Increased awareness and development of skills, abilities, interpersonal competencies, personal qualities, and values.
- The opportunity to test career interests and sample different work environments.
- The opportunity to develop professional contacts.
Your campus Career Planning and Placement Center will most probably have a file of internship positions which previous students have held. In reviewing these listings or in your efforts to develop your own internship, follow these three steps:
1) Determine Individual Goals. First, decide what you want to get out of your internship. It is crucial to start with this step instead of jumping immediately to the task of contacting potential employers.
Resist the urge to go directly to employers, even though the thinking and research in steps one and two may seem like extra work.
Although the value of any internship is chiefly in the experience it offers, the following questions should still be considered before contacting any employers:
- What type of responsibilities do you want to have?
- What functions do you want to perform?|
- What do you most want to learn?
- How much time do you want to spend daily or weekly?
- Would it be better for you to be a part-time or full-time intern?
- How crucial is it for your internship to be paid?
- Do you want to earn academic credit for your internship?
3) Contact Targeted Employers. The emphasis now switches from what you would like out of an internship to what you can offer as an intern. In addition to your qualifications, consider selling points such as flexibility and initiative. Prepare a proposal for a specific project that you believe an employer needs to have done. Approach the person for whom you would be directly working on the project and try to interest him or her in the possibility of an internship. Contact more than one employer to increase your chances of developing an opportunity.
Why would an employer want to offer an internship? It's important for any prospective intern to consider this question. Some companies clearly use internships as a recruiting tool; they are able to closely review a prospective employee's work over an extended period. The fact that the arrangement is temporary is attractive to many employers since they are under no obligation beyond the agreed upon internship period. In fact, the finite work period may fit in very well with a specific project assignment, or staffing needs created by turnover, temporary absence, or expansion.
For an internship to achieve desired goals, it is best to prepare a "learning contract" prior to beginning your experience. Such a contract will clarify your learning expectations for both yourself and your employer and help keep your internship from becoming a traditional employment relationship. Following are key points to keep in mind when developing a learning contract
Learning Goals. Specifically describe what you hope to achieve and intend to learn through the internship. Write one sentence for each goal and number them in priority of importance to you. These goals might include familiarity with a specific field setting, occupation, or workplace; development of particular skills; increased awareness of concepts such as authority or community; or better understanding of the connections between theory and practice in your chosen field. Is your primary aim gaining, applying, or testing a particular body of knowledge or acquiring or improving a skill? Are you interested in testing a career interest and determining your own suitability for that career? Are you trying to decide what major to choose or what specific courses to take or skills to develop in your remaining years in college? It is acceptable for your goals to be flexible and possibly change at a later time, but it is important to have them to establish a purpose and direction for your learning.
Learning Strategies. For each goal you listed, describe what you will do to reach that goal. List several strategies for reaching each goal. For example, will you seek specific reading suggestions from your employer or faculty sponsor? Will you receive any training? If so, what type and for how long? Do you plan to conduct any interviews with other employees in the organization sponsoring your internship? Will you attend any meetings or conferences? Will you visit other employers to obtain a comparison or contrast? Will you receive specific feedback or suggestions on your performance?
Evaluation Methods. For each goal, describe how you will know and show others that you have achieved your learning goals. For example, will you keep progress reports or a joined? Will you conduct evaluation sessions with your employer and faculty sponsor? Goals may be re-evaluated mid-way through your internship and adjusted accordingly. Will you make a final presentation or report? Will you share what you learned with other students? Some campuses may even offer a post-evaluation seminar to help you informally review your internship experience.
Check out special requirements if you wish to obtain credit for the internship. Note that if an internship is required by your college program, your one-time internship income is tax-free.
See the following sample worksheet for an example of how to propose learning objectives and methods for accomplishing and evaluating those objectives.
