Brian Gerrard, Career Peer and Marketing major, class of 2016, shares some thoughts in this week’s blog, from his 2014 U.S. Department of Commerce Internship.
I interned for the US Department of Commerce in summer 2014, where I worked with the International Trade Administration overseeing Export Assistance Centers across the U.S. I assisted in coordinating trade promotion programs, including a national series of conferences that help U.S. businesses compete, win business and grow in the international marketplace.
This internship has given me the opportunity to meet new professionals, work on a team, gain confidence with my work, network and expand my LinkedIn connections. My projects helped me improve my writing skills and articulate my thoughts. As a marketing major, I feel this internship has prepared me for my future employment after graduation and I have gained many new skills which will complement my college classes.
Additional projects included:
- Conducted internet searches and submitted statistics on international markets for trade opportunities with US businesses: (agribusiness, energy, health technologies).
- Composed client success stories for weekly e-newsletters which were distributed to over 200,000 subscribers
- Wrote promotional blogs and posted daily updates on LinkedIn and Twitter promoting upcoming conferences/trade events and current trends on international trade regulations.
- Researched updates for US export data for the 2009-2015 Free Trade Agreement handbooks;
- Attended an industry marketing training program for International Trade Specialists
- Participated as an exhibitor at the Discover Global Markets Conference with 200 exhibitors and 1000 attendees from different industries around the U.S.
How I found my internship and the interview process:
Earlier this year I started looking for a summer internship in the Washington, DC Metro area. I made a list of companies that I would like to intern for and went to each of their websites to see if there were intern job postings. I applied to many companies directly and also responded to many job postings on Indeed.com and Monster.com.
Many companies did not respond to my cover letters and applications, a few sent me letters saying they would contact me if there was a match with my skills and a few companies sent me letters saying that it was a highly competitive process and they received an overwhelming amount of applications and that they were not able to offer me an interview. Don’t get discouraged!
I also contacted the Career Service Office at Clemson University, where I was then attending. I asked Career Services for the names of companies in the Washington, DC Metro area where Clemson students had interned the previous summer and was given the email address for a recruiter at the Dept. of Commerce who had hired a previous Clemson student.
I composed a cover letter, attached my resume and emailed it to the recruiter, Laura, on a Friday afternoon. To my surprise, Laura emailed me back on Monday morning and asked to schedule a phone interview. I had a 30 minute phone interview and as we ended our conversation, Laura asked me to send her some writing samples. Immediately I composed a thank you email which stated why I felt I was qualified for the internship and attached the writing samples. One week later Laura called me, asked a few more questions and at the end of the conversation she offered me the internship.
Some advice for finding an internship:
1. Make a list of companies you would like to work for and go to the career/employment page on their website. Apply directly to any posted internship positions. If there is room include a cover letter. Most companies have talent communities – upload your resume into the talent community and complete the questions. The company will send you alerts when internships open up. You can schedule how often you want to receive alerts.
2. Check websites including Nittany Lion Career Network, and others (such as Craig’s List, Indeed.com and Monster.com) every day for new job postings. If there is a recruiter’s email address, send a brief cover letter and resume. If you don’t hear back in one to two week’s time, send a follow-up email expressing your interest and your availability for an office or phone interview.
3. Create a LinkedIn profile – ask to connect with everyone you meet.
NOTE: Career Services is hosting a LinkedIn workshop on Wed. Nov. 19 at 9 pm in the Community center, and Thurs. Nov. 20 at 11:30 am in 103EAB (North).
4. Go to the “Jobs” tab on LinkedIn and type the word ‘internship’ and enter the zip code of the area you would like to work – many companies post their internships on LinkedIn.
5. When you find an internship posting you like – add a few words from the job description to your resume –for each job I found, I included the job title from the internship description in my Objective.
6. Another avenue is to sign up with Temporary Agencies (e.g. Robert Half, Randstad, HireStrategy, Trac Associates, Kelly Services, ManPower) – some employers call temp agencies to find interns.
Share additional tips and advice for finding an internship by leaving a comment here. And if you would like to share your internship story, please contact cspector@psu.edu . We love to hear from our students and alumni.