“So, what are you doing this summer?” asked my advisor when I went into plan my schedule last week.
A bit over-zealously I said, “Oh, I’m going to be a camp counselor.”
The smile usually plastered on her faced dropped and she snarkily retorted with, “Well, you can do the camp counselor thing this summer, but you better apply for some internships next winter in order to figure out what you want to do with your life.”
Valid advice, I suppose, but for some reason my advisor’s suggestion irked me. The way she denounced my summer plans making my job where I ~*mold the minds of today’s youth*~ sound that it held no redeeming qualities Pissed.Me.Off. Who’s to say that spending the summer trapped in some stuffy office building is more beneficial to my future than learning how to nurture kids? Summer jobs that “anyone can get” are critically underappreciated in society, but without camp counselors, waitresses and store clerks, many parts of society would cease to exist. Additionally, the people who work these jobs (myself included) learn valuable life lessons –such as leadership and organization.
Now, I’m not the first person to argue this (for further reading look to Dan Flesher’s NY Times article, “The Camp Counselor vs. the Intern”). However, I still wonder why many scoff at people’s resumes that are not padded with countless internships. It’s become a new necessity to have at the very least one prime internship on your resume, but what more do summer interns truly gain that kids working summer jobs do not? Sure, the kid who spent three summers at J.P. Morgan will have made some business connections, learned about the company and potentially a bit about managing stocks (yada-yada), but often times interns are tasked with menial duties (a.k.a. coffee runs, photocopying), where leadership and problem solving abilities (more valuable skills) were not probably not developed. Working a summer shift at your local ice cream shop or childhood camp might not look as good as “Intern at Insert Renowned Company’s Name Here” on a resume, but I believe that those less glamorous jobs offer more in the way of life skills –and $$$, than interning for corporate America does.
Obviously my opinions cannot change the minds of employers, and even after writing all this, I will probably have an internship in the future, but I wish that lower rung jobs were considered as valuable as internships. So, to my advisor: thank you for the advice, but imma-do-me and enjoy my time at camp until I decide to move on; also, don’t think for a second that I am wasting my summer, because I will definitely learn a lot.