The importance of college internships.
The main goal of a college education at most is to prepare you to achieve great things in your chosen career. One can say that education and gaining life skills is an important part of preparing you for a greater course career-wise, it is quite clear now that importance is being placed on the value of practical, hands-on learning which can only be gotten through internships.
Before we go on, let us quickly do a 101 on an internship in case you don’t know what I am talking about. An internship is a structured work experience related to a student’s major/or career goal, or better still it is the chance as a college student to get supervised by a professional in your field. In this article, we will try to show you the importance of a college internship and how it can help to benefit your career.
Practical learning as we’ve said before involves internships, job shadowing opportunities and some part of full-time jobs, all of these can play an important role. Many institutions today place a premium on this type of learning, it requires students to partake in some part of IT experience, in some cases, other institutions give students the option to either choose to either go for internships or make them take an equal amount of credits in a different way. It will also interest you to know as students that some internship opportunities offer financial benefits while others come with none.
With everything laid out here, how is a student supposed to view a college internship? Is it (internship) important? If it is, what do they stand to benefit from it? When am I supposed to do internships? And how many am I supposed to do? If these questions are ringing in your head right now, not to worry, we will make sure we treat everything, after all, our main objective is to make sure you approach this matter from the right side of it.
Why is a college internship important for me?
There is learning to take place in the school and outside the four walls of the school. The benefits of internships can never be overemphasized, as a student, you stand to gain a lot from the field rather than just sitting in a class (which I’m not saying is bad). It’s a known fact that those students aren’t the only one who stands to benefit from internships, even employers tend to gain from it too. Employers do gain a lot from internships.in so many ways. For students here are some reasons why you need it.
There is nothing like “on the field” experience.
As a student, joining a company as an intern provides you with the opportunity to work in the field. It’s a firsthand experience that cannot be measured. As an intern, you are not just there to watch the employees and employers work and gist. The main reason why you are there is to learn. Internships help shed light in your career path that you’ve never seen before. It tends to teach more about the career that you’ve chosen. See it as a way to test run a job or explore a different one.
It helps build your resume
Have you ever hear the words “working experience”? It is obviously not the first time you are hearing it. As a student who knows the importance of a strong resume, you should also know that strong resumes are the key to getting the position in your career that you seek. One of the few ways to get this work experience you really need to be on the field, and how is that possible without an internship? The thing is, employers usually favor potential employees who have work experience, I mean, who won’t?
It provides you with the right career foundation to build on
Internships also provide you with the right tool you need to grow your future. Many of these internships help set the right foundation that you can easily (relatively) work on. That is why it is important to choose your internship based on your career prospect and not just because you see other students doing it. it’s even possible to get hired by the employer you served with after graduation.
Networking
One of the main reasons why as a college student you need an internship is that it allows you to build your own network. By working and interacting with professionals who are on your career path can be of help to you too. This will not only teach you how to interact in the professional world of your field, but it will also make you see people that are like minded and introduce you to a lot of useful resources.
When am I supposed to do Internships?
You can always apply as early as your first year of college. A lot of students usually completes their internship while they are still in college or sometimes they apply in their senior years to help increase their chances of becoming an employee of their internship training. A competitive internship that is a paid program with big companies require you having a previous internship. So, it is safe to say, that if you are planning to get an internship with one of the biggest companies in town, it is wise to get started as soon as possible.
How many Internships Do I need to Apply for?
To be frank, one internship is never enough! In times past, the question used to be “is one Internship enough?”. That has changed, in today’s market world, the question is no longer about if one is enough, it is more about “How many Internships have you done?”. Remember we said something about big companies only accepting interns who have had the previous internship what that means is that you need more than one internship.