Go to school. Get good grades, join a few clubs. Then you start thinking ahead to what you want to do over the summer. You know, besides binge watch TV and soak up the sun, and, oh yeah, SLEEP. Mm, the very idea of sleep makes me happy. But there is one thing that may have slipped your mind or one that your advisor mentioned. Namely, an internship. Why do an internship? Sure, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields probably need internships to do junior rocket science, but I’m an English/Psychology/Language/Social Work/Art/other/ Undeclared Major.
Maybe you know what you want to do, maybe you don’t. But one thing you do need to know is how much an internship will benefit you in the long run.
1. Get your feet wet.
Doing an internship, even a general one, allows you to test drive career paths and find out what parts you like about a certain field, or even if maybe that field isn’t for you. For example, finding your deal breakers, but more importantly, what makes your heart beat a little faster. Finding out that working in an office really “grinds your gears” should indicate that you should look into other options going forward. And at the same time, if you hate change, maybe office life is for you.
2. Communication
Doing an internship is like being part of a group project. But since people are getting paid they generally show up more. Generally. Doing an internship means that the limits of your communication will be tested, which is good because these are our growing years and gaining a new vocabulary related to the internship -- also known as jargon -- and staying office friendly is a very valuable skill to have moving forward.
3. Organization
Similar to communication, but slightly different. Staying organized means marking it down in your phone or calendar and showing up early -- because you want to make a good impression -- and keeping whatever tasks are assigned to you clearly marked, filed, and most importantly, worked on consistently until completion.
4. Leadership
Doing an internship is on you. You have to find it -- although you should have help from family, friends, and the student affairs office or equivalent at your school -- you have to show up and put in the hours every week. Sure, some internships are portrayed as little more than coffee fetching and donut gathering, but those aren’t the internships I’m talking about, or even, legal ones if they don’t actually assist in your profession preparation. An internship should provide you with the opportunity to take initiative and grow as a person, someone who leads by example and can head back to school assured of what they want to pursue. And a few recommendation letters from impressed bosses doesn’t hurt either!
5. Credit
Some universities or classes require an internship and your professor, advisor, or the office of student affairs will have someone dedicated to helping students find and land internships. Even if they don’t require them, a lot of universities will give you credit for doing so many hours a week, so long as you can articulate why this internship is important to you and your future goals. So no actual money involved, but If nothing else an internship could help cross off some elective hours.
So, there you have it, some reasons to beat the rush and look for a few good internships, because whether you know where you want to end up in five years, it never hurts to pad that resume out.
