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Internship — applying and reporting

Sommaire

Candidater, se présenter, rendre compte. C'est le thème le plus directement utile : il te servira en épreuve et pour trouver ton stage.

1. Vocabulary

EnglishFrançais
an internship, a work placement (UK)un stage
an intern, a traineeun stagiaire
an apprenticeshipune alternance, un apprentissage
a CV (UK) / a resume (US)un CV
a cover letter, a covering letterune lettre de motivation
to apply for a positionpostuler à un poste
an applicant, a candidateun candidat
a job interviewun entretien d'embauche
a recruiter, a hiring managerun recruteur
a reference, a refereeune référence, la personne qui la donne
a probation periodune période d'essai
a supervisor, a tutorun maître de stage, un tuteur
duties, responsibilitiesles missions, les responsabilités
an achievementune réalisation
strengths / weaknessespoints forts / points faibles
soft skills / hard skillscompétences comportementales / techniques
an internship reportun rapport de stage

2. Writing a CV

SectionContent
Personal detailsName, phone, email, city, LinkedIn or portfolio link
Personal statementTwo or three lines: who you are, what you are looking for
EducationReverse chronological order, most recent first
Work experienceJob title, company, dates, achievements in bullet points
SkillsTechnical skills, languages, certifications
InterestsShort, and only if relevant

Différence culturelle à connaître : dans les pays anglo-saxons, on n'indique ni photo, ni âge, ni situation familiale, ni nationalité sur un CV. Ces informations sont perçues comme un risque de discrimination, et un CV qui les contient paraît amateur.

Start each bullet point with an action verb and add a measurable result whenever possible:

Weak:   Responsible for the helpdesk.
Better: Handled 20+ support tickets a day, reducing average
        resolution time from 48 to 24 hours.

Weak:   I worked on a website.
Better: Developed a responsive internal website in PHP and MySQL,
        used daily by 40 employees.

Useful action verbs: developed, designed, implemented, configured, migrated, automated, tested, documented, trained, improved, reduced, coordinated.

3. The cover letter

Three paragraphs, one page maximum:

  1. Why this company — show you know what they do. Never a generic letter.
  2. Why me — relevant skills and experience, with one concrete example.
  3. What next — availability, dates of the internship, request for an interview.
Dear Ms Clarke,

I am currently studying for a BTS SIO (Higher Technician Certificate
in IT Services) and I am looking for a ten-week internship starting
in May, in the field of network and systems administration.

Your company's work on secure infrastructure for local authorities
particularly interests me. During my studies I have configured
firewalls, set up an Active Directory domain and implemented a
backup solution with UrBackup. I am also familiar with Linux
administration and shell scripting.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how I could contribute to
your team. I am available for an interview at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,
Alya Dupont

4. The job interview

QuestionWhat they really want to know
Tell me about yourself.Your professional profile in 90 seconds — not your life story
Why do you want to work here?Whether you have done your research
What are your strengths?Two or three, each backed by an example
What is your main weakness?A real one, plus what you do about it
Tell me about a difficult situation you handled.Your problem-solving method → use STAR
Where do you see yourself in five years?Whether you have a direction
Do you have any questions for us?Your motivation — always have two ready

Questions you can ask: What would a typical day look like for an intern? Which technologies does the team use? How is the team organised? What would you expect from me in the first month?

After the interview, send a short thank-you email within 24 hours: it is standard practice in professional English-speaking contexts and it costs nothing.

5. The STAR method

Structure for answering any behavioural question:

LetterStepExample
SituationSet the contextDuring my internship, the company's backup server ran out of storage.
TaskWhat you had to doI was asked to find a solution before the next weekly backup.
ActionWhat you actually didI analysed the retention policy, removed obsolete snapshots and set up an automated cleanup script.
ResultThe measurable outcomeWe recovered 40 % of the storage and backups have run without failure since.

Le piège classique est de rester bloqué sur la Situation et d'oublier le Result. C'est pourtant le résultat qui prouve la compétence.

6. Talking about your internship

Structure attendue, à l'écrit comme à l'oral :

  1. The company: sector, size, location, activity.
  2. The department and your supervisor.
  3. Your tasks: what you were asked to do.
  4. The tools and technologies you used.
  5. Difficulties and how you overcame them.
  6. Skills gained, technical and personal.
  7. Assessment: what it confirmed or changed in your career plans.

Useful phrases

Attention aux temps : le stage est terminé et daté → preterit (I worked, I set up, I learned). Le present perfect ne s'emploie que pour un bilan sans date (I have gained experience in…). Confondre les deux est l'erreur la plus fréquente sur ce sujet.

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