Landing the Perfect Student Internship
Possessing a college degree is not enough to guarantee that one will get a job after graduation. Businesses want employees who have some sort of marketable skills and work experience and therefore often pass on recent graduates. Having a 4.0 GPA often means nothing to an employer unless it comes with resume that mentions something other than the clubs one participated in. To avoid finding one’s self in this sort of catch twenty-two situation, one should spend at least one semester as an intern.
Internships provide students with necessary work experience and can often teach one more about life than any semester of Calculus ever will. All the education in the world means nothing if one doesn’t know how to apply what they have learned in the classroom. An internship can help one learn how to apply all the facts and figures they’ve studied endlessly towards something practical.
Having an internship under one’s belt, can be the difference between getting a job and continuing to live in a friend’s basement in more than one way. Students who make time for an internship between studying and switching their major for the umpteenth time gain more than just padding to their resumes. True, employers will be delighted to see the list of skills one acquired during a semester well spent, but internships also provide the opportunity to network.
Getting a job right after college often depends on more than just having a seal on a diploma. Who one knows can make all the difference in the world. Established employees at the company one interns at can help act as guiding light on the path to a better career by helping one locate an entry level job, as in the field of healthcare. The individuals one meets while interning often make for great letters of recommendation and personal references.
When employers see these professionals listed as references, they know that they have personal experience working with the individual in question. The professional acquaintances gained during an internship know not to recommend a person who in often tardy, can’t abide by dress code rules, or steals office supplies. They are staking their career related reputation on the fact that the individual they are backing would make a good employ.
Because of this, applicants who have served their time as interns are more appealing as employees. Between gaining job related experience, having the chance to network, and obtaining professional references, those who chose to intern, as oppose to spending their summer perfecting their beer pong strategies, have the upper hand in their job search.