The Benefit of an Internship

by Kirsten Stuart

When the time comes in your studies that your internship is required, do not treat it like just another class.  Embrace it for the opportunity that it is, to get real life experience in a career field  that you are considering.

Internships offer three key benefits; they give the intern the ability offer valuable work experience, help them develop marketable skills and “beef up” their resume, and best-case scenario an internship can lead to employment after college.

Some other benefits of completing your internship while still in college:

A)   Get the opportunity to get your foot in the door.  Getting the chance to show your abilities to a company you may want to work for after graduation is invaluable.

B)   Receive experience you cannot receive in a classroom. Studying is one thing; being able to apply that knowledge professionally is different.  In classroom application you learn the “what” and “why” of the subject matter.  Working in an internship, you learn how to apply that knowledge.

C)   Receive the opportunity to make contact with professionals in your field by showing your abilities.   By showing your abilities, you immerse yourself within a network that can offer references and possible job opportunities.

D)   Develop new skills.  It is good to have a focus in your major, but at the same time it does not hurt to get a more diverse set of skills.  This is what makes one more marketable.

When choosing your internship, choose one that will maximize your potential and make your skill set more marketable than other graduates.  Do not choose an internship that is “easy” or irrelevant.  If you do you are not only wasting the employer’s time you are wasting your own. Finding out that the career path you have chosen is not what you anticipated is much simpler to adapt  to while in college than finding out it is not what you wanted post graduation.    

You can read more at:

http://www.i-to-i.com/benefits-of-internship.html