Internships That Will Help You Begin Your Career

Green internship road sign with arrow pointing up. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

As John Challenger pointed out in a previous post, Job Seekers Increasingly Optimistic About Job Market, the available career prospects are really looking up. While people are convinced that new careers are just around the corner, we still have to face the fact that 36 percent of the people interviewed for the 2014 study mentioned in that post had been unemployed for at least a year. This means that, even though the job market is getting stronger, the competition for jobs is still going to be fierce.

We all know that companies look for experience when hiring and that lack of real-world experience can be a big problem for those just starting out in their careers. With the competition for jobs being at an all time high and so many qualified applicants being in the market for work, what can a newly or soon-to-be graduated student do to increase their chances of finding a job upon entering the workforce?

To put it in the simplest terms, internships can provide the experience new graduates need to launch their careers successfully. Internships are offered in paid and unpaid formats, both of which can prove far more valuable than any monetary rewards that might be included in the internship package. For students, an internship may also provide educational credits towards coursework.

While even the paid internships often offer very little in the way of monetary rewards and an unpaid internship might actually cost the intern an investment of time and money, these coveted positions provide an opportunity to gain real-world working experience and connections within major corporations or organizations. This experience provides valuable padding to your resume that can help you create the career you want.

In addition to work experience, internships often lead to offers of regular employment within the company or creating the necessary connections to get the job you want after graduation. That summer spent volunteering instead of lounging on the beach could very well turn into a career and life changing event.

Books like The Internship Bible by Mark Oldman and many other similar resources can provide some great insights into where to look and what to expect from an internship opportunity. Some of these guides can even help you identify the internships that are best suited to your situation by telling you whether the offer includes housing, special perks, education credits or other rewards. It is never too early to start as even teens have been able to find summer internship programs so you should start looking for opportunities now. After all, how can you afford to put off something that might help you create the promising career you dream about?

What are your thoughts?  Is there an internship program offered by a company you work for or would like to work for?  Feel free to share it in the comments section.

Author Bio –

Gerald Buck is the editor of www.ejobapplications.com, a website offering free downloadable job application forms, career information, job interview and resume tips, as well as much more. He can be reached via email at buckejobapplications@gmail.com.