How to Land the Ultimate Internship

The job market is tough- this we know. Every day at Fleishman-Hillard, we receive requests from students and recent graduates asking about internship opportunities. With so many people reaching out to us, it takes a little more to stand out. What can you do to impress and, hopefully, get that kick-starter internship?

Bring your CV and cover letter to life

Your only experience may be waitressing at Spur and accolades of that U17 hockey B team captain badge you once wore, but when we’re looking for a new intern we know we’re not hiring experience. When bringing on first time hires, we almost always hire the person that shows the most enthusiasm and passion for our industry. A little disappointing for top performers, but we are yet to hire someone based on their marks.

Check your spelling, then check your typos, then check everything again

About 80% of all CVs that we receive for internships contain spelling errors. It’s a quick no decision on all resumes with obvious mistakes. Always print out your CV, and get someone else to check it.

It’s almost impossible to make a great impression in a Word document

We want connected recruits who understand the multimedia messaging formats we work across. Whilst delivering your CV to us in Word doc is a lot easier to file, a catchy video interview, interactive CV website, infographic or Pinterest CV are certainly more memorable. When sifting through hundreds of CVs, the ones that are built to resemble a Facebook page, or delivered to our office in a pizza box for example, really stand out.

We invest in people- don’t forget to occasionally be a human

We love to spend our day with like-minded bright people so be sure to let down your guard a little if you make it to an interview. We want to get to know the personality behind the CV that caught our attention.

Doing research beforehand means a bit more than reading our website

We’ve read our website. Reciting it word by word hasn’t secured a position yet. Being able to articulate the bigger picture on what we do, has.

Internships are hard work, but no matter the involvement, they offer priceless learning experiences. We are always on the lookout for great talent in communications, public relations, marketing and digital media. Feel free to send us your cover letter and motivation on our internships page http://v1.fleishman.co.za/careers/internships/.

*Note submissions are only accepted on our online portal at this stage. We read and attempt to respond to every submission.