By Abby Gohl
When it comes to getting jobs, it’s pretty common knowledge that in this day and age it’s all about who you know. Even though I have been told this for as long as I can remember, I didn’t truly grasp this idea until I started searching for jobs myself.
When I was looking for my first internship during my sophomore year, I was met with many challenges. It seemed as though every internship that I was interested in only accepted juniors and seniors. I even made it through the interview process of a company before they realized I was a sophomore and told me I was no longer eligible for the position.
Over time, the constant rejection left me feeling defeated. I worried I wouldn’t be able to find a position. All the while, I continued to use everyday encounters to look for possible job connections. A friend of my Dad’s that I had met in the fall at a husker game gave me a contact for an agency that his daughter-in-law worked at. Even though I didn’t personally know her, I was able to contact her and set up a meeting. Initially, the agency had no intentions of hiring an intern. When I reached out, they realized they really could use for me for the summer, and I ended up snagging one of the best first internships I could have asked for.
All of this started because of a conversation at a Husker football game with someone I barely knew. This taught me that connections don’t have to be your closest companions, but can be other professionals that want to help you succeed. These connections can bring incredible opportunities you may not have been able to have without them. This lesson has resonated with me as I continue to seek out other internships and full-time positions. Every internship or job I have received since then has started with a connection in some capacity.
My advice for anyone looking for an internship is to not be afraid of asking professors, friends, coworkers or even distant acquaintances for connections to a job or company. Use your time in college to build a wide network of professionals because you never know when they will become useful in the future. The power of connections is real, and could be the reason you get the dream job you’ve always wanted.