So you wanna be an intern? Cool, we did too! We devoted a portion of our semester to going off-campus and enhancing our skills; watch out, real world! There are obviously tons of positives to being an intern, whether for credit or just for another thing to put on your resume. But, there are also some negatives that you can get roped into if you’re not careful. Here’s our list of internship pros & cons…
Pros
Experience/ resume building
Any sort of experience in a field that you’re interested in is beneficial for future jobs. You learn a lot at your internship sites and you get to take away those experiences and skills to another company afterwards. It’s especially helpful since a lot of employers now use Linkedin to look for employees. Linkedin allows you to post your resume and skill sets, so employers can go over your experiences at your internship and be wowed by all of the tasks you did.
Learning to work in a team/workplace environment vs. the classroom environment
Sitting in a classroom listening to your professor go on and on about something at 8am is completely different than learning in a hands-on situation. At an internship, you have the ability to contribute to the company/publication/whatever while enhancing your own skills and learning about your desired field. You feel a bit more engaged in what content is being produced, and it is actually going to be used somewhere other than in your professor’s gradebook.
Making connections with boss and co-workers
Being in a work environment where everyone gets along is awesome. Take the time to make connections with your boss and co-workers because it will make your overall experience easier and more exciting. You never know what might happen when you build strong connections. Your internship might turn out
Cons
Balancing your schedule
I got so unbelievably stressed at points during the semester when my workload was through the roof and I still had to make the trek to my internship 12 hours per week. It’s often very hard to balance time between class obligations and internship hours, so think about what it’ll take to manage your time well and go from there. Don’t overwhelm yourself! If taking on an internship during the semester is too much to handle, consider doing one over the summer. Also, you got invited to a totally awesome party at your friend’s house on Friday night, but oh wait, you have an article to finish for your editorial internship. Sometimes internships will leave you with work to do during off-hours, so there can be some social life sacrifices from time to time.
Not matching up with your expectations– doing work that was different from work description
When applying for an internship, there’s usually a job description on the company’s website. Going over the bulleted points, you’re initially excited about what the job entails so you send your resume and application to the company. After the interview, you end up getting the job, but soon after, you realize that it’s not anything that you expected. This unfortunately happens a lot more than you think it would. I’ve had internships where I was told I would have certain tasks outside of the office, but then most of my work was doing simple office tasks and not learning anything related to my major. Big piece of advice: always communicate with your internship supervisor and make sure your needs are being met.
Disorganization
Make sure, above all else, that you have a distinct internship supervisor and an internship plan so that you don’t get stuck halfway through the semester just doing meaningless busy work and getting nothing out of it. At one internship of mine, the organization of tasks was severely lacking, and I ended up doing repetitive and unimportant tasks for a lot of my time there. I also wasn’t given a definite supervisor and was told to report to at least three different people over the course of three months. The disorganization came off as unprofessional and is therefore an uncomfortable situation for the intern.