internships that matter

INTERNSHIP
GUIDE

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about

getting hired for your dream internship.
Before you put your hands on this hand-
book, we would like to congratulate you for
winning this starter kit and we hope that this
helps you in finding your dream internship :)

We have created this starter kit keeping in

mind the tons of questions we get every day
from the student community and we
couldn’t be more excited to share this with
you.

The kit will give you a walkthrough of Intern-

shala and we hope that you get the
relevant insights about creating a perfect
application, the tips and tricks to keep in
mind while building your resume, writing a
good cover letter, and a few tips to ace your
final interview.

Happy Learning :)
Team Internshala
Let’s get started
Here’s what we’ll cover-

Introduction
• How to land your dream internship this
summer
• Walkthrough of the Internshala platform

Making your first application

• Filling the relevant details
• Creating a good resume
• A step by step guide

Acing the interview round

• Telephonic interview
• Interview etiquette
• Preparing for the HR questions
Introduction
Here’s what we’ll cover-

How to score your dream internship

Even though unemployment has reached a
record high due to business closures & social
distancing measures, you can still snag an
internship if you know how to adapt & get
creative! Below are the tips that can help you.

1.Go for work from home internships:

During the pandemic a large percentage of
employers have moved to virtual internship
program which has opened up opportunities
for you to work from home. Look for
employers who are hiring virtual interns and
start applying to those internships.
2. Broaden your prospects:
As you start to make any type of career plan,
it is helpful to be focused yet flexible. The
pandemic demonstrates how quickly even
the best plans can change. Expand your
thinking and the types of roles or industries
you are applying to.

3. Build basic career-ready skills:

Ultimately, employers will value what skills
you can bring to them. So if you are having
difficulty finding a formal internship or a
part-time job, use the time to identify and
build new skills. The top skills employers
seek on resumes, such as verbal and written
communication, and problem solving, are
skills you can build at home right now.
Walkthrough of the Internshala
platform

Login on Internshala if you are an existing

user. New users can get started by clicking
on Register > As a student.

Fill in the registration form. It

contains 4 fields - email, password, first
name, and last name. You can sign up with
Google as well.

After this, make sure you verify your email

address.
Making your first
application
Filling the relevant details
After you verify your email
address, you’ll be asked for your personal
details and your
internship preferences.

These details will help us suggest the type

of internships you are looking for.

To help you understand the process better,

have a look at this video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=X0VLp-
pxDvSU

While answering the application questions,

always try to give a detailed answer to the
questions asked.
 You can write about what excites you
about the internship, what soft skills you
have, and mention any past personal or
college related projects you have worked
on.

It's also important to ensure that your

answers are grammatically correct. You
can use tools like Grammarly.

*Extra Read -
https://blog.internshala.com/2016/10 /most-com-
mon-grammatical mistakes-students-make-while
applying-for-an-internship/
Creating a good Resume

In the above video, we saw how by filling in

the relevant details, your resume gets ready
in a few minutes on Internshala.

But how are you going to decide which

details you should add in your resume? Well,
do not worry! Our next video is here to help
you out - http://bit.ly/is_goodresume

*Extra Read -
https://blog.internshala.com/2014/06 /resume-blun-
ders-absolutely-avoid/
Step by step guide
Now that you know what makes a great
resume, it is time to make one for yourself.
Either, you can download and use any of the
templates below or make one on Internsha-
la as explained in this video
-http://bit.ly/is-create resume
Acing the
interview round
Telephonic Interview
Make sure that you do thorough research
about the company. Be clear about your
role and then go for the interview.

Have a look at this video to get ready for

the telephonic interview -
http://bit.ly/is-telephonic-interview

Interview Etiquette
Engage - Don't just give 'Yes/No' answers to
leading questions. For example when asked
'Can you write well?' - don't just say 'Yes'.
Talk about various kinds of topics that you
have written on.
Listen - Let the interviewer complete his/her
sentence or question. Don't cut in.

Understand and think - before you speak. It

is OK to take time before you answer. Just
say 'May I take a moment before I answer
this?' whenever you want to pause a little
before answering.

Ask - whenever a question is not clear to

you or if you could not hear it properly the
first time.

Be honest - If you don't know the answer to

a question, say so ('I am sorry, I do not
know the answer to that.').

Don't whine or complain - about a professor,

or a team member, or your previous work
experience/internship.
Show interest - when given an opportunity,
ask questions to the interviewer about the
company or the role.

After the interview gets over, if you get an

opportunity, write a thank you email and
ask for feedback (sample email below).
Dear sir,

I would like to thank you for giving me a

opportunity to interview with your company.
It was a great experience for me.
Please do let me know if you have some
feedback on my performance during the
interview and what I could have done better.

Thank you once again and I look forward to

hearing from you.

Warm regards,
Rahul Rana
4th year Computer Science Student IIT Madras
+91 - 12345678890
Preparing for the HR
questions
We have compiled the top 5 most common
questions that you may face in an HR round
with sample answers.

1. Tell me about yourself.

Understand why this question is asked -

Meant to be an ice-breaker for you and the
interviewer to settle in and get comfortable
with each other. It also allows the interviewer
to judge how nervous you are and a confident
answer can be a great start and half the
battle won.

How to answer - Start off with a brief intro,

quickly move over to your career interests
(and why), and a bit of info on your hobbies
and interests.
2. Why do you want to join our organization
and not this other company (say X)?

Understand why this question is asked -

To understand how much research about the
company you have done before the interview
and if there is a genuine fit between what
organization does and offers to its employees
and what you want.

How to answer - Be specific. Mention things

that you know about the organization which
you find exciting. There could be different
things about an organization (size, customer
loyalty, it being innovation-friendly, work
culture, team, maybe it offers support for
higher studies, etc.) that one may find
interesting and offer that as a reason.
3. What are your strengths?

Understand why this question is asked -

To know you better, to understand if you are
self-aware of what you are good at. Also to
assess your fit with the role.

How to answer - During your introspection

before the interview, you may have identified
a few things that you are good at (say
programming or leading teams) or a few
positive behaviour traits (good attention to
details), etc. You can mention all of them or
pick 2-3 that are most relevant to the
organization. Always support your claims
with real examples from your life.
4. What are your weaknesses?

Understand why this question is asked -

We don't think this question can/should ever
be asked to assess whether you are a good
fit for the role because no candidate in
his/her right mind would tell an interviewer
about a weakness that will jeopardise
his/her
chances of getting the internship (such as
'I often beat people up in my fit of rage').
However, this question can be used to
assess how self-aware you are about
yourself.

How to answer - Pick a relatively safe

weakness that would not hamper your
chances of getting the internship. Also, offer
what you are doing to correct that weakness
now that you have realized that you have a
weakness.
5. What are your expectations from this
internship?

Understand why this question is asked -

To assess whether there is a good match
between the role and your expectations. Also
to assess whether you have understood the
role in detail or not. Because if there is a gap
between the profile and your expectations, it
is unlikely that you would stay for long.

How to answer - There must be some reason

why you have applied for that particular role
and you must have some expectations in
return - state those. Ask yourself, what do
you hope to learn or get out of that role?
Getting an internship is not as hard as you
might think. We understand that beginnings
matter and in our recent campaign,
‘#SummerWithInternshala’, you can apply to
internships that do not require experience
or skills!

Simply choose what kind of internships you

want to go for and with the steps we have
discussed above, you can easily find your
dream internship!

So, go ahead and make your best

application :)

internships that matter