A lot of places only want willing, able people to do the grunt work. If you can show you have a love for what the company is about, there shouldn't be a reason why you wouldn't get an internship.

Most places have a revolving door for interns, so you might just have to wait your turn.

Ask questions constantly. Not just broad questions about their gear and facility, but questions about the company. How was the company founded? Who founded it? People like to talk about themselves and their accomplishments. After doing research you should be able to find basic info. After that, ask for more details. Find out how the wheels are turned in the facility. Ask about procedures and how things run. Ask everyone there so you can get an idea of everyone's role.

My advice would be to research places to make sure you get something out of the internship. I've had conversations where interns do the normal gruntwork, but aren't allowed to learn anything or never have the opportunity to learn.

I was lucky enough to find a place that has a great internship program where one day of interning would yield one day in a session to observe and learn. It was a wonderful trade-off.

My last piece of advice is to be humble and don't think you're above any task. Most places will have you clean, take the trash out, make food for clients/staff, get food for clients/staff, etc. If it's a totally unreasonable task (sifting through a dumpster for a $2 napkin ring that was accidentally thrown out), you won't be in for much.

Hope that helps ... certainly let us all know where you get in.

Thanks for that advice, as far as gruntwork, I've been expecting to be the 'coffee getter, etc' The only good studio I've had respond to me so far is The Cutting Room in NYC (which a studio musician friend of mine recommended)

But your advice doesn't really answer my question, but thanks for the advice tho!

Yo Ashton -

Here's a few things that I look for (although I'm a far cry less busy than the places you're looking to intern).

I want to see that the person I hire as an intern knows the difference between headphone cables and mic cables (don't laugh...I've had some who were finishing degree programs at accredited conservatories who didn't!!!). I'm looking for someone who knows that when I tell them to set up the 193 on a guitar, they know what I'm talking about and get the mic pretty close to where I'm wanting it without having to give any more detail than that.

I'm looking for someone who doesn't talk to clients unless I give them permission or unless they're spoken to (and even then, keep the conversation short...) I have had some interns who take it upon themselves to talk to the artists and "share" with them. No. This aggrevates me.

I'm looking for someone who knows how to work their ass off under time critical situations.

I'm looking for someone who leaves their ego at the door.

I've gotten a lot of resumes for potential interns and each one of them is a disaster on a piece of paper! They're full of things like bands they've recorded (that I've never heard of - no slam at your sig line...that's cool here.), retail music stores they've worked at, what versions of PT LE they're familiar with and what waves plugins they've used.

The thing is, when I look at a resume, I want to see the following:

Good spelling and grammar. (If this is off, I throw it out. For god's sake, there's a spell checker and a grammar checker for a reason. Plus, they could always take it to their grammar teacher and they'd look it over!)

An employment history with depth. Don't just tell me where you worked. Tell me what you did at your place of employment to make it better!

Education - tell me where you were educated. Unless it was MIT, CalTech or somewhere similar, I probably don't care too much about this, but it's still nice to have. Going into detail about what HS classes you had won't help.

Keep the resume to a single page if possible.

Make sure ALL of your contact info is on there in a logical manner.

If you're submitting digitally, save your document as a PDF!!! This looks TONS more professional. You can download free software to do this at pdf995.com

Keep the ego out of the resume.

INCLUDE A COVERLETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is where you have the chance to impress them. Again, leave out any ego, but tell them how you're willing to work your ass off for them and that you're there to learn but also to help them in any way that you can. This is where you can give them the idea that you mean business.

If you send a demo, you'll likely get sh*t-canned immediately. There's something that they'll hate about your work and use that as a reason to not hire you. Even if you were Mutt Lang, they'd say "The snare is too echo-y and the dynamic range is all wrong..."

After that, follow up. Call once about 3 days after you know they got the stuff. Spend a few bucks and send it in a BIG envelope! Don't fold your stuff up and put it in a small envelope. You'll make a much bigger impression that way!! Throw in a contact card (a business card with your contact information on it.) Go to Staples, they'll make them for you on the spot. Put nothing more than your contact info, name and that's it. Don't go with kitchy graphics, use a solid, bold color and text - that's it.

Then...impress the hell out of them every chance you get! I've had 1 intern ever impress me (and he even annoyed me from time to time). The others simply existed and I couldn't wait until the semester was over!!!!

Cheers -

J.

I do a lot of interviewing and resume reading, not so much for audio engineers but for engineers in general.

What I have to say I think relates to most technical positions.

-Make sure your resume has a professional look to it.

-Avoid word templates like the plague.

-Put your contact info clearly at the top.

-Tell me what skills you can offer my company.

-Tell me what software and hardware you know well, especially if you know that’s what my company uses. DO SOME RESEARCH!!

-On the resume give a detailed work history. That means tell me about what you did for the company, the kind of work involved and types of projects you worked on.

-List the schools you went too. If you graduate in the top 10%, I would like to know.
Someone once told me “It ain’t braggin’ if you done it”

-Tell me what your hobbies are. I need to know how you will fit into the team.

-On you cover letter, tell me what you can offer the employer, not why you need a job. Always look at it from the employer’s perspective. Find out what the employer needs, and let them know you have the skills to give them exactly that. AGAIN RESEARCH!

-The resume can be 2 pages and the cover letter 1 page. Resumes in less is ok, but make sure it is readable no smaller than 12 pt font. Longer is not good.

Anyway I hope this helps.

Emphasize experience like no other, no one really cares what school you went to.

Thanks for all the tips guys!

davidbenjamin wouldn't happen to be the one from Universal would you?

Schools are only important if the school you went too, is the same one your interviewer went to...

Resumes should be like a womens skirt length. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting.

FWIW