subject: The Importance Of Internships For College Students [print this page] Both unpaid and paid internships for college students give you a valuable chance to get work experience in a student's preferred field before graduation. Finishing an internship can help a student determine if a selected career is actually the ideal fit for them, and through an internship, students can establish contacts or even earn college credit while working in a part-time, short-term position. In addition, within a competitive job market, internships for young students give recent graduates an advantage over other potential candidates which don't have any related work experience.
Employers like to hire interns simply because they generally work for little or no pay and are prepared to complete lower-level tasks that appear mundane to full-time employees. When looking for full-time employees, many employers choose to hire former interns who worked well with their company all of which will require little additional training to begin a job. Employers maybe even offer full-time jobs for their successful interns, effective after graduation.
Tips for Finding Internships for College Students:
Determine what your job goals are for the future, and look for an internship that will help you achieve them.
The internship most recent to what for you to do might not be paid or with a large and well-known company, but it's important to think about the long-term benefits. An internship with a smaller organization that offers you more responsibility will often look better to a prospective employer than a single with a large corporation where your primary tasks would make coffee and answer the phones.
Approach employers rather than waiting for them to find your resume. In the event you simply apply to internships posted online, you will be competing with lots of other students for the position. It may be more productive to find a company you want to work for, and make contact with someone in the department in which you're interested, telling them that you might want the chance to find out more about them.
Complete multiple internships. An internship will assist you to build up your resume, so after completing one, consider doing another. The second internship may be easier to find because you have already got experience.
What about Money?
Many internship are unpaid and interns instead receive college credit toward their degree. But there's also many paid internships available, though this heavily depends on the intern site itself, for example, nonprofit organizations rarely have the funds to pay interns. On the other hand, a business major interning having a wealthy bank may be very likely to receive monetary compensation.
When Should You Intern?
Traditionally, college students decided to complete internships throughout the summer or waited before the final year of college. But often, because of financial reasons or simply because they need to make time to complete multiple internships, many students now choose to intern younger and through the fall or spring semesters while going for a full course load.
Without internship experience, college students rarely have useful information to put on a resume. Employers prefer to see work experience in a relevant field as opposed to part-time work in an unrelated area. These days, since unemployment rates are high among recent college graduates, many alumni who cannot find full-time work are accepting unpaid internships to gain additional work experience. But both unpaid and paid internships for college students have become essential in order to enter into a career after graduation.
