ฅ՞•ﻌ•՞ฅ Hi girlies!

It is officially that time of year when everyone starts looking for summer jobs, internships, and programs.

I live right in front of a high school, so every morning when I drive to work, I can feel how different the neighborhood is once school is out. It feels quieter, slower, and honestly a little empty. The other morning, I randomly opened Nextdoor and saw so many students posting that they were available to walk dogs, babysit, help neighbors, or looking for any kind of summer job. It reminded me that this is the time of year when a lot of students start feeling like they need to be doing something.

But I also want to say this clearly: if you are a freshman in high school, or even a freshman in college, you do not need to feel behind if you do not have an internship lined up. You genuinely have time. Your summer does not need to look impressive on paper for it to still matter. You can rest. You can spend time with your family. You can work a small local job, volunteer once a week, try a new hobby, help at home, take one free course, or simply start exploring what you may be interested in later. Not every summer has to be focused on building a perfect resume.

At the same time, if you are ready to start looking for opportunities, I want to share how I would begin, especially as a high school student or someone early in college. Because your first experience does not have to be at a huge company or in a very competitive city. It just has to help you learn, grow, and better understand what you may want to pursue next.

✨ Advice column ✨

How to start looking for internships as a high school student or early college student

One of the biggest mistakes I see students make is waiting until they feel “qualified enough” to start looking for internships. You do not need to have everything figured out before you begin searching. In high school or your first years of college, the goal is not only to land the most impressive position. It is also to learn what opportunities exist, what industries interest you, and what employers are actually looking for.

The first thing I would recommend is making a list of companies, organizations, and industries you would genuinely want to explore. Do not limit yourself to the biggest names you see everyone posting about. Yes, you can look at Google, Goldman Sachs, Nike, hospitals, universities, or large nonprofits, but also think about local organizations, startups, small businesses, clinics, community centers, law offices, local government, research labs, marketing agencies, museums, and even businesses you already visit in your own community.

The industry you explore and the type of work you are learning can be just as valuable, especially when you are early in your career. For example, if you are studying finance, your options are not limited to banks or Wall Street companies. Every industry needs finance professionals. You could intern with the finance team at a hospital, help with budgeting at a nonprofit, work in accounting or financial planning for a tech company, support operations at a local business, or explore treasury and payments at a larger company. You would still be building finance experience, just in a different environment.

The size of the company matters more than students realize. A large company may have a formal internship program with a clear application process, but it may also receive thousands of applications. A smaller company may not have an internship listed online, but they may be more open to a student helping with social media, research, data entry, event planning, accounting, customer outreach, or a small project. Sometimes your first experience will not come from a famous company. It may come from a nearby hospital, a local tea company, a community nonprofit, a small business owner, or someone willing to give you your first chance.

You should also think realistically about location. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, D.C. are exciting, but they are extremely competitive. You are not only competing with students who live there. For some opportunities, you may be competing with students from across the country and sometimes international students too. That does not mean you should not apply. It means you should not make one competitive city or one dream company your entire strategy. Apply locally, remotely, regionally, and nationally when possible. A local internship can still become the experience that helps you land a larger one later.

Before you start submitting applications, have your “application kit” ready. You should have one strong resume, a LinkedIn profile that is filled out and professional, a basic cover letter that you can customize, and at least one person who may eventually be able to write you a letter of recommendation. This could be a teacher, counselor, professor, supervisor, program advisor, coach, or volunteer coordinator who actually knows your work. An extra step that can make you stand out is creating a simple portfolio website through Canva, Notion, Google Sites, or another free platform. Even if you are not applying to a creative role, you can include projects, presentations, writing samples, community work, certifications, events you helped organize, or anything that shows initiative.

When you find an internship, always try to apply through the official company or organization website. LinkedIn, Handshake, Instagram, newsletters, and opportunity pages are helpful for discovering roles, but once you find one, go to the actual company careers page or the official program application link. Do not rely only on “Easy Apply” or apply through random third-party websites without checking where the opportunity originally came from. Applying directly helps you confirm the internship is real, see the full requirements, and avoid submitting an outdated or incomplete application.

Also, learn how to search beyond the word “internship.” Especially in high school, many valuable opportunities may be called fellowships, student ambassador programs, youth advisory boards, research programs, summer institutes, apprenticeships, volunteer leadership roles, job shadowing programs, paid training programs, or community internships. A student may think there are no opportunities available simply because they are only typing “high school internship” into Google. Try searching by your interest too: “high school student summer program public health,” “college freshman marketing fellowship,” “student research assistant remote,” “youth advisory board paid,” or “local nonprofit student intern.”

Keep track of everything you find. Create a simple spreadsheet with the company name, role, deadline, location, eligibility, application link, materials needed, and whether you applied. It sounds small, but this makes a huge difference when you begin applying to multiple opportunities. You do not want to miss a deadline because the application was buried in your saved posts or because you forgot you needed a recommendation letter.

Do not ignore experiences just because they are not labeled as prestigious. Your first opportunity may be small, part-time, unpaid, volunteer-based, or connected to your school or neighborhood. Still ask yourself: will I gain a skill, create a project, work with someone who can mentor me, or have something meaningful to speak about later? A student who helps a local nonprofit improve its newsletter, organizes an event, manages data, or creates a resource guide can sometimes tell a much stronger story than someone who only applies to big-name internships and never gets a chance to build experience.

Finally, start early and apply broadly, but do not apply carelessly. You do not need to send the exact same resume to 100 places without thinking. Choose opportunities that connect to your interests, tailor your materials when needed, and give yourself room to explore fields you may not know about yet. If you are interested in finance, do not only look at investment banking. Look into treasury, accounting, wealth management, credit, fintech, nonprofit finance, corporate finance, and local businesses. If you are interested in healthcare, do not only look at hospitals. Explore public health, health education, research, clinics, community outreach, medical nonprofits, and health technology.

Your first internship does not need to be your dream internship. It just needs to be a starting point. Sometimes one local opportunity, one mentor, or one project becomes the reason you are ready for the next door that opens.

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