3 Reasons to Consider an Internship

What do Apple’s Steve Jobs, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, NFL’s Roger Goodell, Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, Talk Show’s Oprah Winfrey, and Boeing’s Dennis Muilenburg have in common?

Aside from being known as prominent leaders in our society, all of these people at some point or another participated in an internship program to further their development. For some, the internship was in the same company they rose to the top in. Others, the internship pushed them toward the career they ended up in.

In college, one of the most amazing opportunities for growth outside of the classroom is found in internships. So much so, that some programs will even require internships for graduation. Why are internships looked at as so valuable?

Here are 3 reasons I believe internships can be worth their weight in gold for your education:

Growth Opportunity

Whether you are required to be involved in an internship program for your degree or you are doing an internship for personal reasons, internships are like everything else in that they are what you make them. Particularly for those who are required to take an internship, it can be difficult to look for an internship that will really push you and not just one that will check that box off your transcripts.

Internships are only an opportunity to grow. This means, just like in the actual workforce, most internships are not going to be looking over your shoulder to force you to grow as a person. The internship is merely a venue for your growth, not a guarantee of growth. Interesting to note is that those who aren’t forced to find an internship are usually the ones who take advantage of amazing opportunities because they are in it for growth, not credits.

Direction

For many high school or college students especially, internships can be amazing ways to find out what you want to do as a career. There isn’t anything wrong with working an internship and realizing that you don’t actually want to go into that field.  It is always interesting to me how many people say they want to do one career or another, but yet have never spent any time in that field to see what it is actually like. Internships can do that.

Experience

Building on direction, internships provide needed experience in many fields for when you do know your direction. Teachers are required to get this internship-style experience when they student teach before being thrown into full-time teaching. A good internship speaks wonders for what experience you have as a student. Very rarely do jobs look long and hard at your class list on your resume, but they definitely look at intern history.

‘Tis the season at Maranatha to be completing and finding internships. Pastoral, Education, Sport Management, Business and Accounting Management, Nursing, and many other types of internships will be found by students seeking to grow. About this time last year, I was just finishing the opportunity I had to be an intern with the United States Golf Association. That internship was incredibly valuable to me in the three areas I listed, and I hope this post encourages you to put yourself out there to keep growing yourself outside of the classroom.

Reference: Cain, Áine. “12 Famous People Who Started Their Careers as Interns.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 7 July 2016, www.businessinsider.com/famous-people-who-paid-their-dues-as-interns-2016-7.