All of those currently working towards getting an internship CONGRATS on being SO CLOSE to being eligible to become a certified child life specialist. Anybody that's checking this out just to see what internship is all about please read on and see if maybe child life is something you may be interested in pursuing.
When I was in my junior year of college I started looking into what it would take to get an internship and my goodness it did not seem as easy as I had hoped it would be. Most hospitals have different processes on what is required to just apply for their internship program. That's when I decided I needed to get organized. I went out and bought an accordion style folder and got an excel file together to gather information. One thing I found in common with ALMOST all sites was the dates that you had to apply by and when they would offer their internship to students. BUT there were a few that had different dates so here's what my excel sheet was laid out:
1. Hospital name
2. Location
3. Application due date
4. Application requirement (most use the standard one from the ACLP's website which can be found here
5. Additional requirements -- some require a background check, BLS certification, a personalized letter regarding why you want to be a CCLS/personal goals, etc. Check every single hospital site and write these down because they WILL throw out your application if you do not include all of the required documents. *We called this weeding out at my former hospital because we got anywhere from 15-40 applications each semester and we only had 2 spots open. You HAVE to have all your documents or they can use that as a reason to throw your application out.
6. Date hospital contacted me -- I did this because I applied to 14 sites and wanted to keep them all straight
7. Date of interview
8. Date thank you was sent -- This is so important. Send a personalized thank you following your interview because that could be what sets you apart from the rest of the applicants. Highlight the things you loved about their hospital and why you would be an asset to them as well.
8. Final decision -- did they contact me and say they went another way? Did I contact them for feedback (always and what did they say if they did deny me?)
The accordion style folder had a label for each hospital and I organized each one with all the required documents. Make sure you all set aside a budget for your transcripts. At UCF it cost $10 for each official transcript (every site required this when I went to school) and that set me back $140 dollars just on transcripts. That's a lot of money for a college student!!
Then I got large manilla envelopes for mailing. I don't recommend trying to shove all of your documents into one envelope. It won't work guys, I tried. I wrote down each hospitals address on them and wrote the return address on them as well just in case I got the address wrong I wanted all those important **expensive** documents back so I could re-send them. Fortunately I did not get any back and they all successfully made it to their destination. Then I went back to the hospitals website to confirm each document that they stated they required was in the envelope. I sealed them all up and brought them to USPS to be shipped. Another expense you should be aware of guys because I think this wasn't super cheap either. Most sites will accept the application as long as it's post marked for the date it's due. I do recommend getting them in early though if you can! It just makes you look better to the site and gives them time to review your application and call you for an interview sooner. Trust me, my former hospital's internship coordinator wanted to get people's interviews in ASAP so we could do an on site if we were able to.
Next up was time to cross my fingers and hope and pray that I got interviews. I was fortunate enough to have 5 sites call for phone interviews. I made sure to prepare for these by researching the hospital and getting some questions together that were specific to the hospital. Check out my post on my do's and don't when interviewing as I was a former interviewer and have some good tips that go into more detail about this.
Next up is the offer for on site interviews. I, unfortunately, had a monday-friday part time nannying job and felt I shouldn't take time off to make a trip to the sites. This is one mistake I wish I didn't make. You make a much better impression in person than over the phone or on skype. If you can make the trip, do it! I had 3 skype interviews and I made sure I had a blank wall behind me (hide your posters, pictures and wall decor if you can) and a professional top on. I completed these interviews and played the waiting game for a few more weeks until offer day.
Most hospitals follow the guidelines from the ACLP website and you can find those here. Be prepared to answer each call and have your top picks in mind so you can accept immediately if #1 calls or have a good excuse for the others if they are your second or third. I don't recommend saying it's not your top choice, maybe say you need to discuss with your parents as it's a decision you all said you'd make together since they'll be helping you with expenses. We all know it's not cheap to pick up and move for a few months to another city so this is not just an excuse, it's a good thing to discuss with those closest to you anyways.
I ,unfortunately, only got one call that day and it was to state they did not accept me. I was devastated. What I didn't know was that when they offer the internship to their intern(s) they have 24 hours to accept. The next day I got a call from the same site. They had offered to their first 2 choices and only 1 accepted! That meant I was next up and they offered the internship to me. I was so excited and accepted right away! I absolutely loved my experience and you can check out my post more specifically about my experiences while interning.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out. I am always happy to chat with students about their experiences or questions as they begin their application process.