Tips for federal job applications

More government job tips

Job boards and search tools

Sample résumés (including federal résumés)

Workshops

“Getting a Dam Job” is OSU’s signature career workshop series, designed to equip students with the skills they need to find jobs and internships. Topics vary each term, and workshops on getting government jobs are offered each year.

See this term’s Getting a Dam Job workshops

See all upcoming events

Panel Discussion: How Do I Get a Government Job?

Wonder how to get your foot in the government door? Tips for USAJobs? How to go from seasonal to full time? What a day in the life looks like? This Q&A discussion tackles questions from OSU students.

How Do I Get a Government Job panel discussion