How professors can help you find an internship

Students should ask their professors about internship opportunities, as many employers ask those same professors for referrals to their students who may be interested in and well-qualified for those same internships. Many internship opportunities never find their way to college and university career service offices but, instead, are advertise online or filled through word-of-mouth. That latter group is where those professors come in. 

One of the most valuable assets that any professor has is their reputation and so most are loath to connect low quality employers with high quality students, or vice versa. But they’re more than happy to connect quality employers with quality students, and so a referral from a professor carries great weight with employers. If an employer wants to hire an intern, asks a professor for a referral to students who may be well-qualified and interested, and the professor does so, that employer is likely to be very inclined to at least interview and likely offer the internship to that student. 

Before approaching a professor to seek help with finding an internship, it is vital that the student develop a trusted, meaningful relationship with that professor. If you’re just another face in another classroom, they’re not likely to refer you to any internship. Network with them, meaning find ways to help them. Networking takes time, so you’ll want to start this process at least weeks and perhaps even months before having a conversation about them helping to connect you with an employer who might want to hire you as an intern. As you help them, they will naturally want to help you, and that could easily mean telling you about an internship that few know about, which will massively increase your chances of landing the role. 

Choosing the right professor or, more accurately, professors is important. You’ll want to choose those who teach a class in which you’re doing well, or did well, so that they can speak well to your academic achievements. They should be well-connected with employers hiring people into career fields which are of interest to you, so if you want to go into accounting, then choose accounting professors. And you’ll want to choose those with whom you have rapport. That can often mean that there’s something about their background which is similar to yours. Perhaps they grew up in the same area, or went to the same school, or share a passion for the same hobbies.

One of the best ways to build a strong relationship with professors is to offer to become their teaching or research assistant after you’ve successfully completed at least one of their classes. This will bring you into regular, collaborative contact with them where they’ll see not just how well you perform academically, but also as an employee. If you perform well, they’ll naturally want to help you in your career development efforts, and that includes finding a great internship.