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

Realistic tips and tricks from someone who has a history of getting internship offers late in the game

Author

Jade Walters
May 11, 2025

NOTE FROM AUTHOR

And we’re back! I’m so excited to bring back this newsletter and chit chat with you all in my little corner of the internet.

Honestly, I’ve been overthinking how to write this latest post, but the truth is: I want to keep it honest, raw, and transparent with you guys. Being intentionally delusional in my career has helped me grow in ways that I can’t even believe myself sometimes, and if I can rub off some of that confidence on you all to help YOUR careers grow, that’s the goal. It started with my video content and will continue with this newsletter.

I give a lot of free game on the internet and we’re going to take it up a notch through Office Hours. Expect freebies, realistic tips + tricks, and opportunities to check out. It’ll basically be 1:1 career coaching in the form of an email. Let’s get into it!

In today's post:

Gemini Advanced is free for college students through finals 2026

Google’s Gemini Advanced + 2TB of storage is free now through finals season, Spring 2026! This is a serious game changer for students and makes me wish I still had a working college email address!

You can redeem this exciting offer if you’re 18+, based in the United States, and have access to a valid .edu email address. Two features I’m excited about include Career Dreamer, which helps you figure out roles you can apply for by analyzing your resume, and Interview WarmUp to help prep for interviews.

Other great features include:

  1. Access to Gemini Advanced

  2. Gemini in all Google Apps

  3. 2TB of Cloud Storage across Google Photos, Google Drive, and Gmail

  4. Access to the Notebook LMPlus which provides enhanced features for your AI-powered research and writing tool

You have until June 30, 2025 to sign up for this offer and enjoy it for 15 months! Grab it HERE

The truth about recruiting timelines. When is the perfect time to start job hunting for your internship?

It’s early 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 ~6 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 (they’re already hiring for Summer 2026), and Big Tech/other large companies start accepting applications between August and November.

Every company and industry moves on its own hiring timelines. I’ve seen some companies hire up until mid-June.

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.

Let me know if you want a newsletter post solely about authentically connecting with early career recruiting teams and how I’d approach it.

Knowing you have ~6 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.

  1. 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]

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

ICYMI FROM ME

I’m giving a TEDx talk! This has been one of the hardest secrets to keep but I’m so excited to be able it to share it with everyone. My talk is an opportunity to share my story about my unconventional career path, how I’m designing my dream career, and offer advice on how the next generation can do the same.

If you live in/near Montclair, NJ, and are interested in attending on June 24th, check out the TEDx Montclair website because tickets are LIVE. I’d love to meet some of you IRL, so grab a ticket if you can!

On my Tik Tok

We’re officially verified on TikTok! This is a major accomplishment and I’m so proud! Expect more content from me on there about post-grad life, job search strategies, and everything in between.

@theninthsemester

You still have about ~6 weeks to land a Summer 2025 internship but here’s some alternatives on what to do if you don’t land one! #summer20... See more

Yes, this newsletter is about how to use these next few weeks but in case you don’t land something - here are some alternatives of what you can do this Summer.

Opportunities to check out today

Conferences, Scholarships, Travel Opportunities

  1. The National Sales Network is hosting its annual all-expenses-paid Student and Sales Marketing Conference in Atlanta, GA this September. I spoke at the conference and will be doing so again this year! This conference is open to undergraduate and graduate students from diverse majors. Learn more and apply HERE (Use Jade Walters as a referral for your application!!!) - see you in Atlanta 🙂 

  2. InterExchange is still accepting applications for its American Summer Exchange program. This is an opportunity to work at iconic US vacation spots and work alongside college students from around the world. Check out my video about the program below! Comment “exchange” in the comment section of the video and I’ll DM you the application. Applications close on May 31, 2025!

  1. Mentor Me Collective and Google Cloud have teamed up to provide 100 scholarships and resources to first-generation technologists. This partnership includes high-quality training, cutting-edge programs, and invaluable mentorship across five distinct learning tracks: Cloud Cybersecurity, Cloud Data Analytics, Cloud Computing Foundations, Cloud Engineering, Cloud Digital Leader. Learn more and apply HERE

  2. The Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation will award twenty $5,000 scholarships to outstanding Illinois-based Latino students who meet eligibility criteria for the ILLCF Scholarship. Students who are selected receive $5,000 towards their education, participate in a weekend Leadership Development Seminar, and are awarded at the annual gala in November. Learn more and apply HERE by July 3rd, 2025 at 11:59 pm CST.

Internships and Campus Ambassador Opportunities (Summer 2025/2026 and Fall 2025)

  1. Salesforce launched their Summer 2026 Software Engineering Internship via the Futurefore Tech Accelerator. This program includes a fast-track to internship interviews, an all-expenses-paid trip to their San Fran HQ from July 23rd-25th, and exclusive interview prep. This is open to students currently pursuing a BS in Computer Science or a related field. You can learn more and apply HERE by May 23rd, 2025.

  2. Glow Recipe is hiring Fall 2025 campus ambassadors. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis, so apply ASAP. Let them know Jade Walters/The Ninth Semester sent you!

  3. Synethesis is hiring a Summer 2025 Intern Strategist. Strategists at Synthesis deliver robust consumer insights driven by quantitative data analysis in a myriad of creative ways. You will be the culture expert, bringing a human perspective to numbers and statistics. You can learn more and apply HERE

  4. ABC Fitness is hiring a remote Product Marketing Intern - apply HERE

  5. Noggin Guru is hiring 4, remote paid interns for roles in Sales, Revenue Operations, Marketing, and Content/Product Operations. More details can be found HERE

Full-time roles

  1. ASOS is hiring an early career Marketing Coordinator with experience in marketing, with fashion marketing experience preferred. The role is based in their NYC office - apply HERE

  2. COOP is accepting applications for the Fall 2025 cohort of their fellowship program. There are 3 tracks to choose from in Digital Marketing, Data Analytics, and Financial Services. This program has helped over 7000+ fellows land roles after completing the program! - Learn more and apply HERE

It feels SO good to finally get this newsletter out! I hope you all enjoy and find it useful as you navigate this final stretch of internship hunting. I’m so grateful for my community of 1.2K of you - rooting for you as always! Until next time :)

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Love, Jade xoxo