How to Make an Internship Benefit You
Do you want to learn more about how an internship can benefit you? This quick read and accompanied video is a great way to learn more, maybe on your lunch break.
Real-life work experience paired with higher education often results in more employment opportunities and career advancement. Yes, you may have jobs before, or even a career, but that experience may not match the career path you are moving into. Many students need help balancing the two, which is where experiential learning comes into play. On top of gaining experience, there are other ways you can benefit from an internship.
What is an internship?
An internship is a learning experience that offers practical tasks related to the student's career interest. Traditionally internships take place in person to give the intern a professional learning experience, but they can also take place online. Internships are for a set period of time, are generally unpaid and can be used as a way to earn credits.
Other options for experiential learning can be micro-internships, student teaching or cooperative experience, or co-op. Co-ops are generally paid and require a longer commitment over. For example, a student would work full-time for one term and then go to school full-time the following term. Another option would be to do both part-time over the same term.
Why should you complete an internship?
An internship gives you specific, job-related experience while allowing you to "try out" your intended career. You get to learn what the job entails and ensure it's something you want to do. Internships can also help your studies, as you can apply your experience to questions.
While working as an intern, you'll meet new people, most of them in your intended career field. These are people you can add to your professional network. You should list your internship on your resume to increase your hiring potential; it may even be something you can use to negotiate a higher salary.
Where do you find internship opportunities?
Just like when searching for a job, there are many places to look for internship opportunities. Here are some of those places to look.
Career Services
GradLeaders, aka The Bridge
LinkedIn
Internships.com
Job search engines
The specific company you want to intern for
When searching online, use terms like fellowship, gig work, returnship or return to work program. These will help broaden your search, particularly if your career field is small.
There is a lot of flexibility with internships now; they don't have to be 20 hours a week and all summer. You'll still get a lot of experience and knowledge by working a few hours a week or one entire month in the summer. And when you are doing your internship, make sure to take a bit of time and write down the new skills you're learning or gaining experience on. Enjoy your internship, and let it work for you.
For more tips on how to find internships and how they can benefit your career, watch this video with Outreach and Career Programs Manager Jill New.