Internship Questions and Answers
Information from a college career counselor about internships
Feb 16, 2007
College students: do you have questions about internships? To answer some frequently asked questions, I turned to Wendy Rose, a career counselor at The Career Center at Colorado State University.
Q: How useful are internships at helping students get a job after graduation?
A: Internships are critical to landing a position after graduation. Students who come into my office at the Colorado State University Career Center who have done one or more internships are at least twice as likely to find a permanent position for several reasons. One reason is because employers seek out students who have prior experience in the workplace. Employers reported that anywhere from 60% to 85% of new hires were from their intern program. The 2006 Vault Report states that 75% of undergraduates graduating last year held one or more internships prior to graduation. This is extremely significant. In addition, there are some sectors of the employment market like the government that are increasingly difficult to obtain significant positions in unless you enter through their internship programs.
Q: What are some other benefits of internships?
A: Besides helping them land jobs, the student knows more about the workplace in general. They have a clearer understanding of what they are looking for in a job. Not only have they developed more skills to put on their resume, they have a better picture of work environments. It may be that a student ends up realizing that they do not wish to pursue a particular job, but then they are not committed to working for an extended period in something they do not enjoy. That is extremely valuable. The experience of practicing searching for a position, submitting application materials, and having interviews is also valuable.
Q: Are there advantages to having a summer internship as opposed to an internship during the semester?
A: Well, in a summer internship you may have more time to immerse yourself in an environment and not be distracted by school. Summer internships are more common and may be easier to find. However, internships may or may not be paid and this can pose a problem if students are trying to make money over the summer.
Q: Where should students go to find internships?
A: The most reliable avenue to finding internships is the Career Center of your school. Employers post on University and College Career websites that are password protected for students. Students who wish to do an internship should visit their Career Services Office to start. Career Fairs are also a good place to find internships. The professors in your major may have contacts with companies as well. There are plenty of websites that have internship postings but these can be overwhelming unless you know how to conduct a specific search. Meet with a Career Counselor to help you understand the best strategies for Internet searching. Employers almost always post their internships on their websites so with careful searching you can find many things to apply for online.
Q: What should a student look for in a company to intern with? How would you define a "good internship"?
A: A "good internship" has intentional learning goals and may be any monitored work or service. Learning goals may include helping you apply knowledge learned in the classroom to the workplace. You may also gain a knowledge of qualifications and duties of a position and explore your interest in the field. Any internship is also good where you gain an understanding of the skills and knowledge required in the workplace. Maybe the most important benefit is that you gain decision making skills, critical thinking skills, and increased confidence and self-esteem.
Q: What should students look out for when looking for an internship?
A: Just be sure to ask questions. What will I be spending most of my time doing at your company? Are projects already created for this internship or will someone be responsible for giving me assignments? These questions can help students understand the nature of the internship. Also, internships may be part of an educational program and carefully monitored and evaluated for academic credit or they can be part of a learning plan that the intern develops. Students need to know if the employer requires that they obtain academic credit (sometimes this is because of their insurance). If so, the student will have to have the internship approved by their major and pay for the academic credit.
Q: Do you think companies sometimes exploit student interns, and if so, what can students do to avoid these situations?
A: It can work both ways. Companies often invest a great deal of time and money into interns. Student interns often cannot be effective earners until after a good deal of training. At the same time, students sometimes leave an internship after only a little while and the company or organization must invest more resources in finding a replacement. More often students do not recognize the economic cost to the organization in providing these short-term opportunities. The company can benefit if interns stay on for a significant segment of time so it benefits the organization to make the internship appealing and worthwhile. 25% of companies hire their interns on after the internship so just investigating an internship and asking careful questions can help students know if the intentions of internships are exploitative.
Q: Is there anything else students should know about internships?
A: Often and early are the key concepts students should take away for internships. Start to investigate internship opportunities in your freshman or sophomore year because it can also help you decide on a major. You may want to approach an organization about creating an internship and this could take some time. Also remember that internships build key skill areas on your resume so look for opportunities that will enhance your skills in some way or build specific skill sets like writing or computer knowledge.
Related articles:
College internship opportunities
Internship employment questions
Student career planning advice
