What do I Do? Sign says, "Don´t Apply!! No Internship Available, Bad Economy" By A. H. Lostocco

www.internship4america.com

If you have been reading the news at all you know that we are in a global recession, unemployment is high and increasing so how can I possibly find a US Internship. If you assume that the quality of your resume and your level of experience are on a par with all the other interns searching for an internship, you can still outperform the other interns and find a good internship. Actually, even if they are more qualified than you are, by pursuing an aggressive approach, you can win the internship game.

Your goal is to tip the balance in your favor. If you do more things and do more things right then the other applicants you will find an internship. These first two steps are the basics, don´t underestimate their importance, or think that all resumes are the same they are not:

1.Get a well-written resume by a professional resume writer that is fluent in English.

a.Remember I said a Resume not a CV. The difference is that a resume is no more then two pages if you have some experience and only one page of you are just out of University. The resume is a sales tool. It needs to be short and concise, a CV is much more detailed and includes all your accomplishments. In the US we use resumes not CV´s. If an employer wants to know more he will ask.

2.Get a well-written cover letter, again by a professional fluent in English.

a.This again, no more then one page and gives two or three paragraphs that highlights you and what you are looking for.

b.Make sure you indicate in this letter that you will be calling them in a week or so.

Now that you have your resume lets get aggressive. Here are the aggressive steps to take:

1.Get on-line and register with all the job sites you can find. Make sure you find the websites that involve your area of specialization. As an example, if your specialty is hotel management, do a search for "Hotel Internships" and/or "Hospitality Internships".

2.Go to amazon.com and purchase at a minimum Internships 2009 and The Internships Bible. These books will point out many of the internships available but keep in mind these same books are being used by thousands of other students so you will have to differentiate yourself from the others. I will get to how you accomplish this shortly.

3.Go on-line and sign up for Hoover´s or use Vault.com or Monster.com these sites have a wealth of information on companies and finding an internship.

Now you are ready to get serious.

Understand right from the beginning and this is key that finding a good internship depends on how many recruiters view your resume. It´s a numbers game plain and simple. So at the end of the day the person who sends out the most resumes, contacts the most companies, and had the most interviews, WINS!

You´ve gone on line registered with all the on-line services, you bought the books and you have checked out Monster.com and Vault. So how do I separate myself from all the others looking for an internship? Using Vault and the Internet find all the companies in your area of study (Accounting, accounting firms, Hospitality, Hotels and Resorts, etc.) in the city or the area of the country you are interested in doing your internship. Once you have identified all the potential companies go on line and try to identify some of the key management staff, such as the Human Resource Manager, President of the Company, Hotel General Manager etc. Once you have identified these individuals, you need to contact them by email and by regular mail. Attach your resume to your email and also send it by regular mail along with your cover letter. If possible try to personalize the letter a little. Make sure you do both approaches. Then a week or so later make the call if the person is not available indicate who you are, that you are calling internationally and that you will call again.

Second, do not be afraid to send your resume to multiple individuals within the same company. You cannot imagine the impact and the response you will have if the president of a company receives your email and/or your mailed resume and refers it down to his HR VP or his general manager. So be bold, the worse thing they can do is say they are not interested.

By taking this approach you will get your resume in front of many companies, hotels, engineering firms and law offices etc. and you will not be competing with any other interns. Most interns will only be contacting the obvious companies listed in the books or on the Internet. Many companies do not even know you are out there or how to reach you, we know because we deal with many companies who have never sponsored an intern in the past and are surprised by the J-1 Visa Program.

One last point don´t just go after the big name companies or the big hotels in most cases you can learn more by being in a small operation (hotel or company) where you will get more specialized attention and where you can participate in more critical functions.

To learn more about finding an internship I suggest you read "US Internships for International Students and Young Professionals" by Alexander H. Lostocco you can find it at www.amazon.com

If you have any additional questions feel free to contact me directly at lostocco1@internship4america.com. If you would like to review some of my other articles on finding an internship you´ll find them listed at www.internship4america.com. If you have had a similar experience I would like to hear about it.

Alexander H. Lostocco