It seems like everyone’s chasing one.

Internships offer valuable experience without a binding contract. This could be because they help ease you into the often unprecedented reality of the workplace, or the fact that they offer those who take on the challenge a way to essentially shop around in different industries.

1. Keep an open mind!

As a rule of thumb, though background knowledge and skill sets are major pluses in your favour, you aren’t expected to know too much when you come in as an intern. Just don’t pick a field you have no knowledge of!

For example, if you know nothing about banking and finance, maybe you shouldn’t attempt an internship at a bank. On the flip side, if you’ve demonstrated skill in photography and editing software, then interning for an advertising/branding company or a magazine’s design team would be a good idea.

2. Narrow it down

Once you’ve figured out what field you want to test out, go ahead and research relevant companies. Although some may not advertise it, many will accept the extra set of hands that an intern offers.

In Jeddah’s creative industry alone, I’ve found that 77 Media, The Loft, The Agency, Milk Design and Destination KSA all offer internships. A little bit more digging and asking around amounts to a plethora of information you wouldn’t have otherwise found. And, in the interest of spreading risk, I would recommend applying to more than one internship, just in case you may not be offered a spot in one of the companies.

3. To start it off:

Unless there is an outlined application process, you should send an email to the company expressing your interest and putting forward a little bit of what you have to offer. You will usually be given a template to fill out with your information, which you should do with maximum accuracy.

4. The thick of it:

A resumé is a one-page (single-sided) document that summarizes your academic and work accomplishments, and is arguably the most important part of your application.

Know the general idea: your resume is split into sections: education background, work experience, volunteer work, and skills: this is where you can list the languages you speak, your communication skills, or how good you are at using excel. They can be ordered as you like, just keep it structured!