Pexels | Stanley Morales
Finding an internship over the summer can be hard. Many students scroll through LinkedIn and Handshake for hours while looking for that coveted position. They rewrite resumes and craft cover letters for each listing just to get that tear-jerking rejection email– or worse, no email.
Thankfully, there are other options. Students who don’t land the summer position they wanted can still gain skills and experiences to work towards their career goals.
Look below to find different ways you can spend your summer while still staying productive, even without that internship.
Micro Internships:
Parker Dewey is a platform that connects employers with college students and recent grads for short-term professional assignments called micro internships. For engineering students, this can look like working with companies like Northrop Grumann for short-term projects related to the field. They also have projects related to sales, marketing, finance and computer science.
Volunteer Work:
Volunteer work is another productive way for students to spend their time over the summer.
The Longhorn Center for Community Engagement is a great resource for looking for openings and tracking volunteer hours. Many pre-health students use volunteer work to gain clinical exposure. Hospitals and clinics outside of Austin offer volunteer opportunities for college students as well– just look online at your local health care centers to see if there are openings.
For those interested in public policy or government, doing work for a campaign or non-profit can be a great option as well. Students can also help at food banks and donation centers to help connect with their community.
Skill Development:
Coursera, edX, and LinkedIn Learning are all places students can go for online skill development.
Coursera offers a variety of certificates that can be applied to students in a variety of different fields. They have over 81 professional certificates for everything from software development to social media management. These certifications can enhance resumes and LinkedIn profiles and can help students stand out to employers. UT offers it free to students.
For students in the medical arena, John Hopkins offers a medical office manager professional certificate. Adobe and Xbox both offer professional certificates for graphic design.
The platforms edX and LinkedIn Learning offer certificates and skill-based courses as well. LinkedIn Learning is free to UT students, just like Coursera. For edX, students can audit the classes offered for free, but they have to pay for a verified certificate.
Research:
Research is also a great way for students to gain experience outside of internships. Eureka is a database where students can find faculty members involved in research and creative activities at UT. They can create profiles to outline their research interests, find listings of posted assistantships and contact faculty with similar internships.
Listings branch across all fields, from communication studies and education to AI and genetics. Even if students’ career goals aren’t directly aligned with research, working on a project could help them develop relationships with faculty and gain experience in their subject of interest.
Part-Time Jobs:
Part-time jobs can often seem like the disappointing last option for students who didn’t land that coveted internship for the summer, but they have some unexpected benefits. Students can choose part-time jobs related to their careers that provide valuable skills and exposure. For example, education majors could choose to do work relating to childcare or tutoring, like working at a daycare or math center. Students interested in law could work as file clerks at a law firm. Office assistant jobs or any sort of administrative or clerical work could help students develop transferable skills applicable to all fields.
When students look for a part-time job over the summer, they should narrow down options based on the skills they need and what experiences could help them gain such skills. The trick here is to get creative and maybe look in some unconventional places. For example, summer camps often look for videographers or photographers to help with creative media, which could be a great opportunity for RTF or PR majors.
Virtual Job Simulations:
The Forage is a website with free virtual job simulations that span multiple career paths. GE Aerospace, John Holland, and many other companies offer engineering simulations for electrical engineering to manufacturing. For students in the school of business, there are simulations for consulting, marketing, and accounting. These simulations can help students build their skills and experience without a formal internship and get a feel for what their future career might look like.
Competitions:
For students in more creative fields, competitions are another way to stay busy over the summer and gain exposure. There are many websites Architecture students can browse through to find design competitions, including the American Institute of Architecture Students, whose UT chapter just recently started back after being inactive for a short period. Students interested in English could submit work to writing competitions, while students interested in art or design could create work for competitions in those fields.
There are so many different options for students who want to gain experience in their respective fields. It’s disappointing when you don’t get the opportunities you want, but it’s important to remember that new doors open when others close. Whatever you do over the summer – even if that’s just working a part-time job at your local café or helping out your mom in the kitchen – is going to help you grow in some way. Just take a deep breath. It’s all going to work out in the end.