Chat… be honest.
Are we cooked if we don’t land an internship this summer?
If your LinkedIn feed has you questioning your entire existence right now… same.
Everyone’s announcing internships like it’s the Met Gala of employment, and you’re just there refreshing your email like “any updates?”
So if you’re feeling behind, rejected, stuck, confused or low-key convinced everyone else has life figured out except you — this one’s for you.
The “what do I even do?” crisis
First, let’s reset the narrative.
An internship is one way to spend your summer. Not the only way. Not the guaranteed-success way. Just… a way.
It just means you’re not currently posting, “grateful to begin this journey,” and simply still figuring out what that journey actually is.
What truly matters is what you do with your time, and this is the part people skip. Because once the excitement of, “I got an internship!” wears off, a lot of people are still figuring things out.
You’re just doing that part earlier.
Do the unglamorous stuff
This is your chance to fix all the things you’ve been avoiding. Like your resume, which still has generically ambiguous words like “team player”. Or your LinkedIn that hasn’t been opened since 2023.
Humber’s career workshops and virtual sessions exist exactly for this.
They focus on resume reviews, interview prep, LinkedIn help, and all the stuff that’s not exciting, but is definitely important. They also include pre-recorded sessions so you can watch and develop your skills at your convenience.
So, how does some growth while being comfortable in your pyjamas sound? Perfect.
Be the person you needed
Remember your confusion as a first-year student? You’ve already figured things out the hard way. Now imagine being the person who makes it easier for someone else.
Peer mentoring at Humber is exactly that! Plus, you get credit for it.
When you step into something like a Peer Mentor role, you’re just turning your own experience into something structured, recognized and resume-ready.
Not everything has to be an internship
There’s a weird belief that if it’s not a formal job, it doesn’t count as experience. It does.
Humber’s Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) options show you all the other ways people build experience: projects, placements, collaborations, you name it. You can browse through the listings and see different positions that are out there and incorporate those titles in your own search. It also gives you an idea of the kind of companies you can earmark and what they are looking for.
While many students are trying to gain experience however they can, it’s equally important to recognize that your time, skills and effort matter. IGNITE’s Time is Money advocates against unpaid internships and placements, and also sparks the important conversation around the value of student labour and why your work experience shouldn’t come at the cost of financial stability.
You can also start online certifications and develop skills within your field of study through various websites such as Coursera, Forage, LinkedIn, etc.
So, when the time comes around for you to start looking for internships again, you have a better idea of what options are out there.
There isn’t one “correct” path
Some summers build your resume. Others build your resilience. Both matter more than you think.
You are allowed to be uncertain and still be on the right path. The pressure to “have it all figured out” by one summer is unrealistic anyway. Most people are improvising far more than they admit online.
So if this summer doesn’t look like a mini-career Olympics for you, it’s alright. Use this one to figure things out for yourself.
And no, that doesn’t mean you’ve fallen behind.
Feature image courtesy of Eden Constantino on Unsplash
Looking for more things to keep you occupied? Check out some side quests to do while on summer break!
Follow us on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok for all things student life.
