The All-Purpose Guide to Internships and Externships

Why Intern/Extern?
Internships allow you to acquire marketable skills and experiences, explore career options, network in your chosen career field, and gain invaluable knowledge of the working world.

Externships, or Shadowing Opportunities, are short-term internships. Extern duties include observation, assistance in office activities, and participating in short-term projects.

How Can the Career Center Help?
Start by going to some of our workshops and programs. We sponsor 2 career fairs here on campus every year, and post other career fairs on our listserv--another rich source of potential internships. Subscribe to our listserv to find out about internships that employers are sending to us. A few employers actually use our on-campus recruiting program to interview internship candidates. Networking is just as important for the internship searching as it is for job searching, and we've got a great resource for you with our Alumni database. We've compiled a good collection of internship databases on the internship page of our database. Details about all of these resources are provided below.

Career Advisors are available to help you get on track in your internship search if you can't seem to find anything through all of our resources. Simply call 221-3231 to schedule an individual appointment, or drop by Blow Memorial Hall to see a Career Advisor during weekly walk-in hours (check the semester schedule at right) for answers to quick questions or a quick resume critique.

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS
Many internship deadlines are as early as Fall semester, so it’s important to begin putting together your resume and cover letters now, while taking advantage of the resources and opportunities listed below to help in your search:

EXPERIENCE On-line Database
The College of William and Mary is a member of a consortium of colleges and universities who share internship listings via the Internet. You are able to access our combined internship database (over 10,000 internship employers worldwide!) and can quickly and easily search for internships that match your specific criteria: occupational field, location, semester, salary, keyword, and date the internship was received or updated. New internships arrive daily; to keep up-to-date, visit: http://wm.erecruiting.com/er/security/login.jsp

Other Internship Sites on the Internet
The Career Center also subscribes to other internship databases, such as Ethical Internships, Human Rights Internships, Policy Internships. Access these Other Internship Resources on the password protected section of our web site.

Internship Directories
The Career Library contains many directories listing internships by occupational field or location, including The Internship Bible, The National Directory of Internships, America's Top Internships, and Internships: A Directory for Career Finders.

Career Fair
We hold our two general Career Fairs every year, one in the spring and the other in the fall. This is your BEST opportunity to meet one-on-one with a large number of employers who are offering summer internships, summer jobs, and full-time employment opportunities; make sure to get the name and contact information of the person in each company who is responsible for internships if the representative doesn't know. (Sometimes the representatives don't know much about internships personally, so find out from them the contact information for somebody in their organization who DOES know about internships--be assertive!) Be sure to attend!

In addition to the career fairs we sponsor, other schools and organizations often invite our students to attend their career fairs. Subscribe to our listserv (from our web site: www.wm.edu/career) to get notices about these events.

Networking
Use all the resources you can when searching for internships! Networking with alumni has resulted in internship leads for many students. Consult the Alumni Connections database accessible from the Career Center web page and ask the alums there for advice on where to find the internships that you want (but DON'T ask them directly for either an internship or a job!!) Meet many of these alumni when they visit campus for special seminars and presentations --especially the "Breaking Into....Careers"--throughout the year; check the online semester schedule to find out when.

On Campus Interviewing
Over 20 employers visit campus each year to interview students for summer internships and summer jobs. In the past those employers have included accounting firms, Cigna, Circuit City, JP Morgan, Marriott International, Peterson Consulting, and Sears. To find out who’s coming to campus, visit the On-Campus Recruiting section of our JObs/Careers web page and register to participate in on-campus recruiting!

LOCAL INTERNSHIPS PROGRAM is:
· a local internship program where you work about 7 hours per week during fall or spring semester

· 120+ unpaid internships offered each semester in a wide variety of fields, including opportunities for pre-med and pre-law students interested in working with local physicians and attorneys

· internship descriptions available for your review from the Career Center website on the Internship page

· a process than begins the First week of classes each semester.

Shadowing Opportunities are:
· short-term externships, typically lasting 1-5 days

· opportunities to explore careers, network with alumni, and gain experience

· descriptions of the 60-90  alums who, in the past, volunteered to offer externships nationwide are available from the Career Center web page

· Alumni sponsors have included: Virginia Film Office; accounting firms; NBC Corporate Communications; Putnam Publishing Group; Ruder Finn, Inc. (PR firm); FBI; school systems and colleges; FDA; law firms; Science Applications International Corp.; physicians, hospitals, and research institutes including the Mayo Clinic; The Washington Times; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Legg Mason; IBM Global Services; Colorado Historical Society; Anheuser-Busch, Inc.; National Park Service; and Procter & Gamble Co.