Navigating the Internship Landscape

Internships provide you not only with experience but also with a new network of people to connect with. In certain ways believe an internship can be more powerful than school in that you gain hands on experience that can never be taught in a classroom. Recently, I have been on the hunt for a summer internship. In this post, I’d like to share my thoughts on the process and what I am looking for.

Last summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Roots Realty Co an investor focused real estate agent start-up. I really enjoyed the experience and learned so much. The internship turned into a paid part time position that I could continue doing while in school. Overall, the internship was great but I am seeking out a new one for this upcoming summer. This summer I want to intern somewhere in the development sector of real estate. I do not have an exact job in mind but I am really interested in this line of work.

The Search Process

While doing some research I found an article from the Indianapolis Business Journal that listed the largest commercial real estate developers with offices in my town. I went through this list and found the ones that I was interested in. I searched for what the company did and who made up the organization. I ended up reaching out via email to a number of these companies asking for an internship possibility this summer.

Through this original list, I also found that some of these companies themselves were hiring for summer interns. I went ahead and filled out the applications for these companies.

Another way that I found companies was by going on Zillow. Because I am interested in development, I looked for newly built homes and contacted the businesses that were building the homes. I found some small luxury builders and large scale builders of neighborhoods. 

Overall, I have found this search process to be very eye opening. It is quite the task to seek out a new internship but I have faced it head on. I never knew how many commercial and residential businesses there were in my city! It was really neat to get an understanding of this information and I feel confident that I will land an internship with one of them. I am excited for the future and all of the experiences that I will gain through an internship.