How to Find a Job or Internship Guide
How to Find a Job or Internship Guide is a Villanova Career Center resource that helps students search for jobs, internships, externships, research opportunities, leadership programs, graduate school opportunities, entrepreneurial ventures, and other professional experiences. The guide explains that a successful search takes planning, intention, effort, and a strategic approach.
This resource focuses on three major parts of the search process:
- Understanding what resources are available
- Understanding the realities and challenges of the modern online job and internship search
- Learning how to use resources and networking strategically to reach career goals
Top online resources for finding opportunities include:
- Handshake: Villanova’s career management platform for jobs, internships, career fairs, events, employer contact information, and opportunities specifically targeting Villanova students.
- CareerShift: A platform that searches opportunities across company job sites and major job boards, while also providing contact information for professionals at companies of interest.
- LinkedIn: A key platform for finding jobs and internships, connecting with recruiters, searching Villanova alumni, learning about career paths, and building a professional network.
- Career Connections: A Villanova resource that shares career education content, curated jobs and internships, events, resources, and contacts based on industry or identity interests.
- Interstride: A platform designed for international students and students interested in living or working abroad.
The guide explains three realities of the modern job and internship search:
The hidden job market
Many opportunities are filled through networking and personal or professional connections before they are ever posted publicly. Because of this, students should not rely only on submitting online applications.
Applicant Tracking System technology
Many employers use ATS software to scan resumes for keywords from the job description. Students should tailor their resumes to each position and include relevant skills, qualifications, and requirements from the posting when those experiences honestly apply.
Recruiting timelines vary by industry
Different industries recruit on different schedules. Business and engineering roles often recruit earlier, during summer or fall, while fields such as marketing, entertainment, and sports may recruit later in spring or early summer. Students can meet with Industry Advisors for help understanding the timeline for their field.
Strategies for success include:
- Grow your network through career conversations and informational interviews
- Connect with alumni, professionals, recruiters, and people working in fields of interest
- Follow up with recruiters after submitting applications
- Ask personal connections or Villanova alumni about roles or companies of interest
- Use Nova Network to connect with Villanova alumni by location, industry, company, and more
- Attend career fairs, employer information sessions, coffee chats, networking events, meetups, and industry events
- Use Career Connections Industry Pathways and Handshake Events to find opportunities
- Optimize resumes for ATS by including relevant job description keywords
- Use Big Interview’s Resume AI feature to compare a resume with a job description and identify ways to strengthen alignment
- Find a company contact after applying and follow up professionally
- Use LinkedIn, CareerShift, Handshake, and Career Center Industry Advisors to identify contacts
- Stay consistent and persistent throughout the search process
The guide reminds students not to rely on only one job search strategy. A strong search includes multiple tools and relationships, including Handshake, LinkedIn, CareerShift, Career Connections, Nova Network, the Career Center, professional associations, professors, alumni, recruiters, and past internship contacts.
Students can use this guide to build a structured search plan, improve their application materials, increase their visibility with employers, make stronger connections, and approach the job or internship search with more confidence and direction.
