In the midst of the pandemic, I was applying to a multitude of internships and got nowhere. I felt like I was just another cover letter and resume in a sea of emails and applications. As a communication major, the internships I was seeking typically interview and hire their summer interns during the months of January, February and March. By this point, it was March and I had nothing secured. I started to feel defeated and that I was just going to have to find a job outside of my industry and interests.

Then the UD Career Center started advertising for the Communications, Marketing and Media Career Meetup on March 9, 2021. I figured why not try to look there for an internship? The whole purpose of the meetup was to network with possible future employers, and the UDCC had a pretty good list of attending organizations. I started to feel a bit more confident about my chances of finding a summer internship.

I spoke with great employers and made amazing connections with people. I even had follow-up calls set up with two of the employers I met. One of my video meetings was an extremely informative information session where I learned all about the communications industry from a professional who is currently working for a large media company. She told me the do’s and don'ts of interviews, how networking is key and many more helpful tips to use in the future. 

Another video meeting I had was with Hendrik-Jan Francke, the owner and lead strategist at Bright Orange Thread. He told me all about his company and how he started it in addition to me telling him about my skill set and past work experience. We set up another interview with two more of his team members for a later date, and at the end of the third interview they offered me a position as an online marketing and web writing intern!

If I had never gone to the career meetup, I would have never made those connections or landed my internship. My advice to people searching for internships is to not lose hope because there will be something out there for you. You just need to search for it—and go to the career fairs!

This blog post is written by our Division of Student Life student intern Olivia Schnefke.