As any particularly driven Carleton student who attended the Career Jam five years ago is certain to know, the application cycle for most summer 2025 internships is closing in approximately forty-five minutes as of 21:34 PM Monday night. (If you’re reading this, it’s too late.) Remaining internships include, and are limited to, below-entry positions for the company that your uncle worked at seven years ago. Housing, pay, breaks, work tasks and letters of recommendation are not provided, though exceptional interns may follow said company on LinkedIn. In order to apply to these, you will need a cover letter, 8-10 character references and a background check. Yes, a background check, in case your intentions towards this social media intern position are impure.
But if you’ve somehow missed this application window, there are still many other ways to fill your summer break and resume. Consider returning to the volunteer organization you did for National Honor Society hours, begging to have your summer job that pays twice the wage of your campus job back, or doing as your parents advise you and just calling a local business up. Download the LinkedIn app to your phone, upload your headshot from that Career Center event two terms ago and begin crafting impressive posts about your accomplishments (professionally worded descriptions of your extracurriculars and hobbies) thus far for the 27 other Carls who you’ve never met and zero actual employers to see. Alternatively, there’s doom-scrolling Instagram reels or generally wandering around the grounds of your high school to relive equally stressful periods of your life while listening to “Landslide” (but only the Chicks cover).
Another productive use of your time would be to prepare for the 2026 internship cycle, which you’re already behind on, by the way. With many requesting two to three years of work experience and/or a master’s degree in the field you just discovered an interest in, there just might be time to bolster your resume as an undergraduate. Just kidding! The field that you’re interested in isn’t hiring and is, in fact, a dying sector in which your best bets are to aim for a position in academia or an obscure think tank, but there are plenty of options for those interested in Epic or Amazon Warehouse.
The internship market is your oyster! It’s at a historic low and dwindling to the point of reaching endangerment! But there are some hidden pearls out there, if you look hard enough. The process of crafting a resume, writing a tailored cover letter and researching a company in preparation for the many interview offers you will receive can help you build life skills that will serve you well. And, even if an organization decides that you’re not the candidate they’re looking for, the real person who thoroughly reviewed your application will always promptly get back to you with a personalized message detailing why they chose to move forward with someone else, and likely even advise you on how to improve your job applications in the future.
It may only be 4th Week of Fall Term, but it’s never too late to begin thinking about your (next) summer plans. Best of luck, Carls!
