My name is Anjali Maniar, and I am a rising sophomore at Chapman University, graduating in May 2024. I am majoring in business administration with an emphasis in finance. I am interning at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) starting this summer and continuing throughout the school year.

What excites me most about this internship is that I have the opportunity to contribute to a greater mission. I enjoy working in finance, and interning at JPL will teach me how a large organization operates on the business and finance side. 

I was looking for internships for a couple of months, searching on LinkedIn, and looking for opportunities through the Career Center. My strategy was to think of companies that I would like to work at, interested in, and passionate about. I would search if they were taking interns, and through this search, I found my current role on LinkedIn!

One piece of advice that I would give to students looking for an internship is to use LinkedIn to their advantage. Connect with everyone you know and meet, engage on posts and be active. Search for opportunities that align with your career goals, and go in with an open mind. LinkedIn will send you recommendations on the type of jobs you search for, so it makes your internship search a little easier. Also, if you see an open position, apply as soon as possible, as some companies close their postings after they receive a certain number of applications. In the end, the most important part is not to give up!