Is An Internship Right For You?

You will also need an internship with a either the company you are looking to work with or at least a well respected company in the same field to get your foot in the door of the best places to work. Summer internships allow you to get firsthand experience in the field you have chosen to work in while still attending school in the non summer months.

In the US, internships are usually on the job training programs setup by the company. Some however, are actual research internships, where someone researches a topic on behalf of the company they are interning for and produces a written study based on their findings. In either type of internship, the company doing the interning is hoping to use it as a way to test and train potential employees. There is no assurance that the company you are interning for will hire you after the internship period is over, however, it is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door, with employers hiring those who have interned with them more likely than not according to surveys.

What Is An Internship?

While defined by the dictionary as “any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession” this hardly does justice to what an internship is today. The modern internship can trace its roots back to the medieval times when various craftsmen would take on apprentices to work under them and learn the trade to become craftsmen themselves someday. The key being that after training, they would agree to continue working for the craftsmen for a period of time. With modern internships, you are no longer required to work for the employer after your internship ends. You may test the waters and find that a certain career track isn’t what you wanted after all and move on to another. You may be paid while in an internship, but it is not required. Often, the unpaid internship will simply count as college credit.

What To Know Going In

There are many questions you may have about your summer internship. It is a good idea to find out as much as you can before agreeing to any kind of internship so that you do not waste your time or the time of a potential employer. Some of these questions are listed here.

Do I Want To Intern?

One of the first questions when looking at an internship is about what you will receive for your trouble. The first and most important question is whether or not the company you are interning for is somewhere you would like to work after you graduate and perhaps make a career out of. There is no point in interning at an accounting office if you know you hate accounting, regardless of their acceptance of you. If you have found a position in the field you are interested in an internship not only gives you in the field experience and training for the career you have chosen, it also starts building a network of contact for you early on. You will now know people in the industry. This can be invaluable when trying to find the perfect job after graduation.

What Are The Specifics?

When looking at a summer internship, you should be aware of the specific details as well. Does it pay? If so, how does the pay come?  Sometimes these will be hourly positions or paid by stipend. Even if the internship is not paid, you should not immediately discount it however, due to the likelihood of employment with that company down the road. The duration of the internship should be considered as well.

Where To Find More Information Online

Internship.com

This site has tens of thousands of internship positions available at nearly 20 thousand companies. They are setup as US only sites that can help you find the internship you want and help find one close to you. They have an Internship predictor which can help narrow down the results to something more likely to be suited to your area of study and other preferences. You can still search for internships outside of the recommendations made by the predictor however. They have a mobile application that can offer much of the functionality of the website from the convenience of an app on your smart phone. There are sections on their website devoted to those looking for internships as well as for employers who are offering those positions. They have a section for educators to help those who teach keep track of how active their students are when searching for internships. This site can be found at http://www.internships.com/.

Online Summer Jobs.com

This is a simple site with a search for the type of summer job you are looking for as well as a location field so you are not searching for jobs that are a thousand miles away. They return listings from many different companies and their search is powered by the indeed search engine, which is well thought of for finding summer internships as many employers post at one of their affiliates. This website can be found at http://onlinesummerjobs.com/.

Intern web.com

This is an excellent site for finding internships online. They offer a search feature to find the internships you might be interested in as well as offering listing of available internships for the 2011 summer season. They show the type of job, the company who has posted it and the location that the work will be done. They have sections for students including resources about summer internships and they have a section for employers as well, making it as easy as possible to get your internships out there and available to the students you would like to consider as potential employees. This site can be found at http://www.internweb.com/