9 Steps to Find an Internship that Offers Housing

Finding an internship offers you an increased chance for success at the onset of your career. Many people underestimate the incredible opportunities afforded by this type of work situation.

The truth is that interning with a good company can set you up for many amazing possibilities down the road.

Interning gives you hands-on work experience. It also expands your network, provides top-level mentoring opportunities, and gives you insider access to the industry you’re looking to make a career in.

But here’s the thing.

Most full-time internships either pay very little or nothing at all.

Therefore, finding an internship that also offers housing may be the key to making it all work. And in this guide, you’re going to learn precisely how to do it.

Let’s dive in.

1. Understand That Internships are Challenging to Find

If you’ve never interned before, then this process may feel intimidating at first.

But take a deep breath. You can do it.

The good news is that your college likely has a ton of internship resources that you’ve never even heard about. It’s also true that an internship goes perfectly with many college degrees as a part of a well-rounded education.

So don’t worry. This is just another chapter of your life that you’re more than capable of checking off your to-do list.

And it’ll more than pay for itself as you move forward toward future success.

With all that said, finding the perfect internship can also be stressful. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, rest assured that you’re not the only one.

Getting Started

In this post, you’re going to learn how to go through the process step-by-step.

If you stick with the steps and take it one day at a time, you’ll achieve your college internship goals before you know it.

So let’s move on and talk about the next step in the process.

2. Identify Your Field of Interest

This is the actual first step of the planning phase of getting an internship.

You should be looking at fields you’re interested in for a future career, so try to narrow this down and get specific.

One question to ask yourself is:

• What type of company, and in what industry, would I like to seek a career after college?

Another great question to ask yourself here might be:

• What industry is the best option to shoot for based on the degree I’m planning to get?

One great thing about internships is:

They allow you to discover what you may like or dislike about particular industries, jobs, or career paths. Try to thrust yourself into an internship role where you can experience as many relevant career-oriented opportunities as possible.

You’ll want to sample as much as you can, so you can figure out which parts of the field are definite “yesses” and which parts area big “nope” on your career radar.

3. Identify What Role You Want to Play

Some roles are industry-specific.

But some roles (like being an HR rep, an analyst, a marketing professional, etc.) can span different industries.

Sometimes, focusing on the industry isn’t quite as helpful as figuring out what specific role you want to play throughout your career. So put some thought into this aspect of it as well.

Once you do this, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what internship would best help you achieve your goals, engage your interests, and advance your education.

You may also like: ‘Will This Make Me Happy?’ — Why These 4 Women Made Lateral Career Moves

4. Start Asking Around

Unfortunately, the world of internships is a lot like the wild west. There’s no “central database” for finding the best opportunities.

Sure, you can fire up your internet browser and simply start searching.

But you may be able to shortcut the cold-search approach by finding some “hot leads.”

And some of these leads may be easier to find than you ever would have imagined.

The best way to find internship leads is just to start asking around.

Tap into your network of friends, family members, professors, colleagues, and fellow students to see if they know of any internship opportunities.

Ask:

1. Upperclassmen
2. College faculty/teachers
3. Friends/family members who have business contacts

College Career Centers

Some colleges provide career centers where you can apply for different internships through their databases.

Every college is different in this regard, so it’s essential to talk to your professors and/or career advisors to help you access these resources.

Search By Business

Another method of tracking down potential roles is to find places you’d like to work, then reach out to recruitment contacts within those companies to inquire about internship opportunities.

You can use LinkedIn for this.

Networking for internships in this fashion is a skill set all its own. You can learn a lot about how to do it well in this fantastic video by Alexis Choi.

5. Start Using Job Sites to Look for Opportunities

Besides asking around your networks for opportunity ideas, you should also conduct some pretty in-depth research.

Thankfully, there are quite a few websites that can aid you in this search.

Consider using sites like:

• LinkedIn
• Indeed
• Chegg Internships
• Glassdoor
• Idealist
• Mediabistro
• Global Experiences
• InternQueen
• CoolWorks
• InternAbroadUSA

You can also find sites that cater to your particular field or industry.

6. Start Filtering Options Using Perks/Benefits

Now, this is where it starts to get tricky.

Finding an internship that includes housing as a benefit will mean vetting out internship opportunities that don’t meet your criteria.

When you’re attending college, you likely have access to student housing or campus housing.

