Internships and work placements – how to find them? Step-by-step guide

Looking for an internship or work placement and feel like “everyone already has something” while listings are scarce? Don’t worry – you can treat it like a project: set a goal, build a plan, and follow measurable steps.

This guide gives you a practical strategy: where to look, how to build an internship CV with little experience, how to message companies, and how to increase your response rate.

Table of contents

• Why an internship matters and how to choose a direction
• Where to find internships and placements
• Internship CV – what to include when you have little experience
• How to apply and message companies
• How to prepare for an internship interview
• Checklist: quick audit of your actions
• Summary
• FAQ – internships and placements

Why an internship matters and how to choose a direction

An internship is the fastest way to earn your first “hard” CV bullets: real tasks, tools, and projects you can describe concretely.

To avoid applying randomly, answer three questions:

• What role are you targeting? (e.g., accounting assistant, junior analyst, HR intern, marketing intern)
• Which 3 skills do you want to leave with? (e.g., Excel/Power BI, copywriting + SEO, recruiting fundamentals)
• What environment suits you best? (corporate, software house, NGO, startup, public sector)

This matters because internships are short – if your choices are random, it’s harder to build a coherent story toward your first full-time job.

Where to find internships and placements

The best results come from combining a few channels and keeping a steady rhythm (e.g., 30–45 minutes daily). These sources work well in practice:

1) Job boards

• Set alerts and saved searches (internship, placement, intern, junior).
• Filter by location (including hybrid/remote) and required tools.
• Don’t reject postings too quickly – internship requirements are often “wish lists”.

2) Company websites (Careers page)

Many employers publish internships only on their own sites. Build a list of 30–50 companies in your field and check weekly.

3) LinkedIn (jobs + networking)

• Update your headline: “Student | Internship in X | tools”.
• Follow companies and people in your target teams (recruiters, team leads).
• Send short, polite messages – it often works better than only clicking “Apply”.

4) University career office and events

This is an underrated shortcut. Job fairs and company meetups can be the easiest way to get a first conversation.

5) Proactive applications (without a posting)

This isn’t spam if you do it smart: choose the company intentionally, match the role, and write a short, specific message with the value you can bring.

Internship CV – what to include when you have little experience

No full-time job ≠ no experience. For internship roles, recruiters look for signals: learning ability, reliability, and clear communication. Build your CV around:

1) Profile / summary (2–4 sentences)

• who you are (major/area),
• tools you already know (even basics),
• the role you want (be specific),
• what you bring (e.g., analytical mindset, consistency, communication).

2) Projects instead of “work history”

University projects, side projects, volunteering, student organizations – all count. Describe them using:

• Goal → actions → tools → outcome.

3) Skills (only the useful ones)

Internships reward fundamentals, but they must be credible. Better:

• Excel (pivot tables) instead of “Excel: very good”,
• Canva + basic copywriting instead of “creativity”.

4) Education and courses

List relevant modules/subjects if they match the role. Courses: only the ones that add a real skill you can use.

5) Languages and links

Add language level and links: LinkedIn, GitHub, portfolio, Behance – depending on your field.

How to apply and message companies

Internships are won with relevance and simplicity. If you apply via a form and also send a short message (LinkedIn/e-mail), your odds improve.

Message template (copy & adapt)

✅ Three rules that make a difference:

• one concrete detail about the company (not generic praise),
• 2–3 skills + one proof (project/link),
• a simple call to action (short call / permission to send CV).

Follow-up: if there’s no response, follow up after 5–7 days. One sentence + link reminder is enough.

How to prepare for an internship interview

Internship interviews are rarely about encyclopedic knowledge. Most often they check:

• whether you can explain a project clearly,
• whether you can learn and ask for feedback,
• whether you understand the basics of the role and tools.

Prepare: two project stories (what you did + impact), one example of a mistake (and what you learned), and a list of questions (tasks, mentorship, tools, expectations after 4–8 weeks).

Checklist: quick audit of your actions

Summary

• Internships reward strategy: goal → sources → tailored CV → proactive outreach.
• In an internship CV, show projects, tools, and outcomes – not “lack of experience”.
• Combine applications with a short message and a follow-up.
• In interviews, talk about learning and delivering – not perfection.

FAQ – internships and placements