You have a polished resume.
Your portfolio of work that is top notch.
You even have an elevator pitch to describe your value in under a minute.
You take that perfect package and you start sending out inquiry emails, submitting applications, and making cold calls asking about internship opportunities. And then…
Crickets.
This may sound very familiar because it’s not all that uncommon. In fact, every year countless hours are wasted by people who throw their heart and soul into the application process only to get few – or no – results from it.
To you, that inquiry email says, “Look at this amazing work. Snatch up that rising star while you can!”
But what your audience hears is, “This is my resume. I really want an internship.”
That dead silence can be a real punch in the gut.
The bright side is that your talent, passion, and unique brilliance aren’t being rejected.
They’re being ignored. Those emails and applications are getting sucked into the void of the Internet. Why?
No matter how smart or hardworking or driven you think you may be, no one else can see that from a cold call. That email template where you replaced XXXX with the company name reads exactly like an email template.
And your email is one of dozens that came in that hour. Your application package is swimming in a sea of application packages in a folder on someone’s desktop market “for later”.
Even if your message reaches the right person, they have no incentive to follow up with you. They don’t feel any responsibility to respond to you. In fact, you may just get a flat-out deletion of your email or voicemail without a second glance.
You need to stop the email blasts. Quit blanket emailing companies with a template letter asking, “Do you have internships available?” or “Who do I talk to about internships?”
Now, I can walk you through how to write a more compelling inquiry email another time. I can teach you how to put together a portfolio of work that will blow them away; but that’s a whole other topic.
Today I want to share with you that there are three better ways – brilliant was – to ask about internships. These are powerful approaches that can get you more confidence, more call-backs, and more interviews right away.
If you’re interested in getting an internship, but you have no relationship with that internship provider, it’s called a cold call. That means you’re just calling out of the blue to ask for something. In this case, an internship.
Even in a company with an established internship application procedure, if you are interested in getting to the top of that list for an interview you need to be turning a cold situation into a warm or even a hot situation before you even apply. And my top three tips are absolutely free to everyone I mentor.
These 3 brilliance hacks are intended to establish a relationship with someone at the company so that they will feel connected to you. By creating a warm relationship, you’re putting the ball in their court. You want them to feel compelled to at least respond to you. Once you’ve got your foot in the door, that’s when your polished resume and top-notch portfolio can play their part.
The incredible thing is that these 3 hacks can work for you even when there is no internship available. So, if you really want to intern somewhere but they aren’t advertising for interns… this can still work. If you want to work on a specific team but they don’t typically accept interns… this can still work. And if you already sent your application before you read this post… this can still work for you.