Ah spring! It's the time of year when college students and recent graduates start looking for summer internships. It seems like only yesterday (ok 12 year ago, but now I'm dating myself) that I was out pounding the pavement, sending resumes and trying to find the best place for a summer internship (read: any place that would take me!).
I also remember thinking that I was never going to find an internship. Much like the economy and job market now, I was up against something very similar each year I was internship hunting. I was facing recent graduates and entry-level professionals who had more experience and were also happy to work for little to no pay just to have an experience to bolster their resume. How could I compete?
I remember one spring, I spent my whole spring break on interviews trying to find an internship for the summer while most of my friends whooped it up in Mexico and Florida at the beaches. It was nearing the end of the week, and I had already had 5 interviews, each one of them telling me I didn't have enough experience to intern with them. Finally, the last interview, I was asked the dreaded question, "Why should I hire you for the summer? You don't have any experience." I looked the interviewer right in the eye and said what was in my gut: "That's why you should hire me. I have no experience, you can train me any way you want me to be trained and teach me the things you want to teach me and I'll do them. I'm a blank slate ready to learn. And if you don't give me the opportunity to learn, who will ever give me the chance? I just need one person to take a chance and teach me." I walked out the door with an offer and a start date. The interviewer said it was the best answer she had ever heard to that question. This internship led to every other internship and job I've had in the past 12 years.
As someone who had wonderful and valuable internships throughout my college experience, and as someone that works with volunteers and interns on a daily basis, I can not emphasize enough the importance of internships and summer volunteering.
Being an intern is not just being "free/cheap labor" or "summer help". It's about immersing yourself in the culture, learning the lingo and skills needed for your proposed profession, meeting professionals in the business (that may be able to help you later on), gaining an insight as to what your future job will be like, and perhaps more than anything, it's your chance to determine "is this really what I want to be doing when I get out of school?" (And it's OK to walk away from an internship and answer NO to this question!!)
At Save The Bay, I work closely with our staff to ensure that the internship opportunities we offer will have students leaving with more knowledge than they came in with, that they have the necessary and important skills that they can add to their resume, some sort of hands-on learning experience, and/or a tangible product they can add to their portfolios.
I always like to remind students when I'm at recruitment fairs or doing interviews that one door opens another in terms of internships and volunteer work, that we all have to start somewhere to get experience and those experiences lead us to bigger and better things - including jobs.
Internships are not always glamorous. You're not going to walk right in and know everything and be perfect, and if you think you are, check that ego at the door. As an intern, you are there to learn. Have a can-do attitude, ask questions, take on tasks with gusto, be kind and gracious to those you are working with, be punctual, be accurante, be honest - tell them if you're bored/overwhelmed, ask for more work, seek opportunities to learn besides what is being handed to you, dress and act to match the culture of the workplace, don't spend your day texting away or on Facebook. Leave an impresion on them that will last a lifetime!
And if you can't find a summer internship, seek out area non-profits that are of interest to you (and maybe related to your area of study) and offer to volunteer your time assisting them. Maybe they need someone to help answer phones so staff can take vacation time. Perhaps you can help with filing, events, data entry, who knows! Just because it isn't an "internship" by name, doesn't mean you can't make summer volunteering a valuable learning experience and take away experiences that will be important for a resume or job search.
Remember, your impression on those you're working with will lead to recommendations - and you want that to be a favorable and memorable impression for all the right reasons! Make the most of your internship and volunteering experiences - you never know where it will land you!
