June 2, 2016

These Successful People Got Their Start As Interns

Internships are important. If you want to ultimately find a job, build a career, and be successful, you need to actively pursue internships. Some of the world’s most successful people got their start as interns.

Graphic representing Internship concept near tablet

Nearly every company in every industry and in every niche offers internships. Whether you want to work in entertainment, politics, social media, software development, finance, or any other niche, you should search for an internship. It’s one of the absolute best ways to build your resume, gain experience, and test out potential employers.

Learn More About Internships

We found a cool post on Inc.com that looks at famous people who got their start as interns. Many of these people found internships in totally unrelated fields to where they ultimately landed, but they all had internships or low paying jobs when they were starting out. This is how they got their foot in the door and worked their way up the professional ladder. You can do the same thing. It all starts with an internship.

Let’s take a look at where some of the world’s most successful people got their start as interns according to Inc.com:

  • Katia Beauchamp – Cofounder of BirchBox – Interned at NBC Universal
  • Kayvon Beykpout – Cofounder of Periscope – Interned at a media agency and at Autodesk
  • Neil Blumental – Cofounder of Warby Parker – Interned at McKinsey & Company
  • Sean Combs – Hip Hop Artist and Founder of Bad Boy Records – Interned at Uptown Records
  • Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft – Interned as a Congressional Page for Washington State Legislature and for the House of Representatives
  • Lori Greiner – Host of Shark Tank and QVC – Interned at The Chicago Tribune
  • Elizabeth Holmes – Founder of Theranos – Interned at the Genome Institute in Singapore
  • Ryan Hoover – Founder of Product Hunt – Interned at InstantAction
  • Steve Jobs – Founder of Apple – Interned at Hewlett-Packard
  • Daymond John – Host of Shark Tank and Founder of FUBU – Apprenticed as an electrician
  • Betsey Johnson – Fashion Designer and Founder of Betsey Johnson Fashion Label – Started career working at Mademoiselle Magazine
  • Payal Kadakia – Founded Classtivity – Interned at JPMorgan and Monitor Deloitte
  • Andy Katz-Mayfield – Cofounder of Harry’s – Interned at Bain & Company and Worked For National Basketball Association
  • Max Levchin – CoFounded PayPal, Slide, and Affirm – Worked at local college computer lab in Kiev, Ukraine
  • Shan-Lyn Ma – Cofounder of Zola – Interned at Yahoo
  • Kavin Mittal – Founder of Hike Messenger – Interned at McLaren Racing, Goldman Sachs, and Google
  • Elon Musk – Founder of Tesla Motors – Interned at Bank of Nova Scotia, Microsoft Canada, Rocket Science Games, and Pinnacle Research
  • Evan Spiegel – Founder of Snapchat – Interned for Red Bull (unpaid) and Abraxis BioScience
  • Kevin Systrom – Cofounder of Instagram – Interned at Odeo
  • Gary Vaynerchuk – Founder of VaynerMedia and #AskGaryVee Show and Daily Vee Host – Started career bagging ice for $2 per hour

Visit Inc.com to learn more about how these successful entrepreneurs got their start through internships. It’s interesting stuff that should motivate and inspire you to find an internship.

JobMonkey has tons of internship information and internship listings available to you online for FREE. Find an internship today. You’ll be amazed at where an internship can take you.

See Also:

Sign up for our newsletter!