Why Internships are Important and How to Find Them

Photo Credit / Charlese Freeman There are a number of websites that dedicated to helping college students find the right internship.

Charlese Freeman

Student Life Editor

College students constantly hear the same word tossed around – internships. Why are they so important? Internships are the key to creating a career. “Show me the degree”, used to be the mindset in the working world, but this is no longer the case. Not even a degree and good grades guarantee a job after college.

Here are some tips on how to snag a good internship and gain experience for a future career.

The first and most important tip for finding internships is a solid resume. The resume is like a child that needs to be nourished daily. A student’s resume should be updated often. It is wise for students to have their resume reviewed before submitting it to any employer. Students can utilize the career center on campus to help make adjustments to their resume.

This next tip is a bit of a cliché, but nonetheless still very important. The “it’s not what you know, but who you know” notion can take a student very far. No one is expected to know everyone, but utilizing the resources on a college campus is a good idea.

With its digital touch on every aspect of life, technology has made finding internships a breeze. There are many websites where employers make job posts. LinkedIn, Indeed, and Internships.com are just some of the few outlets that students can use to find internships.

According to Forbes Magazine, the key is to think expansively about who really is in your network; it’s way more than the five people you interact with every week. In fact, before you graduate and while you’re still on campus, seek out professors or administrators for advice, connect with them on LinkedIn, and keep in touch with them. Students should take advantage of unique opportunities to build networking relationships that can help them for the rest of their careers.

Make good impressions on professors. Don’t harass them, but make sure they know your name and face. Believe it or not, staff and faculty are presented with internship opportunities frequently. They decide who to recommend, but they can’t recommend a student they do not know or who do not show interest.

Another great tip for finding internships is: take what you can get! The internship is simply to gain experience, so take every opportunity that is present. Just because an internship is not specific to a student’s field of study this is still a great opportunity to get a foot in the door.

If a student is able to obtain an internship, it is important to make a good impression. Students should exchange numbers with their employers and co-workers as a great networking opportunity.

These are just some of the basic tips that students should consider when they are applying or looking for internships, but there are countless more.

Finding Internships requires drive and hard work. Students can use any method that works for them, but the results are produced with hard work.

Email Charlese at:

cfreeman2@live.esu.edu