With the addition of an estimated 500 international students, these massive events kick off a long list of field-oriented work fairs available to MSU students.

Preparation

With internship opportunities of all fields and careers about to become available, interested students will need to prepare themselves to enter an incredibly competitive environment, with only the most readied and qualified applicants being chosen.

"If you’re a junior, you really have to know that you’ve gotta be working towards your summer internship right now, now is the time,” Career Services Network Internship Coordinator Bill Morgan said. “If you’re a freshman or sophomore, it never hurts to start early, but you know, you’ve got some different places to look."

Morgan said that Career Services tries to ‘blanket” campus with workshops, career exposures, employer visits, and other events with the goal of getting students involved earlier.

“What they need to do, is to be aware that you’ve kinda gotta engage, you can’t put it off,” Morgan said. “You’ve gotta take some time up front, and if you wait until spring break to go through all those steps... it’ll be a lot more difficult to be successful and get what you want,” Morgan said.

In addition to starting early, Morgan suggests that all students considering an internship should make sure their resume is professional, they have a well-written cover letter and work examples if relevant, and that they know and are interested in the field they’re applying for.

Advice

“Employers, when they (say that) ‘they’re looking for passion’, really they’re looking for someone who has their act together, and knows what they’re looking for and is really interested in what the employer does in (their) field,” Morgan said. “Those are the easy hires - those are the ones that get their internships first, and it’s just natural. They’re really thought through, and they know where they want to be, and all the things that’ll get them there.”

Morgan said those who just check boxes and go through the motions have a much harder time with employers, who will want students to not only have a good resume, but to know what’s on it, through and through.

“My internship experiences have actually altered my career path completely, because during my internships I realized what I wasn’t extremely passionate about and what I love to spend my time doing,” former Career Services Marketing Intern and junior professional writing student Zoe Zappitell said.

Zappitell, a veteran of four internships and on the verge of starting her own business, recommends making sure you apply to as many internships as possible, have an online presence, and ‘what to say’ based on your chosen field.

“The way you communicate and generate interest varies dramatically per field,” Zappitell said. “For example, I am expected to have a full up and running website, but someone going for a financial analyst position may not have that expectation.”

One piece of advice that Zappitell and Morgan agree on is that students need to find an internship that interests them, and that they're passionate about.

“Be yourself. Definitely be yourself,” said Courtney McClear, a Brody Neighborhood Career Peer Advisor. “Employers are definitely gonna want to hire you, for who you are. If you’re going to be there as somebody else, (you might be) there as just like a cookie-cutter robot.”

McClear, also a junior Spanish student and a Resident Assistant, gives presentations about building resumes, writing cover letters, interviews and any other questions students may have about internships and employment.

“We really provide a great opportunity for MSU students in order to outreach, in order to get the job that they’re looking for, their dream experience,” McClear said. “That’s what we’re really passionate about.”

Resources

Many resources are available to students looking to properly develop the valuable tenets needed to acquire internships. Comprehensive guides written by Career Services Network can be found online or through ‘Career Passport’ guidebooks distributed across MSU, both designed to help students break into their fields and land experience. Morgan says that 20,000 copies of the Career Passport have been printed, and are available for free at engagement centers and career services offices located around campus.

“What you’re looking for is work experience; real-world experience that relates to what you think you wanna do when you’re done with college, when you’re no longer in a classroom,” Morgan said.

Engagement Centers, where you can find counseling as well as Career Passports and other materials, are located in in Holden, Brody, McDonel, and Hubbard halls, as well as the second floor of MSU Union.