Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

The Bridge Between Now and Your Future

This blog was written by Peer Career Ambassador Calvin Wang ’19.

As midterms and finals approach, many of my friends and residents have come to me with concerns about being able to find a solid summer internship position while being able to still focus on schoolwork and get studying done. Being a sophomore student who understands the struggle of balancing studying with the fever pitch of the summer internship search, here are some things that I do in order to make sure that I hit all the bases during this busy year.

Keep in mind that what works for me may not be the best fit for you; we are interested in different companies, in different fields, with different recruiting timelines. However, if you are a student struggling with trying to look for internships but saying to yourself “nope, I don’t have time to plan out my summer because I have to do homework” then please read on.

  1. Have a game plan on what industry and what function you would like to do over the summer. Then, look up companies you are interested in, in those fields, and get a feel for the timeline of their recruitment season.
  2. Budget time every day, 10-20 minutes, to log into Career Connections/other job boards and look at some of the jobs that were posted. There are plenty of new opportunities up every day and there is a “recommended jobs” section where only jobs that have requirements similar to your skills and strengths will be listed.
  3. Excel sheets are a good way to organize the internship positions that you have seen, applied to, or want to apply to. Making an excel sheet will take a few minutes once you have picked some positions to apply to. This way, you can organize all of the potential positions that you are interested in or have sent an application in for.
  4. Study! If you only spend about 30 minutes a day on the above, you still have plenty of time to study. By working on your career development for a little bit each day, it can also be a break from your homework! Also, keep in mind what you are studying and getting good grades for: to find that awesome job after graduation. Never lose sight of this final goal!
  5. Come to the CCD. We can help you set up a timeline and find some positions that are best fit for you. We would love to see you First Years during one of our First Year Fridays!
  6. Network with alumni. Use our alumni network directory/Linkedin to find alumni in fields that you are interested in and send them a cold email or a cold call. They will often not hesitate to reach out and help out a fellow Babson student, and they will provide advice and suggestions on what you can do to best position yourself for future career success.

The list above can be accomplished when you have free time, want to take a break from doing work, or even during Thanksgiving/Winter vacation where you just put this first step forward in planning out your summer. If you have any questions regarding anything I mentioned, feel free to reach out to me at twang5@babson.edu with your concerns and I will try my best to help!