Your Internship Search – Phase 1: Three Steps to a Solid Search
Congratulations! You’ve got a solid search if you are:
✅ confidently submitting online applications
✅ reaching out to people at the organizations that most interest you to find a network of professional supporters irrespective of whether they have an active job posting or not
✅ getting familiar with the fundamentals of interviewing and have practiced some so that you can be ready when the opportunity comes.
If your search is missing any of these parts, follow the steps below.
Learn How To Search Strategically and Set Up Your Plan
Online applications are not enough. In addition to your activity on Indeed, LinkedIn, Handshake, and other sites, the majority of master’s engineering student offers come from outreach.
✅ Watch the Two Hour Job Search video to get step-by-step instructions for how to search effectively.
✅ Following the directions, create your LAMP/Target list, define your top 6, and use the communication templates to begin outreach without delay.
✅ Schedule an appointment to get feedback on your target list or adapting your communication, to ask questions, and be purposeful with next steps.
Refine Your Applications Using Best Practices
Using best practices for writing a resume ensures it makes the best impression when read by a person or searched in a database.
✅ Review the materials we provide to start your application documents. If you’re an engineering master’s student, you can also upload your draft to Quinncia to get line-by-line feedback and improvement suggestions with examples.
✅ Use the educational template, resume basics checklist, and custom samples to make any needed resume improvements. As you progress, incorporate advice from your program, faculty, second-year students, and professionals in the field.
✅ Schedule an appointment for application feedback: one idea is to select an example internship, prepare your materials, and bring the description and what you submitted to discuss with a coach.
Practice Interviewing
Be ready for your big moment! Preparing well for interviews increases your skill, your confidence, and the likelihood that you’ll be at your best when stress is high.
✅ Review the materials we provide to prepare for interviews.
✅ Create your Duke account and use BigInterview to work through the training modules and practice responses. In addition, engineering master’s students can use Quinncia for a custom video interview with questions targeted using the contents of your resume and feedback similar to the AI systems companies use.
✅ Schedule a practice interview appointment to improve and identify targeted improvement steps.
Check out Additional Pages in this Series:
✅ Your Internship Search – Quick Start for Engineering Master’s Students
✅ Your Internship Search – Phase 2: Good to Great, Incorporating the Employer Perspective
