One of the most common ways for students to gain work experience is through internships. However, applying for and obtaining one is sometimes not as easy as others make it seem.
Emilio Lorenzo, assistant director of career advisement in the Office of Career Development, offered some tips for landing the perfect internship.
What is an internship?
“An internship should be treated like a job. Internships are usually eight weeks to three months at a time, and they are your opportunity to do many things — exploring your career interests, growing with an organization, and developing various work skills. The beauty of an internship is that it’s usually an entry-level job, and they are not expecting you to have all the necessary skills just to be hired. Instead, they aim to help develop you. In an internship, you get to put all of the things you’ve learned in your academia into practice without the commitment of thinking, ‘I have to do this for the rest of my life,’ or ‘I now have to work with this organization for three years.’ Chances are you’ll just test it out and see if you like it. If you do great, you now have a relationship with an organization and work experience. If you don’t, then that’s great, too — you figured out that wasn’t for you.”
How should students choose their internships?
“First, it starts at figuring out what your preferred career choice is. It’s not enough to know your major. Figure out the things you can do with your major. Here, in Career Development, we have career profiles that break down that major, and it gives students all of the inside and outside of the career choices they can do. For example, psychology majors never think that their major would be good for human resources, but you would be surprised. So, before applying to an internship, you should do an informational interview so that you can learn more about the position of interest. This does two things for you: give you an idea of a day in the life of this person and help you decide if that is something that interests you enough to do. Informational interviews help save you from wasting your time because, a lot of the times, you get an internship, and then, when it comes down to the actual work, it’s not what you thought you would be doing. But that could have been avoided by just finding out more beforehand.”
Where should students look for internships?
“There are a lot of unverified internship sites like Career Builder and Monster. However, sources I would recommend are Career Shark, Internships.com and LinkedIn. Also, students can try going to their school’s career fairs because, many times, they have great internship opportunities. Outside of the reactive opportunity of clicking and applying, students shouldn’t be afraid to be proactive. I highly recommend sharing your career interests with your faculty members. They are your stakeholders; at some point in time, they were sitting exactly where you are. They can give you advice, and some may even tell you what steps they took to get to where they are right now. Plus, you never know what connections they have and what they will be able to help you with until you take the initiative to speak to them. You should also make it a point to meet with your career adviser because we do our best to connect students with employers. I always say a hit list isn’t just for assassins. Make it your point to go out and network. Figure out what the top companies [are] or types of experiences you would like to obtain, and reach for them. Cross those things off the list, and create an avenue for yourself.”
Should students shy away from internships that are just for personal interest?
“Definitely not. I strongly believe that student’s should always pursue their passions. So, yeah, I get it, it’s not apples to apples to your projected career path, but you never know what skills and experiences will be helpful in the long run. There are so many different opportunities that can not only satisfy your personal interests but will also help you build strong writing, communication, and relationship skills that are greatly needed in the workforce. Skill sets are transferable. You can have a great product, but at the end of the day, it’s about how you package and sell a product that will convince someone to buy it. So, yeah, you took an internship that is not completely connected to your work field, but that brings diversity to your skill sets. And all you have to do is say, “How can I apply this?’”
What is NSU’s process for internships?
“The first thing students should do is meet with their academic advisers, especially if you are trying to get academic credit for it, which I highly recommend. Academic Advisement will explain to you everything you need to do on the academic side to receive credit, including which internships you can tie in with your major and the paperwork process. At the same time you are meeting with your academic adviser, you want to make sure you visit career development because we [help] you actually obtain the position. However, if you do not want academic credit, then the process does become a lot easier. You would then come directly to career advisement, and we will help you with resumes, cover letters and schedules. Trying to receive academic credit is what tends to make the process a little harder, but to try and soften that process, I would highly suggest coming into your academic advisers office with as much information on the internship as you can because the ultimate goal, when trying to receive academic credit, is to find a way to match this internship with your major.”
What are NSU’s deadlines for internships?
“The deadlines do change. They can be different based on each department. But, to find out more information about deadlines for a given academic term, students should make an appointment with their academic adviser. The deadlines are only important if you really want academic credit. If not, there really is no time limit.”
For more information on internships, visit the Office of Career Development.
