If you’re searching for the important internship for the summer, you’ll need to avoid making these six deadly errors. Internships are far more in demand than in past years and students have to confront some pretty stiff competition when seeking a summer internship. By reviewing the following mistakes when applying for an internship, you can highly maximize your chances of getting called by the company for an interview.

Waiting Anxiously Too Long To Apply

If you have not already initiated your important internship search, what are you waiting for? High school students, college students, and recent grads are all constantly searching and applying for internships so get started today. If you are applying for fall internships, start sending in materials around June or July. If you are applying for a spring internship, you should be looking in October or November.

And if you need a summer important internship, you should start looking in October of the year prior (just to make certain the company you are interested in doesn’t have super early deadlines). The bigger companies often have very early summer deadlines. Mid-sized companies usually have either February, March, or April deadlines. And there’s always a bunch of companies that forget to post their summer listing and end up doing their internship hiring in May or June.

Sending in Generic Materials

The number one issue I see with internship applicants is sending in generic materials – the same resume and cover letter for every single position.

You must customize your materials for the position and the company. If every resume and cover letter you send is the same, there is an issue. Companies can easily tell when they are looking at a document that you have sent to 15 other places.

To best customize your materials, print out the internship or job listing and go through it with a highlighter.

Think of it this way, they are telling you exactly what should be on your resume or cover letter in the listing. For example, if the company says they want someone who is social media savvy, make certain your resume speaks to your social media experience.

Applying for just a Handful of Internships

I highlighted that internships are more competitive than ever before. If you just apply for a handful of opportunities, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll not land one. To make certain you land something, apply for at least 10-20 internships every 2-3 weeks. If you hear back from a few and land interviews, you can stop aggressively applying but remember you want to make sure you don’t put your eggs in one basket. I spoke to a company this week that said last year they got 14,000 applications – it is a tough market.

Fail to Follow Company Instructions

If you cannot follow the application rules, how will you follow the real rules at the important internship? Your application is the 1st  impression that you are giving an employer, if you are not following directions, that first impression won’t be very positive. By not following a company’s specific instructions you could end up being placed in the “no” pile even if you possess all of the qualifications the company is looking for.

Make certain to read through their requested procedure closely. For instance, they might post their internships on a third party website (like InternQueen.com) but they might state in their posting that applicants should go to their website to apply.

Forget to Follow-Up with Interviewers

Once you begin applying for internships, follow up one week after you send in your application to confirm the company got your materials and to ask if they require looking at anything else. If you can’t find anyone to follow up with, use LinkedIn and try to connect with people who went to your school and work at that company.

Not Passionate at the Interview for Important Internship

After an interview, an employer shouldn’t have to inquire him or herself if you needed the position. Make sure you make it very clear that you need the position and that you’d do anything you need to secure the position.

An employer needs to hire someone who they know will love and appreciate the job, make sure that comes across in the interview.