It’s not too late to land a Summer 2025 internship – here’s your job search plan

It’s late May and you haven’t landed a Summer 2025 internship. I’m here to tell you 2 things: 1) It’s not over yet. and 2) You still have some time.

By “some time”, I would have to guesstimate ~3-4 weeks. Over the last 4 years of running The Ninth Semester, I’ve noticed some trends in Summer intern hiring. Industries such as Finance and Accounting start early, with hiring for Summer 2026 already underway, and Big Tech and other large companies begin accepting applications between August and November.

Every company and industry move on their own hiring timelines. I’ve seen some companies hire up until mid-June. There are actually some companies still hiring now, here’s how you can find them on LinkedIn.

Here’s a recruiting timeline per industry to prepare for the next internship cycle:

I have a little homework assignment for you.

1. Identify your industry in the timeline. Grab your calendar and enter the 1st date of the month that your desired industry’s hiring begins and ends. For example, Tech companies start recruiting for the next semester in July. Make a daily calendar reminder from July 1st to December 1st to remind you to check for openings.
2. Create a list of 10 companies you’d love to work for. Create a spreadsheet that includes:
   1. Company name
   2. The early career program you’re interested in
   3. A link to their early career website
   4. The date applications open (if they provide a hiring timeline on their website)

This is the start of your job application tracker. You’ll check their site once a week during the timeline period to see when applications drop. You can even go a step further and follow their hiring team on LinkedIn to see when they make an announcement post about roles going live.

(and a little secret between me and you: I’m working on an application tracker template for you – stay tuned!)

Knowing you have ~3/4 weeks left to find an internship, it’s crunch time.

If I were a current student approaching the internship search, here’s a step-by-step guide on how I’d approach it:

A step-by-step guide to landing a last-minute Summer 2025 internship

1. Have an open mind and put on your detective goggles

It’s time to decide what matters most to you: prestige or experience. The reality is, it’s too late to get an internship at household name companies. Their applications closed months ago, so with the HW assignment above, you’ll be prepared to apply on time for Summer 2026.

Some websites to find niche internships at smaller/mid-size level companies include trueup.io, noexperiencejobs.io, builtin.com, hiring.cafe, and intern-list.com. I also have a list of more websites for US-based and international students/recent grads here.

You can even try looking through LinkedIn posts by searching for terms like “hiring [insert industry/major] summer 2025 intern” and hashtags #summerinternship or #summer2025internships. Make sure to filter by posts > date posted > past 24 hours or past week.

2. Do a quick resume revamp with AI

It doesn’t hurt to start new with a quick resume revamp. If your current one has been landing you interviews, skip this step. If you’re looking for a new template (yes, it’s ATS-friendly), here’s my free template with a resume guide. I recommend platforms such as hellohive.com, Teal, or ChatGPT for resume writing.

I like to use ChatGPT to update my resume bullet points and personalize them in my own words. Here’s what I suggest doing:

Instructions:

1. Copy and paste your work experience section to Chat GPT and ask it “Using the resume above, tailor my resume for a [insert role title] role using quantifiable metrics” and it’ll revise your resume bullets. From there, you can personalize and humanize the resume bullets to make it relevant to your work
2. If there’s a particular role you want to tailor it to, you can do the same steps above and after it revises it you can say “using the resume above, can you tailor it to this job description: [INSERT JOB DESCRIPTION”]

EXAMPLE CHAT GPT PROMPTS I USED:

Step 1: “Can you optimize my resume to a [insert role title] at [company name]: [insert your full work experience section]

Step 2 (after Chat GPT responds, i ask): “Using the resume above, can you tailor it to this job description: [insert job description of a role I’m applying to]

3. Create a realistic plan on what and how many roles to apply for

You don’t need to apply for 100 roles a day. That’s not realistic. Set a goal based on your schedule and your career goals. QUALITY > QUANTITY ALWAYS!

You should know exactly what you want to do at this point in your job search. Instead of just looking up “marketing internships near me” be more specific and say “summer 2025 B2B tech marketing internships in [insert city]”. Think about the location, the sub-industry, and the type of company you want to work at and use it to help improve your search.

4. Create an interview prep framework that works for you

When it comes to interviews, extensive research works best for me. The more prepared I am, the more confident I come off in my interviews. I also recommend having your 4 core stories ready. I love Recruiter Mike Peditto’s ideology on this.

Another thing to remember is to be personable! People hire people. Don’t come off robotic in your interviews. Be engaging, lean into the small talk at the beginning, come with questions! Grab my free interview prep e-book while you’re at it.

5. Explore new job search methods

I’ve landed roles through cold-applying (applications sent without referrals), networking, and my infamous TikTok resume that got me my first post-grad role at TikTok. Explore different job application methods and find the one that works for you. Don’t spend too much time on one method. If you find one yielding results for you, lean into that. Remember, what works for one person may not work for you, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

And now it’s time to get to work! I’ve given you templates, where to find roles, and tangible resources to use TODAY. Let’s put them into practice.