But here’s the thing:

That won’t necessarily help you if you plan to take a summer internship in a city halfway across the country.

You’re still going to need a place to live while you work (likely for free) toward your goals for the future.

That’s why it’s such a good idea to look for internships that include a basic range of perks.

Finding an intern Housing Program

If an intern housing program is a benefit you’ll need to make the internship work for you, don’t be afraid to ruthlessly move on from opportunities that don’t offer this.

These types of internships (those that offer housing) aren’t as easy to find — but they’re out there. And with determination, you can find them.

A Possible Alternative: An Intern Housing Allowance

Another possible alternative is to look for an “internship housing allowance.” You can use this benefit to find short-term housing for the duration of your internship program.

Using this approach, you could take advantage of any number of different intern housing options.

(We’ll talk more about some of these options in a moment.)

Watch: Travelers Haven is Solving the Workforce Housing Gap: Video

7. Prepare to Nail Your Application

As you start locating specific internship opportunities that may be a good match for you, you’ll want to start preparing to apply to those positions.

And this is no small task.

You’ll need to create an amazing resume and cover letter to help you stand out from the crowd.

You’ll also want to:

• Have someone review your resume (like an advisor or professor)
• Practice for internship interviews
• Give yourself every possible advantage in proving that you would be the best candidate for whatever internships you apply for

This highly in-depth process deserves serious time, attention, and good old-fashioned elbow grease.

To learn more about how to nail your internship applications, you can read this post by the National Society of Leadership and Success.

8. Keep at it, and Don’t Give up

It may take some time and effort to nail the perfect internship.

At first, you may receive a few rejections.

You may even start to fear that you won’t ever find an internship that’ll help you advance your education and prepare you for your career. But with persistence, hard work, and a bit of ingenuity — you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

If You Believe, You can Achieve

For real, it sounds cliche:

But chance favors the prepared mind.

Start the process early. Spend as much time on it as possible.

Put extra effort into your applications and enrollment letters. Polish them up before turning them in earlier, have a solid resume, and strive to be the best applicant that you can possibly be.

This is for your future, after all, and it’s worth spending quality time on.

You may need to sacrifice some things in your life that you would typically spend time doing. Things like hanging out with friends, going to parties, or traveling.

But it’s worth it.

The right internship could mean the difference between ending up on the night shift at a factory or spending time in the White House — potentially jumpstarting a whirlwind high-profile career.

It really matters. The sky is the limit, so do your best to wake up every day with an “I can do it” mindset.

You’re capable of achieving big things. So keep believing in yourself, and never give up.

9. If You Find an Internship With a Housing Allowance

Suppose your internship is like most summer internship opportunities. In that case, you’ll most likely be living in the area for only a limited time before returning to your college campus to continue your education.

Finding short-term housing living space will become an important step that you’ll need to take seriously to avoid the unwanted hassle.

Using a workforce housing on-demand service like Travelers Haven can go a long way in helping you to find quality housing opportunities. Housing that fits your stipend budget while giving you all the essential amenities to make your stay as comfortable as possible.

Regardless of whether you’re going to need housing in New York City, Washington DC, Orlando, San Francisco, or anywhere in between — Travelers Haven has your back.

Why Consider Travelers Haven?

We use an “on-demand housing” process for the travel workforce to source move-in-ready short-term/corporate housing for remote professionals (or traveling summer interns).

And the best part about it is that we do all the searching and finding for you.

We also handle things like furniture, utilities, equipping the kitchen — we even make sure you’ve got wi-fi!

We take care of the bills, so you only have one simple monthly payment that goes directly to us.

There’s no “laundry list” of bills that you’ll need to keep track of or middleman managers to navigate.

Plus, all of our on-demand housing is pet-friendly.

All you have to do is call us to start the process.

When you call us, we’ll ask some questions to understand what you’re looking for. Then we’ll do a thorough search of the area to find several perfect short-term housing options for you, before calling you back with your best options.

It really couldn’t be easier.

Conclusion

Here at Travelers Haven, we care about college students and interns.

And we know short-term housing.

In fact, it happens to be our specialty.

So if you’re looking at taking that awesome internship and need some help with summer intern housing, please check-in and let us see if we can give you a hand.

It won’t cost you anything extra. And you may even save some money in the process!

Contact Travelers Haven now to get your on-demand housing search started.