Five Tips for Landing Your Dream Internship
By Jessica L. Cozzi
As a recent Fordham graduate, I am all too familiar with the stress and anxiety that comes with trying to find an internship. Even worse, I remember scrambling as a sophomore and junior, not sure of how to land any sort of internship at the places I’d dreamed about. I didn’t have any older siblings to ask, and I didn’t have any friends at Fordham that were older than me, so my friends and I were all stuck in the same boat and not really sure how to solve our problem.
But coming up on three years later, I’m able to look back and realize that I graduated Fordham with incredible experience under my belt, including an internship at one of my dream companies, Hachette Book Group. With just a handful of tips that I gathered from professors, peers, and co-workers, I have learned a fail-safe method for not only standing out, but also for securing more opportunities in the future—yes, even your dream internship.
Jessica Cozzi FCRH ‘20
Networking is your friend, no matter how scary it seems. LinkedIn was the best invention of our generation, because it gives us the ability to network with people both near and far. I’ve made it my mission to spend at least five minutes of my day scrolling through my feed to see which of my peers got jobs, left jobs, accepted offers, are hiring, etc. It’s important to be in the know about who works where and in what industries, because when you have your own questions later or need some advice on how to break into it, you’ll know exactly who to ask. I also would take the time to go visit my professors in their office hours and struck up conversations with them there, and I got a good sense of who worked in what industries in the past, and who would have advice and connections for me. Because of this, several Fordham professors have not only connected me with hiring parties in the past, but they’ve also offered me some jobs themselves! Getting to know the people who work in the fields that you’re interested in can never hurt you. Best case scenario, they know how to get you hired. Worst case, you get some incredible knowledge about the fields you’re interested in.
If you look hard enough, you can find opportunities in unlikely places. I landed that aforementioned dream internship when I went to an open house networking event for the company. They weren’t hiring, and the point of the event was just to learn a little bit more about how the publishing industry worked. There were even people who flew in from other countries for the event, so as soon as I walked in, I remember feeling intimidated and out of my element. I ended up spending most of the night talking to the publicity director of one of the imprints, just chatting and making conversation because I felt so alone. She ended up requesting that I send her my resume later that night, and less than a week later, they created a publicity internship position just for me. All because I took a chance and went to an open house event and started up a conversation because I was shy! I ended up working for that company for an entire year, and I loved every second of my time there. But none of that would’ve happened if I didn’t decide to attend a random open house event to learn more about the industry.
Passion projects are the key to standing out. When you go to a school where it seems like everyone is an overachiever, the idea of making your resume stand out in a stack can seem daunting. But for me, the first thing I am always asked about in an interview is my book blog, which I started back in 2013. It began as a way for myself and two childhood friends to just review and discuss the books that we liked, but before long, it morphed into a passion project that I still put a lot of work into and nurture every day. I want to work in publishing, so in a world where everyone’s resumes have writing and social media experience, a passion for reading, and a love of the written word, it’s hard to make myself shine. But having that passion project—a book blog—is an important key because it’s not something that everyone else has! It piques the interest of the person interviewing me, and becomes a strong conversational point in our discussion. Almost always, I’ve been told that it’s part of the reason I got the job! No matter what your passion project is--whether it’s a blog, an Instagram account, a side hustle--having something that you can put down that isn’t the basic “oh hey, I love this field” stuff can really shine a spotlight on your resume.
Once you have a job or internship, work hard to form a positive relationship with your peers and your bosses. With one internship in the past, I did all of my tasks exactly as asked, always attended every meeting, answered questions, etc. But that was all I did. It was one of my first serious internships, and I was too shy to do anything else. I thought that as long as I did my work, I’d look good in their eyes. And don’t get me wrong, I definitely did--but I didn’t take much time to actually form any relationships. In my dream internship, I was a lot more vocal, asked more questions, and made an effort to really get to know everyone that I was working with. I’d ask about their commute in, or how their weekend was, or what their plans for the upcoming snowy day were. I ended up leaving that internship with a lot more positive connections than I ever had before--and everyone on that team offered to connect me with other employers, publicists, agents, etc. when I left, because we had grown so close to one another. Coming to work and getting your work done is great, but taking that extra time to really form positive relationships with your co-workers, peers, and bosses can be the difference between you walking away with or without connections when the internship ends. My boss from that internship ended up giving me such a glowing reference in a future job search that I was offered the job immediately!
Always, always over-deliver. I learned this lesson from one of my professors here at Fordham--no matter what tasks you’re given at your job, make sure to go above and beyond for whoever asked. Did your boss ask you to reorganize the book boxes in the stock room? Do that, but then also helpfully put a sticky note on each box, labeling what’s inside for easy finding later. Promised you’d get a press release on someone’s desk by the end of the day? Work hard to get it to them before lunch, if possible. These small little tasks may seem insignificant, but they are the key to making you stand out and making you look dependable, which is absolutely what you want. Because if you’re able to stand out in someone’s mind and show initiative toward making everyone’s work day smoother, not only are they grateful for you, but they’re impressed. And you want to impress everyone you work with to help yourself move forward.
So those are just five tips that I’ve managed to come up with, based on my own experiences and past internships that I’ve secured. The moral of the story is that you never know exactly when an opportunity will show up, and if you take the time to properly prepare, network, and fine-tune your passion project, you can be ready for any offer that comes your way, at any given time.