How to grab an International Internship?
Quite often we come across students who went abroad, not as a family trip from their own pockets, but for an academic/educational work or for some project under a professor. Basically, they go for an international internship.
Through this article, I’m going to take you on the path where you’ll end up landing yourself an international internship. But first let me introduce myself.
I’m Tanmay, a recent graduate of Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I did a summer internship in Singapore after my 3rd year which led me to an another internship in the same university the next semester. So, by the end of my B. Tech. degree, I spent 9 months in Singapore for my internship, which is equivalent to 2 semesters.
So, the big question… How I got an internship abroad? Well, the whole process is an amalgamation of lot of diverse inputs from different angles packed in a single Text.
So, yes, you got that right! The above mentioned ‘Text’ is an E-MAIL. Yes, one email and there you go with an offer for a fully-funded foreign trip :).
Now, let’s quickly board the spaceship and get all our things right before we take-off. Beware! Buckle up your seat belts because it’s going to be a roller-coaster ride for most of you.
My journey was no less than a roller-coaster ride before I finally landed my Internship. And I do want to emphasize this fact that there is no hard rule to follow, but you only learn when you try and make mistakes.
And here I go with my Tips & Tricks for your emails to your prospective supervisor:
Contents: Email should be very crisp and precise. It should contain your introduction, your major and year of study, your area of interest, your one major project explained very briefly, the main outcome of that main project, and how you can contribute to the professor’s research group. At last, attach your updated CV/Resume only (unless asked somewhere to attach a cover letter too).
Search relevant professors: 1000s of universities and where to search? Always try to search according to your areas of interest. Start with any university abroad, go to the page of your relevant major and look for professors relevant to your field.
Read the webpage of Professor: Go through the webpage of each professor and know what he/she is currently working upon, and what are his/her areas of interest. You should always mail people relevant to your field of interest. No point in sending a Semi-Conductor expert an email related to Website Development :P
How to improve chances of your mail be read by them? Professors are very busy. Trust me guys, they receive 100s of email related to their projects every day. The trick is to always email them based on their time-zone and morning office timings. For ex: I mailed my Singapore prof. at 6:30 AM (Indian Standard Time) which is 9:00 AM (Singapore Time). This assured that my email will be among the recent ones in his inbox.
Use your institute’s email address: I’d always recommend to be professional while emailing to professors. If you have an email something like name@college.ac.in, use that because it is always better than coolguyrocks@xmail.com :P
Use a catchy subject line: I’ve heard from my college days that mails with general subject lines gets filtered automatically. No idea if it’s true always, but why not use a subject line as “Prospective internship in XYZ field” :)
No Copy-Paste job please! In my 2nd year of undergrad, I sent general emails to more than 500+ profs across globe and got only 2 positive replies. In 3rd year, I sent PERSONALIZED emails to around 70 profs outside India, and got 5 positive replies. Personalized Email is the key.
Use of proper salutation: Instead of general “Respected Sir/Mam”, you may use “Dear Prof. ABC” or “Dear Professor”.
Conclude your email by asking a question something like: “Do you have a vacancy in your research group?”. This somehow will fetch you a reply if the whole email is read.
Have patience: Lastly, always have patience. Professors are 10x more busy than you. If you strongly feel that you are an apt match to be an intern under some prof., don’t hesitate to drop him a gentle reminder for your previous mail after 2-3 weeks.
Please note that above points are based on my learning during this process and these doesn’t guarantee an internship. However, it will surely help you to hit the Bull’s Eye. Also, this whole post was more related to research internships abroad but above rules may apply in general too.
Happy Mailing :)
PS: Do let me know if this blog post helped you to grab an Internship :)
If you have any suggestions, you are most welcome to comment/message/email me. I'll put them on this post.
