Fielding Internship Offers

What do I do if I get offered an internship?

That's great! Congratulations! What you want to do now is pick which one. Talk with maybe some of the people in the industry. Say, "Hey, these are my options. What do you think is the best thing that I should do?" And weigh it out. See which one you like. Maybe one pays. Maybe one pays for transportation. Maybe one pays for food. These are all different considerations that you need to take into account. Once you've decided which internship you want, call that coordinator and say, "Hey, I really want the job! Thank you so much!" and find out the details. Find out when you should start, who's your direct supervisor? Maybe it's the intern coordinator, maybe it's someone else in the company who now you're going to respond to, who now you need to email and say, "Hey, I'm your intern. Let's talk." Get all those details, write it down, make sure you keep everything, because you don't want to call back that intern coordinator and say, "Oh! I forgot what day to start."

What do I do if I get multiple internship offers?

When it's all squared away, then call the people who you're going to unfortunately have to reject, and say, "Hey, I'm really sorry. Thank you so much for this great opportunity, but I'm not going to be able to intern for you this summer." And you can just leave it at that, and then you can also add, "But, maybe next summer. Really, I'm interested." And you know what? Keep in touch with them a little bit, send them an e-mail. Just say, "Hey, I just wanted to check in. I'm still really interested for next summer." But be genuine about it. If an internship accepted you that you really don't want, then just tell them. You don't really need to keep up with them. But the bottom line there is: just be polite. Be polite to everybody. And honestly, that's the best advice, because you never know who's going to be where. And it's not only the best advice for internships, it's the best advice for life. Just be nice to everybody, and be genuine about it.

What if I get no offers for internships?

If everything falls flat, don't give up, because a lot of times interns will leave before the summer starts, before they even start. A lot of times quirky things happen, so go back, wait a couple weeks and go back, and say hey, you know if something opens I'm still really interested. And while you're doing that, it's never too late, while it's best to get in early, you never know if someone has that last minute something. They're in desperate need, a new organization opened up within the organization, or a new section of the organization opened up and they're like, oh my god we need interns quickly! And you just happen to call at the right time. So, don't give up and still go out there and try to find an internship. I've known people who will get internships the day the summer starts, the day that they're home and they just so happen to be in the right place at the right time.