Internships in Boston, Massachusetts

With a metro population at just over 4.5 million people, Boston is the largest city in Massachusetts and in the entirety of New England. Being one of the oldest urban areas in the United States, Boston has long been a center of culture, learning and commerce, with many historical sites dating back to the opening days of the American Revolution, colleges and universities that rank among the best post-secondary schools in America, if not the world, and numerous major insurance companies and banks.

With the 6th largest economy in the United States and the 12th largest in the world, there is ample opportunity to enter the job market via an internship in Boston.

What's Boston like?

While Boston is a highly desirable city, it comes with a price tag – it is one of most expensive cities in the USA, though average wages are high compared to the rest of the nation. Indeed, according to the most recent rankings by Mercer's (a globally respected HR consulting firm), Boston laid claim to the 3rd highest quality of life in the United States, trailing only Honolulu and San Francisco in the American portion of the survey.

An example of the benefits of living here, aside from the usual platitudes concerning parkland, access of good schools and the like is its very clean drinking water, as the cities' reservoir is one of the few in the country that meet federal standards without even the need to filter it.

The city metro area is home to a massive conglomeration of famed schools like Harvard and MIT among others, making for an informed citizenry and a social scene that is hard to match elsewhere. Parkland also a highly valued asset here, as the recent removal of the Central Artery expressway has opened up much of the inner parts of the city to parkland where this highway had once divided communities.

While winter certainly hits here, the ocean moderates the climate to a considerable extent, preventing winter lows from dipping too low, or from summer heat being too oppressive.

Boston is an ethnically diverse city, home to the nation's largest Irish population on a per capita basis, but it also contains significant concentrations of those of Jewish and Latin American descent.

Finally, Boston's MBTA has the 4th busiest transport network in the country, and the walkability of inner neighborhoods have made it the 3rd most pedestrian friendly city in the United States.

What internships are available in Boston?

Being a center with a high concentration of college educated people, it's no surprise that there is a wealth of internships to be found in Boston. High tech companies and established corporations looking to hire the best of the best are well represented here, with companies such as Wikimedia, Raytheon and countless enthusiastic web startups among those looking to bring on those skilled in the ways of code, computers and the web.

With a healthy contingent of insurance companies, as well as retail and investment banks having a major presence in downtown Boston, those looking to get skilled in the ways of making the sales and navigating the seas of international finance will have ample opportunity to climb aboard with the likes of Banker's Life, Northwestern Mutual, Deutsche Bank, and Fidelity Investments.

How to find internships in Boston

While internship of all sorts can be found in Boston due to its status as a major American city, many of the positions available here tend to favor the high tech, banking, and health sectors. Those that have career aspirations in these subject areas will have a greater degree of success here than those with other interests.

The competition in Boston for internships is particularly fierce, as the 58 universities and colleges that comprise the region's post secondary system have created a massive pool of talent for local companies to draw upon.

Therefore, tailoring your applications with respect to the internships that you apply for is very important, as those that carpet bomb employers with applications that are generic will likely find the bottom of the round file consistently (e.g. the trash) instead of getting the callbacks that they were hoping to get.

In conclusion

Despite the challenges that applying for an internship in Boston entails, the reward of working with many of the leaders of the 21st century economy make the effort well worth it. Having inspired surroundings and an infinitely interesting city to explore on your time off add to the appeal, so stop dreaming and get to work – you'll only get that which you work for.