The 5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Land an Internship

So you want that internship (at Cisco) but you’re not sure how to go about it? Never fear, Jackie Shuler is here (interviewing with me)! She’s the University Relations Lead – East at Cisco, and she gave me some great tips and insights to share with you.

Start Early – There’s simply no time like the present! Often, freshmen and sophomores are just trying to “find themselves” and figure out what they want to do. However, you should still be attending as many events and networking as much as possible. Starting early may even help you acquire multiple internships. Begin to build relationships in this time with recruiters so they can begin to know who you are and help you when the time comes to go after that dream internship.

Learn as much as you can about the industry and company. This one might seem like a no-brainer to some, but many applicants never even check out a company’s website! Take the time to research the company so you have a better understanding of what they do, the type of applicants they seek, and what opportunities may be made available to you. This will also help you develop questions to take with you to info sessions when campus reps visit your school.

Use Career Services – get your resume ready! Every campus offers resume building workshops and even interview preparation opportunities. Don’t pass these lessons up! Take this time to really work on having your resume stand out from the crowd, and have others look over your resume for any advice they can offer or typos.

What makes an Intern resume stand out? Jackie says overall relevance to the position is key, while showing a well-balanced skill set, leadership roles, and project experience. Show your accomplishments, previous project roles, languages, and tech challenges you may have worked through. These points help to open doors for conversations during the interview process!

Network with former interns! Many of Cisco’s former interns make it out to various events throughout the year, get to know them and learn about their experiences as a Cisco intern. Take this opportunity to ask them questions and gain a peer’s perspective on what a Cisco internship might look like.

Use LinkedIn Search! A great feature on LinkedIn is the ability to search for alumni from your school that currently work at Cisco. Briefly take the time to reach out to them and ask them any questions you may have. Connecting on LinkedIn is a great way to further your research and many people will be open to helping someone who is early in the career.

Remember that during this process you want to take initiative and show that you’re interested and even passionate about Cisco as recruiters will do their best to set those candidates up for success. Don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as possible, and continue to network and reach out to our recruiters. Many times our recruiters will recognize candidates as those relationships build or they ask more questions which can lead to landing your dream internship role with Cisco!

Do you have any insights on what helped get you’re an internship role? Share them with us in the comments below!

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