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Landing the internship: Is it really just about who you know?

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All of those LinkedIn connections just might pay off one day. For college students in search of internships, it is easy to get discouraged knowing that the applicant pool for most positions is wide and contains numerous qualified and talented individuals. Add on the fact that one or more of those applicants has a connection with someone already working at the company, and you’ve got the perfect storm.

“Unless you’re applying for a position requiring a specific technical skill,” says Melan Jaich, internship coordinator in the Communication Department at Santa Clara University in the Silicon Valley, “I’d definitely think contacts trump experience.”

Chances are you’ve heard the phrase, “it’s all about who you know,” or “it’s about who you know, not what you know.” In a study published last May, researchers found that employees who had been referred made up “only 6% of the applicant sample, but 21% of interviewees, 27% of recipients and 29% of new hires.”

So then it’s settled then, right? Think again.

Caitlin Belardes, a junior studying communication at Santa Clara had minimal work experience in her desired field, fashion PR, before landing a PR and marketing internship with Peach App. “I followed through with the mass e-mail listing Jaich sent out and landed a phone interview with a fashion app startup,” Belardes says, “From there, I went to the office for a second interview and got the job.”

Using extensive online research, school provided resources and LinkedIn, Belardes utilized every possible medium in her search for an internship — and it worked. Even with the odds stacked against her because she did not have contacts where she was applying, thoroughly exhausting all options in the realm of networking and filling out different applications paid off.

Someone with perspective on applying for internships both with a referral and without is Santa Clara sophomore Katie Bertsche who is studying Finance. After interning at the company where her dad works last summer, Bertsche has been pursuing other options for a new internship this summer. “This year, applying and interviewing with people where I had no foot in the door has been a rough awakening,” she says.

As for utilizing LinkedIn and online networking, Bertsche says she has used it to check out her interviewers beforehand. “I have found it helpful to read as much about them as an individual, their past and their current positions, as well as the company as whole.”

In addition to LinkedIn, it is not uncommon for people to land jobs via other social media. In her blog, The Maykazine, Mei talks about how she got a job through Twitter. As a generation that is often characterized as having a strong online presence, it just might be time to put that to work in finding your next job or internship.

So, while the statistics tend to favor the fact that referrals have a greater chance of getting you the interview or the job, those without connections everywhere still have plenty of opportunities to land something as well.

“Obviously it’s a huge plus to know someone at a firm,” Jaich says, “but with social media and LinkedIn you can acquire a contact for an internal reference independently without a huge established professional network on your own.”

Jenni Sigl is a student at Santa Clara University and a summer 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.


Filed under: CAREER PATH Tagged: connections, internship, Jenni Sigl, job, LinkedIn, reference, Santa Clara University

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