So You Want To Intern Abroad?
Molly Tranberg
Overview
As a professional writing student, world travel is an invaluable experience that will help you develop as a person as well as a writer. With this in mind, this comprehensive resource page is aimed at getting professional writing students at MSU out of the country and helping them develop essential skills at the same time!
Let me take you step by step through the process of finding an internship abroad by way of the following links. They are divided into four stages including the following: preparing to apply, global issues, internship websites, and links of interest. If you are completely new to this, I encourage you to start at the beginning and work your way down; however, you can also skip around to see which sites work for you. Be sure to look for an analysis directly following the links.
Before you begin your search for the perfect internship in the country of your dreams, I strongly suggest contacting your advisor(s) and a career counselor. They can guide you through your search, help you with resumes and cover letters, help with financial aid, and tell you how to receive credit for your internship. Most students consider an internship after they have gained some college coursework. If you want to intern, doing it your sophomore or junior year/summer is ideal.
Good luck and happy searching!
How to Begin
PW @ MSU -- InternshipsThis is the description of internship requirements for the Professional writing program here at MSU. I think this is a great place to start with your search. By figuring out what the program expects of you, what kind of internships will fulfill your requirement, and what paperwork to fill out so you can get credit, you can narrow down your search before even starting it.
Campus Career CenterGo to the "Quick Resources" set of links at the bottom of the page. These links will help you get started on everything you need to know about applying for internships once you have found them. Pay particular attention to the articles "Resume Myths," "Set Yourself Apart," and "So you want to do an internship".
Your Guide to Resume WritingThis is a great article that introduces the process of writing a resume. I would definitely read this before tackling the pain-staking process of writing a resume. Includes explanations of the integral parts of a resume including the objective, educational information, work experience, and activities.
Going Global: ResumesThis page from goinglobal.com (a great resource, too!) will have you pick the country you are interested in. Then it will teach you how to write an effective resume to get a career in that country. Be careful, they are trying to get you to buy a career guide, too.
Resume Writing TipsThis is another good article on writing resumes that outlines ways to make a resume that stands out. Includes information such as verb tenses, researching the job you are applying for, and writing vividly.
Sample ResumesThree sample resumes for writers. These are pretty generic, but they are worth checking out if you have never seen a resume before and need an idea of where to start.
Globalize Yourself!
Understanding Internships AbroadThis article introduces you to the rewards and challenges that can be encountered before, during, and after an internship abroad. Discusses realistic ways to stand out, get internships, pay for your trip, and why you should go abroad.
Tips For Americans Living AbroadThis comprehensive article is produced by the U.S. Department of State, and it goes over how to travel and live safely in another country. It also tells you how to make the most of your experience.
Under the Tips For Travelers section, you can click on a number of links that will inform you about specifically living in different countries and regions of the world.
How to find an internship
MSU's Office of Study AbroadFirst try the university's internship resource. MSU offers unpaid internships in many countries around the world. Most of these internships have you pick a location, and you can obtain a job in the city you prefer depending on your resume.
Spartan TrakI know it seems intimidating at first, but give it a try. Spartan Trak is the best site I've found for finding internships that is available to MSU students. You have to register, but it's free, and they will set you up with an account. Once registered, you can save jobs that are of interest to you, settings, etc. Most comprehensive job seeking site available to MSU students.
Professional Writing Summer InternshipsThis comprehensive list, through Purdue University, gives plenty of websites for professional writing students specifically to find summer internships. I would check out the link "Intern Abroad" for opportunities out of the country. This is a very broad website, though, so try to narrow down your professional writing search as much as possible to obtain the most relevant internship results. It also gives some good resume writing resources that you may want to check out.
Creative Writing Internships AbroadThese are the results of a search that I conducted on InternAbroad.com, previously mentioned. Go here if you are interested in a creative writing, or field related to creative writing, internship. Through these programs, you can intern in countries such as South Africa, Australia, and more! I encourage you to take advantage of this website and see what results are yielded from your more specific search.
Intern WebInternweb is another large database of job postings similar to spartan trak. The down side is it is not tailored for MSU students, so your searches will be much broader. This site, also like Spartan Trak, requires you to register for free. By registering you can access all of the job postings and other related documents and articles that will help you on your search. If you are having trouble finding what you want, I would suggest signing up and looking here. The site offers interesting articles about resumes, cover letters, internships, portfolios, and other topics of relevance. Another cool thing I like about this site is you can submit your internship experience for others to read. You could read ones from the past or write one of your own to help future internship-seeking students.
Links of Interest
Tripping On WordsThis is my favorite blog. It is run by two editing/writing Stanford grads that are out in the real world and just trying to survive. They are literally living the dream of people looking for international work and adventure, and I encourage anyone interested in traveling and travel writing to check out this blog and see how its done.
© 2006 Molly Tranberg