Finding an Analytics Internship

The question, “Have any advice on finding internships?” drew a dozen responses on INFORMS Connect offering great advice, which included some overlap and some contradictions. To help analytics students and early-career professionals searching for internships, the following is an edited version of the best advice along with some additional commentary. (The advice is not directly attributed to the respondents; however, the full list of respondents is provided at the end.)

1. Network!

Networking was mentioned by several respondents as being critical to any job, not just internships. Who you know is often just as important as what you know. Building your network is good advice for finding an internship as well as throughout your career. The challenge to networking is that it takes time to build your own network, so you need to either start well before you begin looking for an internship or leverage the networks of the people you already know. Suggestions for building your network include reaching out to and staying connected with:

• Current and former student colleagues.
• Faculty.
• College or university career services.
• Alumni from your degree program.
• Former employers.
• Members of professional societies, such as INFORMS.

Once you get an internship, don’t abandon maintaining and growing your network. It will become one of your most valuable career assets as you look for other internships, full-time employment, career advice and industry insights.

2. Learn from the process, especially the rejections.

Most people receive many more job rejections than offers throughout their career. The most likely outcome is that you will not hear back from companies where you apply for an internship. Don’t be discouraged; no response is the most common response. That is why networking is so important; it is more likely that you will get a response if you know someone from the organizations at which you are applying, even if that response is a rejection.

Apply to many companies and look at each one as a learning experience. If rejected, don’t be shy about asking for feedback. Feedback, when objective, is always a gift and can help you understand where your weak points are and how you should better prepare for the next opportunity.

3. Be clear to yourself on your goals of the internship.

As one respondent put it, “be a smart shopper.” It is important for you to establish goals, with perhaps the most obvious being whether your primary motivation is experience or pay. Some students depend on an internship to help fund school expenses. Ideally, you could find a well-paying internship in your field, but that is not always the case. Future employers will understand, and appreciate, people who have taken jobs to help fund their education.

If experience is more of a motivation than pay, you can be more selective in where you apply or perhaps even take an unpaid position. In this case, you should consider how this internship will advance your career goals. Do you want to work in a specific industry to gain a deeper understanding of issues in that industry? Do you want to be part of a large analytics team to see how they are structured and what they do on a day-to-day basis? Would you prefer a startup to see if you would like to pursue full-time employment at a smaller company? Is there a specific company you have in mind for a full-time job, such that your goal is landing an internship in any department as a foot in the door?

Be clear to yourself on what you hope to achieve from the internship and use that to better focus your search.

4. Be open to an internship in any industry versus focusing on a specific industry.

The respondents provided some contradictory advice on this topic regarding limiting your search to a specific industry. An argument in favor of not limiting yourself to a specific industry or position is the obvious fact that fewer constraints create broader internship opportunities. An argument in favor of limiting your search to a specific industry is that a future hiring manager looking at your resume can see a logical progression and commitment to that industry.

This apparent contradiction is not really a contradiction. The key goes back to being clear to yourself on your goals for the internship. If your preferred industry is aviation, for example, an internship in retail might appear to be a poor fit. However, interning in an analytics group at a retail company will give you insights that you can bring to an analytics group at an airline or aviation supplier. Think about how you would describe your internship on your resume, both in terms of your contributions and how the knowledge you gained can benefit another company, even if that other company is in a completely different industry.

5. Apply, even if you don’t perfectly match a job description.

Some people are more reluctant than others to apply for positions for which they are “mostly” qualified. I suspect that more logically minded people tend to self-eliminate potential opportunities because they feel they don’t check all the boxes. When a company advertises for a position, intern or full time, they often describe the ideal candidate. That ideal candidate may not exist, or you may have valuable skills they did not consider. Many companies cannot find enough technically skilled people and will be interested in “mostly qualified” candidates or candidates that can expand the position in ways not originally considered. Let the company reject you; don’t reject yourself. If you’re not sure, put in that application! 

6. International students face additional challenges.

It has always been tougher for international students to find internships, but the situation has become worse in the U.S. as guidelines continue to change depending on which political party is in power. Advice to international students includes:

• Target companies listed in the E-verify program. E-verify enrollment is a good signal that a company is willing to work with international students.
• Be upfront and honest about your situation. Being offered an internship and having it later rescinded due to your lack of communication or information will stop any future opportunities you may have had with that company.
• Apply a lot, apply everywhere and don’t bother tailoring the applications too much.

We welcome all students and early-career professionals to join the Analytics Society to foster relationships, create networks and gain more advice like this! Visit https://connect.informs.org/analytics/home.

Source. This article was compiled by Dave Hunt. The original question was posed by INFORMS staff member Jill Capello on INFORMS Connect. The respondents include (in alphabetical order) Murray Cote, Ken Fordyce, Bruce Hartman, Aaron Hussey, Duncan Klett, Moses Miller, Shannon Shang, Cole Smith, Yulia Vorotyntseva and Segev Wasserkrug. Thanks to Jill and all the respondents.