Finding an internship: where placements actually come from
Quick answer
Six routes to a placement, ranked by how often they work, and how to approach each without paying anyone for access.
Placements come from a small number of sources, and almost everyone over-invests
in the least productive one. Knowing which route you are using tells you how to
behave on it.
One: your institution’s placement office
Usually the most reliable route and the only one your institution formally
endorses. Its value is not that it has the best listings but that it knows which
employers have taken students before, which is information nobody else has.
Use it even if you are applying elsewhere, and go early. The useful question is
not “what have you got” but “which employers took students from my programme last
year, and who should I contact there”.
Two: direct application to employers you chose
Find organisations whose work you actually want to be near, and write to them
whether or not they advertise internships. Many do not, because the process is
informal and nobody maintains a page for it.
Small organisations and non-profits are disproportionately worth approaching:
they often have real work and no applicant pipeline. The message that works is
specific — what you can do, and which part of their work you want to be involved
in — rather than a description of your own qualities.
Three: alumni and personal contact
Effective and underused. Someone who did your programme and now works somewhere
relevant can tell you whether the organisation takes interns and who decides. Ask
for information, not for a job: the second ask is easier once the first has been
answered.
Four: advertised listings and job boards
Useful for volume, poor for signal. Listings aggregate, so the same placement
appears in five places and looks like five opportunities. Apply, but do not
conclude the market is thin because the listings are.
Five: paid placement schemes
The category that needs the most care. Some are legitimate service businesses —
they arrange accommodation, language tuition or introductions and charge for it.
Others sell access to a placement that was never going to be refused.
The distinguishing question is whether the employer is paying for you or you are
paying them. In a legitimate internship the employer bears the cost. Where the
candidate pays, the organisation’s incentive is to collect fees rather than to
place people well.
Signals to treat as decisive: a guarantee of placement, testimonials instead of
contactable former interns, a fee quoted only verbally, and pressure to pay before
any organisation has been approached.
Six: competitions, projects and open-source work
Not internships, and often more useful than a bad one. A competition entry or a
contribution to a real project gives you something to show and something to talk
about in an interview, and neither depends on someone else’s decision to let you
in.
Why the placement office knows things nobody else does
Its value is institutional memory: which employers took students from your
programme, which supervisors were good, which placements turned into offers, and
which organisations quietly stopped taking interns. That knowledge is not on any
website and it does not expire quickly.
The reason to use it is not politeness. A placement office that has sent three
students to an organisation knows whether it is worth your term; a listings site
knows only that the role exists.
Applying to a small organisation
Small organisations behave differently from large ones in ways worth knowing.
There is usually no internship programme, no application system, and no fixed
deadline — which means your message lands in a person’s inbox and is judged on
its own merits rather than against a framework.
The message that works in that setting is short and specific: what you can do,
which of their projects prompted you to write, and what you are asking for. Do
not send a general CV with no body text; those are read as bulk and deleted as
bulk.
Expect silence. Small organisations often cannot respond to everyone, and a single
follow-up after ten days is appropriate rather than pushy.
Volume, and why more applications is not better
A person sending forty identical applications is running a lottery and will be
treated as one. A person sending eight tailored ones is doing something harder and
gets a better response rate per application.
The compromise that works: build a small list of organisations you actually want,
write properly to those, and use advertised listings as a supplement rather than
the main channel.
How to approach each
For a chosen employer: one page, specific, naming the work. For an advertised
role: follow the instructions exactly, because the first filter is whether you
did. For a contact: ask a question they can answer in two minutes.
Whatever the route, keep a record of who you contacted and when. A follow-up
after ten days is normal and often effective, and you cannot send one if you have
forgotten what you said.
What to establish before accepting
A written description of the work, a named supervisor, the dates and hours, and
whether the arrangement is paid. If it is unpaid, the conditions that make that
lawful depend on where you are — see
unpaid internships
and the law.
The application documents themselves are covered in
applications and
interviews.
Questions students ask
Where do most internships actually come from?
Institution placement offices and direct approaches to chosen employers. Advertised listings produce volume but much of the same role appears in several places, so they look more plentiful than they are.
Is a paid placement scheme worth it?
Only if the fee buys something real such as accommodation, tuition or introductions. The test is whether the employer pays for you or you pay them; in a genuine internship the employer bears the cost.
Should I apply to organisations that do not advertise internships?
Yes. Many take interns without maintaining a listing, and small organisations and non-profits in particular often have real work and no applicant pipeline.
Common questions
Where do most internships actually come from?
Institution placement offices and direct approaches to chosen employers. Advertised listings produce volume but much of the same role appears in several places, so they look more plentiful than they are.
Is a paid placement scheme worth it?
Only if the fee buys something real such as accommodation, tuition or introductions. The test is whether the employer pays for you or you pay them; in a genuine internship the employer bears the cost.
Should I apply to organisations that do not advertise internships?
Yes. Many take interns without maintaining a listing, and small organisations and non-profits in particular often have real work and no applicant pipeline.