While the Hollins campus is quiet for the month of J-Term, many students are enjoying internship opportunities throughout the country and even at local organizations. Hollins’ policy regarding paid internships and getting credits for them is that, unless the organization insists on paying the student in the intern position, students cannot get course credits for their internship. This policy may have changed since I first looked into it in 2011 when I interned at my local library over the summer.
Typically, this is not an issue, as most organizations do not pay their interns. This leads to interns working much like entry-level jobs did in the past. The internships serve to give the intern experience but does not pay them for their work. Another catch, however, is that many of these internships require at least one year of “experience” – an often vaguely-applied term which may mean office experience, experience in a particular field, or experience in any kind of work. Personally, I found this requirement to be frustrating in many of my internship searches. If a particular internship called for an amount of experience I did not have (some required up to four or five years, even), then I did not apply for it, even if I was otherwise qualified or overqualified.
A friend recently explained to me that you don’t always have to fill every requirement in on an internship application checklist. Oftentimes, this is just the organization being idealistic while they don’t necessarily expect to find someone with that qualification. This means that you can still apply to these jobs. If you’re hesitant, still, the worst that could happen is they turn you down. Getting turned down isn’t, at that point, a loss – there was no chance of obtaining the position if you hadn’t applied in the first place. Sometimes, employers like when you take the risk and apply for something you’re not necessarily qualified for based on their “requirements” – it shows a willingness to take calculated risks and confidence.
Internships have certainly changed a lot in the past but the best way to make the most out of them is to take a chance. Learn what you can and, even if you don’t get a position, remind yourself that you benefited by practicing the application process and interview process.