Internship season: when applications open, by industry, and why October decides June

The internship you want next summer is being decided now. Not because companies are cruel, but because large programmes run on a calendar built around their own year, and that calendar starts in autumn. Here is how it runs, sector by sector, and what to do at each point.

The calendar

September to November: finance, consulting, big law. Investment banks, the large consultancies and law firms open summer programmes as the academic year starts and close many of them before Christmas. Some run first-come interviews and fill seats before the stated deadline. If this is your sector, your CV needed to be ready in August.

October to January: big tech and large engineering firms. The large technology companies and the big engineering and automotive groups post the bulk of their summer internships through autumn and into January. Many roles close when they have enough applicants rather than on a date, so earlier is better.

January to March: most companies. Mid-sized firms, public bodies, research labs and the broad middle of the market post in the new year for a June start. This is the biggest window by number of roles.

March to May: startups and late openers. Startups plan a few weeks ahead and post when they know they need someone. This window is less competitive and the roles are often more hands-on. It is also where students who missed autumn find good internships.

Year round: rolling. Some companies, especially in software, keep internship postings open all year and hire as teams need. These are worth watching continuously.

What to have ready, and when

• By the start of term: a one-page CV with your best projects first, a GitHub or portfolio link that works, and a two-line summary you can adapt. If your sector opens in autumn, this is not optional.
• By December: a cover letter template you can tailor in ten minutes, and your answers to the three questions every form asks: why this company, why this role, tell us about a project.
• By February: a short list of twenty companies you would say yes to, checked against their careers pages, and the deadlines for the ones with fixed dates.
• Spring: keep applying. Late postings have fewer applicants and are often more specific about what you would actually do.

The part nobody tells you

A large share of internship roles close early, well before any posted deadline, because the team has enough candidates. The students who get them are not the ones with the best CVs. They are the ones who applied in the first week. Being early is the single most effective thing you can do, and it is the hardest thing to do by hand during term, because the postings go up on weekday mornings while you are in lectures.

That is the problem the Career Agent was built for. Set your roles to internships, your places, and your fields, and every morning it checks thousands of careers pages and emails you the ones that match your profile, with a score and the reasons. You apply the day the role goes up, not the week your friend mentions it. Students get two months of Premium free with a university email, which covers a whole application season, including having the CV version and letter drafted for each role.

If you missed autumn

You are not out. The January to March window is the largest, and the spring window is friendlier. Fix the CV now, let the agent watch, and apply the morning each role appears. Plenty of good internships are filled in April by people who thought they were late.