How to Land Internships for High School Students Through Cold Outreach
- Estelle Reardon
- Apr 13
- 7 min read
Topics We Cover:
Because many employers are looking for candidates with relevant real-world experience, internships for high school students are often difficult to land. At the same time, formal programs are often highly competitive or geared toward students from specific backgrounds. Cold outreach is a valuable way to create opportunities by connecting with professionals, personalizing your message, demonstrating interest, and ultimately opening doors.
What Is Cold Outreach?
At its most basic, in the context of internships, cold outreach is the process of reaching out to potential internship providers you have no prior relationship with to inquire about opportunities. For high schoolers looking to land internships, cold outreach is an effective tool for building connections at businesses and organizations that don’t offer, or haven’t posted, an official internship.
Unlike applying to formal internships or traditional job postings, where you respond to a listing, cold outreach is a proactive approach in which you introduce yourself, express your interest, and showcase the skills and strengths you bring to the table.
Why Cold Outreach Works for High School Students
The competition to land internships for high school students is typically intense, with the most prestigious internships receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for just a handful of positions. Official internships for high schoolers are also commonly offered through government agencies or universities and focused on students from specific backgrounds, like being from low-income families or potential first-generation college students.
All of this adds up to deep applicant pools and limited opportunities. Cold outreach bypasses the traditional internship path and provides access to a hidden market of unadvertised opportunities. The fact is that small companies and organizations frequently need extra help, professors need research assistance, and many professionals are willing to help motivated students get a head start on their careers.
Rather than applying through traditional channels and hoping to stand out in highly competitive applicant pools, cold outreach gives high schoolers the chance to connect with decision makers, build lasting relationships, show initiative, and create opportunities that they wouldn’t find through a simple internet search.
The Pros and Cons of Cold Outreach
The Benefits of Cold Outreach
Cold outreach is an effective strategy for securing a high school internship and offers a number of advantages over more traditional pathways.
Less Competition: When you send a cold outreach email to potential internship providers, you typically face little to no competition from other students. Because there’s no formal application process, the only competition is the off chance that another student has made a similar inquiry.
More Personal: When applying to official internships, you’re limited to the industries and roles offered. Conversely, pursuing cold outreach allows you to target opportunities that align with your interests and skills.
Easier to Get Attention: Formal internship applications and crowded fields of applicants can make it hard to distinguish yourself, but through cold outreach, you can research businesses, organizations, and professionals and tailor your message specifically to them.
Makes a Positive Impression: Cold outreach demonstrates key qualities such as initiative and communication skills. These attributes can make a strong impression on professionals and open doors to new opportunities.
Networking: Even if the person you connect with through cold outreach doesn’t have an immediate opportunity, you never know what may arise down the line or who they might know. Building relationships in the present can lead to future opportunities.
Cold outreach is a skill, and the more you practice it, the better you’ll become. And, while at first cold outreach can feel hard and uncomfortable, those who push through will see improvement and results. Even better, cold outreach is a skill you can use throughout your academic and professional life.
Ultimately, getting comfortable with cold outreach now will serve you in the years ahead.
The Drawbacks of Cold Outreach
There’s minimal downside for high schoolers pursuing cold outreach. The primary limitations of the process are:
Unresponsiveness: Some employers won’t respond to unsolicited contact. In fact, it’s very much possible that more of your inquiries go unanswered, rather than answered.
No Openings: No matter how good your pitch or how impressive your resume is, there’s a chance that there simply aren’t any available positions or interest in taking on an intern.
Obtaining an internship for high school students through cold outreach requires persistence. Don’t let unanswered emails or lack of openings get you down; instead, consider them practice and move on to the next opportunity. Students who stick with the process find the sweat equity worth the investment for the payoff of a head start in their careers.
Cold Outreach for High Schoolers
Forming a cold outreach strategy is essential to keeping your internship search organized and effective—ensuring you reach out to the right-fit opportunities, incorporate best practices, and, in the end, score an internship.
Who to Contact Through Cold Outreach
Online search tools and lists like StandOut Search, the largest free online directory of internships for high school students, make finding official internships easy. However, discovering cold outreach opportunities requires more research.
