How Internships Can Help Your Career

August 17, 2011|Tips At work| No comments yet

Though education makes up an essential part of the road towards your career, it does not compose the entirety of it. Many careers do demand the proper degree or certificate to show that you have obtained the appropriate formal education. But increasingly, the competitive job market demands the type of experience and connections that an education alone cannot provide. Internships can help bridge that gap and make you a much more qualified and valuable candidate in the eyes of your future employer.

Perhaps you are getting ready to graduate soon. You have worked hard for four years of college to earn a bachelor’s degree in a field that you love and have the grades to prove how passionate you are about that career. When you enter that job market and send out your resume to potential employers, you will no longer be competing with just the other students in your major. You’ll now be competing with people who have the same type of education as you do but have actually been in the work force.

By choosing an internship during your college career, you will be adding valuable experience that puts you ahead of your classmates and levels the playing field when you dip your toes into the work force full-time.

Another way that internships can help college students is by providing a definitive career choice for them. A psychology major who completes an internship in a domestic violence shelter might realize that the environment is too stressful and that they don’t actually want to choose that path. Or they might realize they love the challenges it presents.

But perhaps you are not a new graduate at all. Maybe you are a seasoned worker who is looking to change careers entirely. An internship will help you gain valuable new skills and show that you have the interest, experience and determination to be as successful in your new career as you were in your old one.

Ultimately, while internships may pay very little or not at all, the value gained should outweigh that consideration. A well-planned internship can add to any job seeker’s resume by boosting the skills and knowledge of their chosen career.