When you don’t live near a busy metropolitan area what do you do in order to gain experience in your field and develop your professional network over summer break? Sometimes staying in D.C. just isn’t an option, so you have to be creative in order to grow as a young professional while you’re home for the summer. Here are four ways to develop some skills within your given field and network when you live in the middle of nowhere.
1. Reach out to your Local or State Government
There are so opportunities for college students within your government office. Every office has some form of social media, a treasury, and other general offices that interact with the public. If you offer your time a few days a week, this is the perfect chance to gain office experience in a somewhat unconventional area and works for pretty much any major. Even in a small town, your government officials may know other professionals at higher levels of government or even in different professions that they can connect you to. So, working for your state or town government is a great way to gain experience and connections.
2. Find a Remote Internship
This is a bit more of a tricky situation that doesn’t necessarily work for every major, but for many fields telecommuting is absolutely an option. Internships.com allows you to look for internships in your area but also internships that can be done remotely (both paid and unpaid). This is great for people looking for internships in accounting, editorial work, marketing, and social media outreach because most of the work in these fields can be done via the internet-you don’t even have to even step foot into an office.
3. Intern with Local Businesses
So many small businesses would probably love to have a student come in and work for them for free. They may be able to show you how they run their books or allow you to manage a small project on your own, like growing their social media presence. There’s no problem with working for a small business and doing things outside of your field of study. This allows you to show that you are versatile and able to handle tasks and small projects on your own for the benefit of others. The experience of working on a team is also a great skill that you will need, no matter what your area of study is.
4. Get a Part Time Job
I’m sure that every article you read about what to do with your summer makes this point, but it’s so true for countless reasons. First of all, you are guaranteed to get paid for the work you do, and who doesn’t love having some money on hand? Second, almost all jobs require you to work with a team to accomplish a set of some common goals; again this is a great way to show that you can follow directions and work well with others. Finally, there’s the ability to be able to work your way up. If you get a job this summer and really enjoy it and show dedication, the company may ask you to pick up hours during the winter break or to come back next summer. This shows that you’re dedicated and work hard no matter what you do. Getting a part time job is a great way to get a letter of recommendation for that internship you really want in the fall,too.
As you start to finalize your summer plans of beach days and bonfire nights, try to keep some of these recommendations in mind and keep on top of your professional development as well. Think about what skills and experiences you want to get out of this summer and go get it! Have fun!
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