INTERNSHIPS
An internship can help you gain skills that can be applied to future jobs. Internships may be paid or unpaid, and they tend to last about the length of a school semester or a summer break. If you are entering a new career, there are many benefits to completing an internship.
Test the Waters
You can read books and take tests for years, but applying what you’ve learned is a whole different ballgame. Completing an internship can help you apply what you’d studied but now are applying to a real-world setting. Because you’ll be mentored by a seasoned professional during your internship, you can see what the job is like and and you can gain insight into what a career in that field entails.
An internship also enables you to see what the work setting looks like, and if it’s a place you can picture spending your career doing. If you’re going to have an internship at a news station, you’ll be able to determine if you like the fast pace and busy atmosphere of television news programming. If you’re interning at a research library, you may find the quiet, solitary work makes for too long of a day.
If you’re not sure if a specific career is right for you, an internship can help you figure that out. Likewise, it can also confirm that you’ve picked the right career path.
Gain Needed Experience
Most employers want you to have some experience before they will hire you. If you’ve never held a job, your resume may not appeal to many employers. Having an internship on your resume gives you a chance to gain the needed experience and to build your resume.
Through an internship, you increase your knowledge and skills. Doing that gives you greater confidence and a sense of accomplishment that future employers will be excited to see. While you are completing your internship, you can also increase your communication, organizational and teamwork skills, all of which will come in handy in future positions.
Make Helpful Connections
The purpose of an internship is also to help you make useful connections. The person or people who manage you during your internship may become mentors, who can provide helpful information and who can help guide you during your career. You can use them as references for future jobs, because they have seen you in action and they know your competencies.
In some cases, an internship can even lead to a permanent position. Many companies bring on some of the interns they’ve used and hire them for full-time positions, provided they have available positions. Once a company knows you and sees that you’re interested in a job and you’re skilled, they are more likely to hire you for their team.
You can do one or several internships to explore if a career is right for you. The more internships you do, the more experience, skills, confidence and connections you gain. These can all put you ahead of the curve when entering a job market, whether right out of school or when switching careers.
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