You might have noticed that my blog entries have trickled off. I have a very simple explanation: I’m allergic to all forms of career search. The weird thing is I’ve been writing entries to the blog and not submitting them. Yes my friends, my phobia of all things career related has even preventing me from turning in blog entries. I know, I know this may come as a shock. What? I’ve hit a wall in the internship search? But seriously. Even though I expected to hit a wall, the said wall is large, ugly, and obstinate. I figured there would be a time when I got discouraged. I didn’t realize it would be a full-blown funk.
When I first became a CP&R blogger I was very excited to share my search for a summer internship. There was a time when I was a color-coding excel fiend, tirelessly listing opportunity after opportunity and plowing through applications like a pro. Inevitably the novelty wore off and that motivation was been reduced to a meager trickle.
This week I took a couple of proactive steps. My first step is to focus more on strategic applying. I decided that I needed to narrow my search. I’ve applied to several large internship programs and I’m starting to realize why that isn’t the wisest decision; although the programs are wonderful (and wonderfully established), everyone and their mother is applying. I recognize that in a typical job search, you will be applying to a LOT of things. However, instead of adopting the “gotta collect them all” mentality, I’m forcing myself to think through each opportunity and write why I want it. It certainly isn’t a waste of time; it will give me a clearer sense of purpose and the ingredients for a quality cover letter. I hope to be more selective in how I use my time and strategic in the things I apply for. I also need to stop leaving things up to fate/ the black hole that is online internship submissions and being sure to follow-up with the programs I’ve already applied for for some constructive feedback.
Secondly, there is a part of me that wants to create a giant countdown for the summer. I switch from feeling like there isn’t enough time to land an internship to feeling like there are so many opportunities available it’s overwhelming. Of course, both are complete hogwash. While I do need to be gearing up my internship search, I have faith that something will come through. However, since it is April, it is time for me to buckle down and make time for a couple hours a week of internship searching. But feeling like there are either too many or too few opportunities should not be a deterring me from my search.
A big step for me is recognizing that this summer is not the be-all and end-all. A good bit of ambition and determination never hurts, but I think I need to scale things back a bit and spend some time putting things in perspective. First things first, I already have an amazing summer job for the first three weeks of summer. Furthermore, it’s not like my resume is completely blank or that my summer internship will make or break my future. That being said, there are an awful lot of things to get out of a summer internship. However, I want to inject some positive perspective into my internship search so that I can relax, stop avoiding things, and take things one step at the time.