LinkedIn is a great resource for finding companies and organizations that align with your interests and may be open to taking on a high school intern. Focus on smaller groups in fields you genuinely care about. These prospective internship providers are often short-staffed, and your enthusiasm and knowledge can help you make a compelling case for why they should give you a chance.
Keep your safety in mind when reaching out to people you don’t know. Generally, virtual meetings and online interviews are safer than in-person options.
Connecting Through Cold Outreach
Email is the most effective way to reach professionals. We recommend sending at least 50 inquiries to potential internship providers. Cold outreach is a numbers game, and the more inquiries you send, the better your chances of securing a position.
It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t overlook quality. The more research and personalization you put into your emails, and the less generic they are, the higher your likelihood of receiving a response. Further below, we’ve included some email templates that provide a structured framework you can tailor to your unique needs.
When reaching out to professionals, try to establish a personal connection. It shows an interest in the person you’re contacting, demonstrates you’ve researched and understand their work, and increases response rates. Some common attributes to bond over include:
Growing up in the same hometown
Attending the same school
Interest in a particular field
Volunteer for the same organization
Passion for a particular sports team
Personal connections are what make emails memorable, start conversations, and keep them from the spam folder.
Attention-Grabbing Resume
When emailing professionals about internships, make sure to include a Google link to your resume and ensure its share settings allow anyone with it to view its contents. Links are preferable to attachments like PDFs and Docs, which can trigger spam filters and negatively affect deliverability.
High schoolers should limit their resumes to one page and highlight their relevant skills and experiences. If applicable, they should also include any previous work that demonstrates their abilities—for example, showcasing a website they’ve built, a newsletter they’ve written, a flyer they’ve designed, or social media accounts they’ve managed.
If you don’t have a resume, it’s time to craft one. Like cold outreach, it’s something you’ll use throughout your life, whether applying for scholarships, internships, or jobs. There are a number of excellent available resources for creating a compelling resume online, including our high school resume template and tips and the University of Chicago’s resume toolkit.
Test Your Timing
Knowing when to send your emails can make the difference between landing an internship and striking out. Everyone manages their email differently, but it’s generally believed that the best time to send cold outreach emails is Monday through Thursday afternoons.
Avoid sending emails over the weekend, when they’ll likely be ignored. Fridays, when professionals are trying to get out of the office, and Monday morning, when they’re trying to get back up to speed, are also best avoided.
This doesn’t mean you can’t work on your cold outreach strategy during less ideal times. You can write your email whenever, just schedule it to send at the optimal time.
Track Your Effort
Everything is easier when you’re organized. Keep a spreadsheet to track who you’ve emailed and when. Many students also find it helpful to record details like what they included in each message and the time it was sent. Documenting your cold outreach makes it easier to see what works and what doesn’t, and you can apply those insights to future efforts.
Email Template for Finding a High School Internship
The templates below are a great starting point for crafting emails to potential internship hosts. Adjust them to meet your needs and remember the more personalized you make them, the better they’re likely to perform.
Template for Finding an Internship
Subject: Student Reaching Out
Dear Mr./Ms.____,
I hope you are having a great day! My name is [your name], and I am a rising [grade] at [your school]. I read about your company on LinkedIn and found the concept quite interesting. For context, [briefly state how the company relates to your interests or experience].
I was wondering if you might be looking for interns. I know I would have a great deal to learn from working with you, and I would love to contribute in any way I can. I have included my resume here. Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Template for Finding a Research Position
Subject: Student Reaching Out
Dear Professor/Dr. ____,
I hope you are having a great day! My name is [your name], and I am a rising [grade] at [your school]. I recently read your paper on [restate the abstract] in [name of publication] and was quite intrigued by [part you found interesting]. I was wondering if I might be able to intern remotely for you over this summer. [Elaborate on your relevant skills and experience and why you are passionate about the field.]
I have included my resume here. Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Conclusion
Stay motivated and keep the potential internship in mind as a prize for your effort. It’s easy to get discouraged by emails not receiving replies and getting ghosted, but most students find sticking with the process rewarding, providing the skills and experience needed to launch their careers.
If you found this article helpful, bookmark it as a resource or send it to a friend who might also benefit from it. Good luck with your internship search!
