Want an Internship in 2025? Do the One Thing No One Tells You: Build Something Special

A student approached me at an event last month with a familiar panic in their eyes. "I've applied to 50+ internships and heard nothing back. What am I doing wrong?"

I looked at their resume. 4.0 GPA. Relevant coursework. Some decent projects.

"The problem isn't you," I told them. "It's that you look exactly like everyone else."

My advice shocked them: Don't stop applying to internships, but stop collecting useless experience. Do something special instead.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Your Resume

Your resume probably looks like thousands of others:

• Strong GPA ✓

• Campus clubs ✓

• Class projects ✓

• That one hackathon everyone does ✓

Recruiters can't tell you apart because you're all following the same playbook.

The brutal reality? That portfolio website you built from a YouTube tutorial isn't impressive anymore. That simple React app? Everyone's got one.

What Actually Works in 2025

Here's what recruiters are ACTUALLY looking for: people who take risks and build things with real purpose.

6 months before starting Intern Insider, I knew zero HTML or CSS. Today Intern Insider is a multi-6-figure business with over a 100,000 followers across platforms, and we even sell software to universities (including my own university):

The wild part? I didn't apply to a single internship this summer and I ended up getting an offer from Amazon because the recruiter found me.

But this isn't just for tech students. I've seen this work across every field:

• A marketing student who started a TikTok channel reviewing local restaurants and got hired by a major food brand

• A finance major who created a simple newsletter breaking down earnings reports for beginners

• A psychology student who organized mental health workshops on campus and landed a research position

• A design student who reimagined brand packaging for fun and got noticed by a design agency

"But I'm Not Ready to Start a Business!"

You don't need to build the next Uber. Starting small counts, no matter your field:

• A newsletter about developments in your academic area

• A student organization addressing a campus need

• An Instagram account curating industry news and opportunities

• A simple event that brings together people in your field

• A creative project that showcases your unique perspective

• A research initiative tackling an overlooked problem

The key is creating something real people actually engage with. Not just another bullet point for your resume.

How I Built Intern Insider Without Coding Skills

Before Intern Insider, I was frustrated with how much time I wasted searching for internships. During midterms, I'd miss dozens of opportunities because I was too busy to check every job board.

My solution wasn't complicated: My co-founder and I started a simple newsletter, manually finding internships and sending them out weekly.

No coding required. Just Beehiiv and hustle.

We eventually upgraded with automation, but only after we had proven people actually wanted what we built.

The Shortcut

Here's what changed everything for me: I stopped trying to figure everything out on my own.

For technical projects, I told Claude.ai (or GPT) what I wanted to build and had it write the code for me, explaining it as we went.

For non-technical projects, AI can help with content creation, research, planning events, designing surveys, crafting outreach emails, and countless other tasks. You want to do research on literally anything? Perplexity.ai

You have access to the smartest assistants on the planet through AI. Use them to accelerate whatever you're building, whether it's a tech product, creative project, research study, or community initiative.

The Hidden Internship Network No One Talks About

The most valuable part of building something? The communities you join.

In Vancouver, I hit up co-working events for founders. Not to network—just to work alongside other builders.

Result? I've been offered over 10 internships from startups who saw me working on my stuff. Why? Because employers don't just need another perfect GPA. They need people who hustle and figure things out without hand-holding.

This works in every field:

• Join or create a student organization related to your major

• Attend industry meetups (not just career fairs!)

• Host small events that bring together professionals in your field

• Volunteer for professional associations in your industry

• Create a showcase for work in your discipline

These spaces are where real opportunities happen, often before jobs are even posted.

How to Find Your Thing to Build

Stuck for ideas? Try this regardless of your major:

1. What's something that annoys you in your daily life?

2. What process in your field is needlessly complicated?

3. What do you and your classmates constantly complain about?

4. What's a skill or insight you have that others in your major would benefit from?

The best initiatives start with "This is stupid. There should be a better way."

If you're in humanities, maybe it's organizing a podcast interviewing professors in your field. If you're in business, maybe it's a case competition you create. Engineering students might build a simple tool. Communications majors could start a PR service for campus clubs.

"But I Have No Time Between Classes!"

Here's the hack: dedicate ONE weekend to starting. That's it.

The hardest part isn't building—it's starting. Once you have something basic, you'll find yourself working on it during those random free moments instead of scrolling TikTok.

The Triple Win Strategy

Building something creates three winning scenarios:

1. It works and makes money (awesome!)

2. It fails but becomes the perfect interview story (still a win!)

3. It connects you with people who can hire you (backdoor entry!)

Fun fact: Intern Insider was the SIXTH thing my co-founder and I tried. The first four failed, but each one taught us something crucial.

The Most Realistic Path to Your Dream Internship

My original goal was to become a software engineer at a FAANG company. Ironically, building Intern Insider got me exactly that—an Amazon offer without the traditional application grind.

Keep applying to those internships, but make sure your application stands out with something real you've built. Your side project doesn't need to become a business success to be your ticket to an internship. The skills and mindset you develop are what recruiters actually want but can't find in typical applicants.

Got questions about what you should build? Want feedback on your idea? Reply to this newsletter or reach out to me on LinkedIn, and I'll help you figure it out.

- Ashkan, Co-founder, Intern Insider