It’s time that you’ve applied for several internships and now you’re eagerly waiting for the results. You keep refreshing your email constantly waiting and wishing for your desired company to get back to you. You’ve made all the right moves and taken the right steps until this point that includes personalizing your cover letter, attending every interview with good research and you’ve made every possible effort.
Wait, your screen just flashed and you received an email with those beautiful words, “Congratulations, you have been selected…”
The next day you receive another email with the same words. You want to do both internships equally, but doing two internships at once? Is that possible?
If you are wondering can you do two internships at once? You can absolutely go for more than one internship, you just need to know how to maintain the balance between the two. Managers are demanding from a candidate and doing internships is the best way to get your foot in the door. The more internship you’ve done, the more experience you’ve gained, the more you have to put on the table to remain competitive.
Before you make a decision about which road to take, here are some steps that might help you in doing two internships at once.
- Set realistic expectations for yourself as well as your employers. Take a moment to ask yourself practically, how can you do more than one internship? If you feel that you can grind from Monday to Friday, by all means, go ahead. But if you know that you’ll need some time in the week to recharge yourself or to take a break, create your schedule keeping that in mind before you begin with the internships instead of realizing that you need to adjust later. Your employer or the company will acknowledge your ability to follow through, and you won’t be over-committing without realizing it. Doing more than one internship at a time is not going to be easy but it certainly is achievable.
- It is recommended to get into internships you are passionate about and would be interested in doing. It’s easy to get caught up between what you feel you should do and what you actually wish to do. Internship roles and duties that fall under your interests will be more enjoyable for you. You won’t feel like a job, but rather pursuing a hobby. Also, there are high chances that if you love what you’re doing, you’ll do a better job at it and your employer will realize it too.
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- While doing more than one internship at a time, one internship should require significantly less time than the other. Consider getting the second one as a virtual internship and campus ambassador position. Typically, both of these allow you to plan your own schedule. Many of them are usually social media-based or event-based. Campus ambassador positions are beneficial as you are already on campus for your lectures, so you don’t need to take time out of your day to drive to an office.
Also, several campus ambassador positions consist of marketing a product at on-campus events which are quite feasible for students attending a university. It won’t be considered as the best idea to get internships which are both demanding. You want to remember that college is a journey for many experiences, you want to take time to enjoy yourself while also preparing for the future.
- Always stay organized and plan ahead. The key to multitasking in life and managing your time effectively and wisely truly comes down to organizing. Different strategies and plans work better for different people. Few options that you can consider and would work for you can be planning your week on the whiteboard in your room, an agenda that never leaves your side. Setting reminders through your e-mail or calendar so that you don’t forget a task, post-it notes and sticky notes on your desktop for a to-do list are also some notable options.
- The last piece of advice for you will be, be kind to yourself. Doing more than one internship at a time may sound like a hustle but it can be stressful. Did you jam-pack your schedule leaving no time for self-care? You need to make sure that you have time for yourself, your two internships, studying, socializing, and taking rest. Give yourself more room than you feel you’ll need. Whether it’s an empty day on Friday for spending time with your own self or late mornings on Wednesday. It’s not difficult to get caught up in a 9-5, especially managing classes in between. It’ll look good on your resume that you are able to multitask effectively but do yourself a favor, and take out time for self-care.
Balancing multiple internships at the same time will require time, effort, and planning, but it can unquestionably be done. This will help you in the long run by having a broad network and getting several letters of recommendation. If you are an upperclassman it can only increase the chances of achieving a full-time job offer from the company. If you are still wondering can you have two internships at once? I would say go with the decision that works best for you.
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