Internships area huge stepping stone in anyone’s career. Yet, the process of finding one is long, stressful and simply exhausting. Fortunately, USC has plenty of resources to help its students.
Coming into the spring semester of sophomore year, I knew I wanted to gain some work experience. While I wanted to explore something related to mechanical engineering or project management, I knew I had to keep my options open. Nonetheless, the first thing I did, like most people, was search “project manager internship summer 2023” in Google, Handshake, and LinkedIn. I was ecstatic to see a never ending list of positions open in virtually every company across all industries and quickly applied to the top 30 results.
However, after not hearing back from any of them I had to take a step back and re-evaluate my approach. From talking to upper class men in my business club, and most importantly, my sister (a USC alumna), I found that I need to start utilizing the network and resources around me. Although I was already attending the mandatory speaker panels my club provided, I had to take initiative and reach out to the speakers individually – I needed to recognize and capitalize on the opportunities I was fortunate enough to have access to. Similarly, I started asking my friends in the grades above me for professional advice and references in the workplace. Through this I was able to organize coffee chats with a successful serial entrepreneur, and recruiters at various companies such as HU.MA.NE and Masterclass.
Moreover, in addition to utilizing my personal network, I learned that I have to take advantage of USC’s resources. As I started researching and exploring what Viterbi had to offer, I was truly amazed. They had countless panels with people across all industries as well as numerous workshops tailored to teach students how they can be the most successful in their professional journey. This ranged from providing help with crafting resumes to practicing for interviews.
Personally, the Viterbi career fair helped me more than anything else. It got me comfortable pitching myself in a professional setting, and even landed me my first internship in the Bay Area. USC helped me find a position where I will be able to explore my interests, and encounter challenges that will teach me how to apply what I learned from school to problem solve in the real world.
