Internship Awareness Month
Why Should You Intern?
- Application of Education – Internships are a great way to apply and test what you have learned in the classroom to a real-world experience. Applying the skills and concepts learned in school to the workforce enhances understanding and experience in the field.
- Build Your Resume – In today’s job market, even entry-level positions want the right candidate to have some sort of professional experience. If you are competing for a position against someone with similar education and degree, all other things being equal, the candidate with internship experience will likely get the position over the one without. Having internship experience to illustrate on a resume, cover letter, and to speak about during an interview highlights your better qualifications.
- Networking – Being an intern garners new connections. Building a professional network is a great way to meet both new and seasoned professionals in the industry. If the company has other interns working for them, you will also have the opportunity to create professional bonds with one another. Additionally, an internship could lead to a permanent position or positive references when applying to future jobs.
- Professionalism – Working in an office environment will teach you about professionalism, give you a greater level of sophistication and competence. An internship will provide you with essential skills necessary in the workplace, such as communication, problem-solving, time management, organization, adaptability, and teamwork. Any new workplace culture will teach you how to approach employee relations, office politics, leadership structure, and more. Learning about general workplace culture as an intern can teach you how to maintain professional relationships with coworkers and how to communicate effectively with upper management in the future.
- Getting Your Feet Wet – Internships are valuable because they offer an opportunity to discover some of your strengths and weaknesses. When an intern makes a mistake, which you will invariably do, you learn how to address it in a teaching environment, and more importantly, move forward from it.
- Career Exploration – Interning provides you insight into what you do and don’t like. You may realize a specialization in the career path that piques your interest more than you expected and vice versa. According to Chegg.com, “over 34% of graduates report that internships “significantly” shifted their career direction.” While everyone hopes to walk away from an internship feeling passionate about the experience, there is a silver lining to be found if you didn’t enjoy it.
Importance of an Internship
The job market is constantly changing, growing in competition, especially during these challenging times, and with it, your talents, skills, and experience need to be a part of that growth process. The aggressive employment market could be an extraordinarily tough wake-up call for recent graduates and it’s only getting more competitive. However, adding a qualified internship to your creds will definitely set you above other candidates. Gaining industry experience has significant benefits whether you’re still in high school, in the midst of college, or looking to enter the workforce. Regardless of your education level, an internship will encourage and promote professional growth. According to CompareCamp.com, completing internships increases job offers by 16%. Students who accomplished at least one internship received an average of 1.17 job offers. In contrast, students who did not complete an internship received only 0.98 jobs on average.
The Takeaway
Just having a college degree is no longer enough to secure a job offer in today’s competitive work environment. Applicable work experience is now just as valuable as your degree. Therefore, internships have become an essential way to help candidates make themselves stand out. Being an intern gives you the opportunity to gain real-world experience, grow your resume, build a professional network, better gauge your interests, and so much more. According to monster.com, “figuring out what type of job you don’t want while you’re interning, can help prevent you from accepting an ill-fitting job later on.”