Hi, and welcome back to a new How Did You Make
It? I'm Yusra, your host, and this week we're
discussing how to look for an internship, an
apprenticeship, first job, anything you actually
need right now. This episode will be pretty short
because I want to share with you all the insights
that have been asked before and essentially cover
what you need to build strong foundations in
your search. So I'll be covering some behaviors
you can adopt, but also some strategies you can
implement. But, but, but, before going into that,
let's focus on two essential pieces. Your written
resume, CV, and your LinkedIn profile. Why? Because
this is your first contact with recruiters who
are looking into hundreds of resumes per day.
So my question to you. to start is does your
resume or does your linkedin really showcase
what you want to prove what you want to highlight
your immediate responsibility right now is to
optimize both of them no matter your experience
so you've been a salesperson you've worked in
hospitality you've been doing babysitting whatever
it is every line Show the line with your new
ambitions, with the new role you're applying
for. I have more questions for you. Have you
highlighted the concrete, exact impact of your
responsibilities within that job? Have you used
numbers to prove it? Did you go on YouTube or
any social media platform and looked into what
experts are sharing for you to optimize? Again,
that same resume, that same LinkedIn profile.
So if so far, your answer is no, that's fine.
But you know what to do. You need the person
to read your resume and understand clearly that
you're the perfect fit. And if you're not the
perfect fit, that there is so much potential
in that profile. Also, keep in mind that some
companies are using ATS software to screen resumes.
What does it mean? It means that they have hundreds,
if not thousands and hundreds of thousands of
resumes coming their way. So this software helps
them essentially doing this first triage, a first
filter of what they are looking for and what
they are not looking for. And to pass that filter,
your resume should be simple. No photos, no complex
design. and with a lot of keywords matching because
adapting your resume to each job opportunity
is a non -negotiable but for others who are applying
directly through a contact through a concrete
email address you can still remain creative especially
especially especially if you're targeting a creative
or innovative field so now let's talk about your
situation whether you have that mandatory apprenticeship
internship to do or you who can do it doesn't
have to but i would highly recommend that you
seize that opportunity and as i said here are
the two main behaviors i want you to remember
as you go through the whole process first don't
give up i'm sure if you're listening you've actually
already been through it and you've only been
ghosted or you have received you've just received
rejections emails actually understanding what
was happening and what went wrong with your application
but if it's draining you my advice here would
be to set daily weekly application quotas because
it's not a marathon because it's a marathon it's
not a sprint so you need to still remain consistent
with your application right so the second thing
is I would invite you to remain flexible in the
type of opportunities you're applying for. Because
if at this stage you can't find exactly what
you want, that's not a problem. Look for the
closest opportunity. The goal here, during that
experience, it's not going to be life -changing.
It's not going to be teaching you everything
that you need to know for your future job. However,
the goal is to develop skills and enrich your
resume if you get that opportunity that is not
exactly aligned with what you hope for you can
steer your task toward what what interests you
you can you can push your job description towards
something else it will only depend on how flexible
your team is in letting you in discovering more
okay Let's move on to strategies you can adopt.
Here are three suggestions. But remember, there
is plenty of advice online from HR professionals,
experts and students themselves who are in your
situation, who have landed apprenticeships, internships,
their first jobs. So I would suggest to spend
10 -15 minutes a day learning from them, especially
if your career goals are very clear. So the first
strategy you can look into is mobilizing the
school -university network. Talk to the people
who are working within your university, the school's
corporate relation or internship office. They
often have leads, contacts or feedback from former
students. And if the timing is on your side,
sometimes they can direct you directly through
job offers they receive themselves or even to
students who want to pass on that opportunities
they've just finished. And the second thing is
LinkedIn being your best ally. And my suggestion
here is to spend more time on LinkedIn than any
other network. And for LinkedIn, here are four
ways to maximize your chances. First, search
for internships using keywords and your preferred
location directly on the search bar. The second
thing is reach out to alumni. people who graduated
from your school or program for advice or referrals
and try to be as smooth as possible not to make
it too obvious that you would highly appreciate
some support there people are mostly caught up
in their lives and when you're getting too straightforward
in asking for help without introducing yourself
without asking questions without asking for advice
some people can feel like it's a little bit too
much So test it out. If it doesn't work with
one person, try another and try another and try
another. The obvious third step is looking into
all the offers that LinkedIn has. And lastly,
if you have identified a bunch of companies,
but they're not hiring, just reach out to one
of their employees and don't ask for an internship
or an apprenticeship directly. Instead, again,
here, ask for advice. An example can be, hi,
my name is XYZ and I'm a 2026 student in this
program. Your career inspires me. Do you have
five or ten minutes to spare to answer some of
my questions? Because I would love to work in
the same field. I would love to land a similar
role. Anything that comes to mind which shows
how... not only interested you are in the job
but also in the person and the first strategy
is to don't forget about those responsive contacts
anyone who has been supportive responsive to
get back to them ask for advice again ask for
contacts ask for interview tips and follow up
once or twice if it's needed And the bonus strategy
that I will add here is don't overlook opportunities
abroad, especially if you're currently living
in Europe. Some internships are well paid and
programs like Erasmus can help you financially.
If after all the hard work you've put in this,
you've managed to land that interview, congratulations
first. This is incredible. And think about it
like this. If they are calling you for an interview,
it means that they are highly interested in your
profile. So let's build that confidence, but
also let's prepare rigorously. First, know everything
about the company. Know the company inside out.
Their values, their mission, their LinkedIn updates,
every single thing you can find. Try to read
it once. Try to build these cheat sheets. where
if throughout the day ahead of your interview
you're thinking about their values you're able
to just list them directly on the spot the second
thing is use your network if you contacted someone
at the company ask for interview tips or insights
about what the recruiter expects essentially
the third point and i could not recommend it
more is prepare with ai feed it the job description
and ask ai to share with you a couple of questions
you can potentially expect and it will give you
more detailed questions beyond why this company
why you why are you interested and if the internship
is abroad be ready to explain why that country
why that city and why you And I do have a fourth
point, and this is absolutely optional, but that
can be a game changer. To bring example of your
past work, you bring your portfolio if your job
is highly creative. And to be even more impactful,
talk about initiatives you could propose during
the internship. So in summary, you need to prioritize
optimizing your resume and LinkedIn profile.
the second thing you need to adopt the right
behaviors then to use one of those strategies
to move forward and then prepare rigorously as
much as possible for the interviews you cannot
imagine how many people are coming unprepared
so if you do come prepared this is going to be
a game changer so above all stay proactive stay
persistent Every application, every contact,
every interview is a step forward to the internship
that is meant for you. I wish you all the best.
I know it's difficult. Thank you for tuning in
today. I cannot wait to share next week episode
with you. In the meantime, have a lovely week
and I'll speak to you very soon. And don't forget
to put five stars to the podcast wherever you're
listening to it and give it a follow.