Advice from Past Externs and Sponsors on Selecting and Applying for Externships

The Cornell Extern Program provides a glimpse of the daily life in a Cornellian?s workplace. Activities may include a tour of the organization, a meeting or lunch with other Cornellians, a hands-on-career-related project or task or discussing how they made their career decisions or changed directions during their career.

Taking into account your specific interests, strengths and goals while browsing a variety of externships will help you to find an externship that suits you. The offerings are diverse, and it is possible to find more than one that interests you. By thinking about what you want to gain from an externship, you will be able to examine what each has to offer to you and how it will help you to expand your interest in and exposure to a career field of your choice. (If there are no listings in your geographic area or career field, speak with the Extern staff about the possibility of identifying an alumnus for you.)

In order to help you make the most of your externship experience, outlined below are some tips and advice from former externs and alumni sponsors to help guide your listings review and selection.  More specific information about individual externships can be found in the Snapshot of Externship Experience notebooks located in the Career Library, 103 Barnes Hall.

Applications Process: Start Early & Consider Many Fields/Areas

• Be open-minded to different careers that look interesting and appealing.
• Don?t confine yourself to searching only categories you think you?ll be interested in. I searched by the geographic area and found a great externship under a category I normally wouldn?t have checked.
• Follow the suggested calendar and timeline carefully ? it was extremely helpful to be efficient and plan everything.
• Don?t wait until you are a senior to try out an externship!
• The externship program provides a valuable way for a student to gain experience in his or her chosen field; however, make sure that before signing up for one that you have realistic goals.
• I found that it took me a long time to select which externship I wanted to apply for (so many choices), so I suggest for students to start early.

Keep Time & Travel Costs In Mind

• The main thing is to be realistic about other time commitment; realize it is your vacation, so you should really want to do it.
• Know where you are going and, if possible, find out if anyone else is going where you are going; it makes the experience more enjoyable.
• Travel costs are a big factor and must be considered before starting. Make sure you know exactly how and where you are traveling from and to, i.e. how far are the airports, are there shuttles/subways to where you are staying, estimated travel costs in the city.
• Give serious attention to a timeline of events (contact, travel, stay, food, etc.) to make the externship go smoothly. Be realistic about the amount of time you want to spend there and know what particular things you want to look into at the place of the externship.
• Research the company location to know how you will get to and from the site. Look up bus schedules, etc, and do a ?practice run.?
• It?s probably better for the student to keep larger blocks of time open during the winter break period. My externship was 3 days, but the days were moved around a bit (not consecutive) since the doctor I shadowed had many responsibilities and a different schedule every week.

Research The Organization & Sponsor

• It?s definitely important to do research on the company, because it will help you better understand the company and assist in preparation of questions.  Let the sponsor know you are serious about learning.
• Really read the description of the organization and the sponsor?s job. Gauge your interest level accordingly.
• Keep up with current events in the city.
• Take the time to familiarize yourself with the activities of the company or organization beforehand so you can ask intelligent questions.
• The sponsor is investing a lot of his/her time, and it?s important to invest your time to make the externship the most beneficial.

General Advice From Students

• Make sure that you are committed, because it will hurt you and could hurt the students after you if your company decides not to do the program again due to you canceling or acting inappropriately.
• Be outgoing because many times these organizations cannot devote one person?s day entirely to you. Get to know many people in the office to get as much information as possible.
• Don?t be afraid to ask for housing with the sponsor if it says it might be available.
• Be ready to work. Just because you are not being paid, it does not mean that you are not costing the company money by taking up people?s time. I spent some down time reorganizing the library.
• Consider location (the externship may give you a good idea of what it is like living in a city versus the country etc.). Research the organization so you are aware of the other areas of the company and can plan out a fruitful experience with your sponsor by exploring all areas you think you may be interested in.
• Just because it?s only a couple of days doesn?t mean that you won?t be participating in the organization. Be prepared to get involved.
• Leave time to enjoy what the location of the externship has to offer, especially if you have never been there before.

Advice From Sponsors

• The student took the time to review our web site as well as the other materials I forwarded prior to the externship; that helped tremendously.
• The student had a clear idea of what marketing was as a field. This understanding served as an adequate foundation for her being able to participate in daily activities and ask questions.
• Research the parent companies as well (e.g. Unilever is a parent company to Lipton).
• The student indicated in advance the types of physician specialists that he wanted to meet; allowing me to make the contacts before his arrival.
• The student was prepared both mentally and physically for a week of moving about and challenges: physically, because he had to arise and arrive at work very early, and mentally, because he knew in advance what he wanted to learn about the career.
• Advise students to come prepared to take notes ? the last couple have not and have given the impression that they are not interested.
• I was unable to inform her of what to be prepared for, so when she showed up, she was ready for anything.
• The student?s positive attitude and creativity were the best preparation.
• It is very important for students to have a clear understanding of the sponsor?s company?s field, products and services.
• I had a positive experience because the student and I did a few things ahead of time: spoke by phone to make arrangements, set parameters, and collaborated on appropriate schedule and content.
• If traveling to another region of the country, be aware of cultural factors that may affect your experience and behavior (cultural mores, economy, acceptable language or attire).