Internship crazy? A how-to guide on applying to internships for Cardiff students

Internship application season is officially upon us, with job ads popping up everywhere and Cardiff students frantically churning out cover letters.

Yes, they are a pain to apply for, but when you get that successful interview email it all feels worth it. Internships are a great way to boost your CV, gain some real-world industry experience and figure out what you could do with your degree.

Lots of companies offer full-time summer internships or, alternatively, internships that coincide with your studies. There are so many opportunities out there, so make sure you start having a look early – especially if you’re in second year. But, if you have no clue where to start, here is a how-to guide on applying for internships.

1. Explore potential job sectors

The first thing you’re going to want to do is focus on a few careers that interest you. This can seem overwhelming as there are millions of opportunities and thousands of jobs you’ve never even heard of. So, let’s break it down.

Firstly, you could visit the National Careers Service to browse through all available jobs. To filter your search, click on your relevant job sectors, which are listed on the right-hand side. Hopefully, this gives you an idea of keywords to use when searching job titles for internships.

If you need more inspiration, find your specific degree course on Bright Network and filter by topics and industries to find something that might appeal to you. Don’t feel pressured to go into the big corporate companies, though it’s a good idea to apply for both larger and smaller firms.

2. Finding an internship to apply for

Most Read

Exposed: The MAFS UK 2025 cast who already have new partners since the show

The Selling Sunset cast members who have actually sold the most and least houses

‘Gay Bonnie Blue’ drops teaser for extreme 1,000 bottoms stunt, and this guy is first in the queue

Now that you know what job roles you’re looking for, it’s time to hunt them down. When you’re searching on any website, don’t forget to filter the results to “internships” so that the permanent and full-time options don’t come up – no uni student has time for that.

You should also filter searches based on your current qualification level, otherwise you might feel a little intimidated by all of the post-grad job adverts.

Here are the best ways to find internships:

Cardiff Student Futures

You can log in to Cardiff Student Futures using your normal university log in and it will give you access to internship advertisements approved by Cardiff Uni. Go to the “Jobs Board” page and then filter to find internships. These adverts are great as they give you lots of information on how to work the internship around your studies and relate the desired experience from the employer to the experience you’ve gained in your course.

Indeed

Notorious for job hunting, but did you know Indeed also hosts internship vacancies? Search your keywords, location, job type, availability and qualifications and browse through loads of available internships. Indeed is especially good at using filters to specify your search and has lots of large, reputable companies using the platform to advertise to you.

Email companies

If there’s a specific company you want to work for and you can’t find an internship advertised for them, don’t be afraid to email them directly. Most companies will have a business email, or you can find specific workers such as the manager, HR director or employer manager to contact directly. Scour the company’s website and contact information, but if this isn’t helpful, head to LinkedIn to do some stalking. Most companies will have an account there, and their employees too.

Then, email the relevant staff with a friendly message explaining that you would love to join them for work experience or an internship if it suits them – don’t forget to sell yourself and focus on what you have to offer the company, not just what the company has to offer you.

Attach your CV and cover letter to the email and await a reply. Sending follow up emails after a week is fine, but don’t spam their inboxes, as this will give you a bad reputation with them for the future.

3. Perfect your CV

After all that digging, we hope you’ve found at least a few internships you want to apply for. Finding one internship is good progress, but applying for multiple at once will boost your chances of being successful.

Here is all the information that should appear on your CV in order:

• Name, address, contact information, reference’s email address
• A short personal statement explaining who you are, what you do and what you want to do
• Your qualifications, including your expected degree level
• Your skills related to the jobs you’re interested in
• Your experience, relevant to the sector you’re interested in
• Hobbies that would be interesting to an employer

Top Tip: Use bullet points to format your CV. This doesn’t need to be a narrative document; a few short bullet points will help the employer see your information more clearly, and it will be more memorable.

Also, save your CV document as your first and last name to avoid the employer losing or mistaking your document for someone else’s.

You can check your CV’s effectiveness on Career Set via Student Futures+, which will give you tips on how to improve the tone, layout and content of your CV line by line. Can you score 100 per cent?

4. Write a cover letter

Another important document to write when applying for internships is a cover letter. You should write these individually for each internship you apply for, directly addressing them to the company you’re applying to.

Key information on your cover letter should show:

• Who you are
• Where you saw the internship advertised
• Why you want to work for this specific company
• Why the company would benefit from having you as an intern
• Thank them for their time and sign off professionally

Now, you’re officially ready to apply for the internships that you found. Most of the time you can apply directly through the website where you found the role, or it might redirect you to the company’s website. Alternatively, you can email all of your information to the employer’s email address.

5. Prepare for interviews

You’ve followed all of the previous steps and you’ve officially scored an interview! No need to panic, now is your opportunity to really show off your talents and personality. Dress formally, practice EVERYTHING – even your handshake. If it’s an online interview, get comfortable with the platform they have chosen to host the interview on before the big day, so that you can feel in control and at ease.

Notes will be really helpful to have during an interview – but don’t forget, they already have your CV in front of them, so try not to repeat all of the points you’ve made on there already. If you do, expand on them and use specific examples of times where you’ve learnt relevant skills to the job at hand.

6. Keep the process going

You might not be successful on your first try but an application is never a waste of time – all experience is good experience. The right internship for you is just around the corner.

Don’t be disheartened if all of your uni friends are applying for the same internship; many of them offer more than one place and somebody has got to get it – why not you?

Keep researching job roles, finding advertised internships, improving your CV, writing specialised cover letters and showing up to the interviews. It’s a long process but it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck on securing your internships!