With the last dust of summer just clearing away, many of us (myself included) are already looking forward to what we’ll be doing next May when classes come to a close. The question of whether to pad your bank account with a summer job or get some experience in your field of study is always an important one. Internships are pretty mysterious and usually unpaid – are they really worth it?
To get a bit of insight into the enigmatic world of the internship, I interviewed McGill student Madison Bentley, a U3 Honors Art History Major with Minors in East Asian Cultural Studies and German. Here’s what she had to say about her experience with an internship vs. a summer job:
Azara Lalla for HC McGill: Where did you first hear about the internship you did this summer? What was the application process like?
Madison Bentley: After meeting a few people in my faculty who had done internships, I was left with the impression that the best way to get one was to find it myself. After a few hours of Google-searching, I found myself on a Concordia website that listed a number of art history related internships. There was no formal application process – just [send] an email, a letter of intent and a CV. I heard back a few days later from the director of the gallery, saying that they were interested in interviewing me. The application process was significantly more casual than I had expected, which only emphasizes the importance of actively seeking out work experience.
AL:What sort of things did you for the duration of your internship?
MB: The gallery made sure that I was engaged in all aspects of its inner workings. I was responsible for the administrative tasks of checking the email, organizing the classes that the gallery ran, answering the phone, representing the gallery with teachers and artists and sitting in on meetings. I was also required to set up and take down exhibitions, organize vernissages, package art for shipping and regulate the gallery’s social media presence. The gallery director gave me a number of small projects to work on throughout my internship, such as creating promotional material, learning about wine for the gallery’s weekly wine and cheeses, and creating a tea ceremony event hosted in the gallery.
AL: How was your overall experience at this internship? Would you recommend internships to Her Campus readers?
MB: Because of the unstructured nature of my internship, I found myself having to find work to do. I found the experience to be overall rather enjoyable and incredibly informative. Having relevant work experience in the field that I plan to pursue is unquestionably valuable.
AL: You also worked this summer. Where did you work and how did it compare to your internship?
MB: I worked as a bartender at home in Vancouver. It was a much more casual environment and working alongside other people in their early twenties and late teens was a stark contrast to the seriousness of a commercial art gallery. After having worked in such a professional environment, it was difficult to take the bar seriously.
AL: In your opinion, what is more valuable, a summer job or an internship?
MB: Because the majority of internships that are available to students in the social sciences and humanities are unpaid, the question of whether to spend the summer working or interning is unfortunately often an issue of whether or not you can afford to spend a summer without employment. If you can afford to do a summer internship, the skills you learn will put you a huge step ahead in the job market come graduation.
Please Note: The photos used in this article are not the property of Her Campus McGill. They are: John William Waterhouse’s “Boreas,” 1902, retrieved here: www. jwwaterhouse.com AND Edouard Manet’s “Bar at the Folies-Bergère,” 1881-1882, retrieved from Wikipedia.