Back in December 2019, I saw an internship for Volcom posted on Handshake for the Spring of 2020 that had never felt more perfect for me. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to fit in an internship that semester, so I decided that I was going to be the first one to apply to the same internship in the summer, being that it was still being offered. I contacted the Employer Relations team at the Office of Career and Professional Development to assist me in reaching out to Volcom’s Human Resources team to see if there was any way this internship would be available in the summer.

With their assistance, I spent many days researching the company, researching who worked there, reaching out to them via LinkedIn and consistently keeping up with them to assure that I would get this internship. Eventually, I got a reply and was informed that the internship positions would be posted later in the spring, more towards April, and that I should wait and keep an eye out for them. I did just that.

In the meantime, I had discovered Seavees that had very similar mission statements as my own. I felt a very strong connection to this company and felt that an internship with this company would be just as beneficial, assuming that I was not successful with the other internship. I did the same thing as I did with the first company. I researched, I reached out to employees, conducted informational interviews and got my name on their radar. Throughout the spring semester, I spent at least 20 minutes every day gathering information, following employees on LinkedIn and preparing to blow both companies away when the time came.

Then March hit. 

I was notified that both companies would no longer be able to provide any internship positions

As we received the email that we needed to return home soon, my mind was going in circles. I had so many plans for the rest of the semester that were thrown away in a matter of a 2-minute email. The last thing I wanted was for my summer plans to be changed as well. Eventually, I was notified that both companies would no longer be able to provide any internship positions due to the fact that they were not prepared to offer an internship remotely. By that point, there was only a few weeks before summer and if I wanted an internship, I was going to have to find one and fast. 

I updated my LinkedIn headline to “Looking for an internship for summer 2020” and set notifications on my phone for internship postings that were in my area on LinkedIn.

I got multiple notifications a day, and followed up with multiple applications (definitely too many to count). I also checked my Handshake app every day, both in the morning and night to see if there was anything that seemed of interest to me.

I didn’t feel like wasting my summer binge-watching Netflix shows or watching Tik Tok all day.

Eventually, I hadn’t gotten any replies and it was already the middle of June. By then, most summer internships were beginning and I felt complete defeat. Of course, I never gave up for the rest of the summer, knowing that there were some companies who were starting summer internships later as they were transferring their in-person positions to be remote ones.  

By that time, I didn’t feel like wasting my summer binge-watching Netflix shows or watching Tik Tok all day. I wanted to make the most out of the time I was given, and prove to future companies that I continued to work hard and expand my knowledge despite the circumstances.  

I went to my program evaluation and looked at what classes I still needed to take, that I could possibly do this summer.

I found a few general education and lower-level courses that I felt were best to take over the summer and used Chapman’s guaranteed transfer list (after matriculation) to make sure that all the classes I had chosen at these other schools would transfer in the fall. After looking closely and assuring that I wasn’t going to waste my time, I found two different classes at two different community colleges that were both taught online that were guaranteed to transfer over to Chapman. On top of getting ahead on credits, I also decided to spend a few days out of the week working at my on-campus job, training for a new position (remotely, of course). This way, I was still getting an income, expanding my skills, and strengthening my connections. 

Because of the actions I took this summer, I am now able to graduate an entire year early, or add a second major to my studies. I also have background knowledge on skills that employers often find preferable.

On days that I didn’t work, I spent my days using online resources to expand my knowledge on skills that were considered beneficial for my degree. For those that are curious, I am a Business Administration major with an emphasis in Marketing. There are many different skills that could assist marketing and I wanted to expand my skills for when in-person internships came back. I made a list of programs that could strengthen my resume, as well as topics that were of interest to me, and decided to use LinkedIn Learning to get a better understanding of what the interests consisted of and how certain programs were used. Using LinkedIn Learning, I got to learn about graphic design basics, social media marketing skills, data analytics, and the different programs in Adobe creative cloud. 

 Because of the actions I took this summer, I am now able to graduate an entire year early, or add a second major to my studies. I also have background knowledge on skills that employers often find preferable. 

I think it’s important to remember that even when plans fall through, that doesn’t mean you have met defeat.

It means that you were given the opportunity to do something even better, perhaps learn about something you’ve always had an interest in. Take the risk, jump at every opportunity that is thrown your way, and make the most of your time.