Guide · Aug 2026 · 1 min read
Landing a First Internship With No Experience: The Evidence Approach
'No experience' usually means 'no evidence'. Build a small real project in the target field, document it, and apply with proof instead of adjectives.
The evidence approach
Employers reading intern applications aren't expecting employment history — they're looking for signal. A finished project in their domain is the strongest signal a student can send: it proves initiative, follow-through, and genuine interest, all without a single previous job.
- Marketing-curious? Run a small account or campaign for a real club or stall — with numbers
- Tech-curious? A working demo on GitHub beats a certificate list
- Design-curious? Redesign something real and document the reasoning
- Any field: a virtual work experience program to learn the vocabulary first
The application itself
- Lead the CV with projects, not education — flip the template
- Three sentences per project: what, how, what happened
- Write to a person where possible; small companies read their own inboxes
- Follow up once, politely, after a week — persistence reads as interest
