This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Utah chapter.
Four years ago I started college with my head held high and holding onto my dreams of working for a major news network, or landing a kick ass position at Cosmopolitan. I’d envisioned myself scoring a job as a columnist and living out my fantasy of having a life like Andie Anderson in “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. Now that I am closer to graduating and starting to look for jobs I’ve noticed one consistent qualification that many employers are looking for in their potential employees. Experience. Aka: an internship, and I thank my lucky stars everyday that I’ve had one.
Getting an internship in college can seem pretty easy, but sometimes finding the right internship for you can be tricky. If you’re a little unsure of where to start looking, a great resource is to look on your specific college’s web page. When I first started looking I hopped right onto the University of Utah’s communications department website and found tons of internships listed that were relative to the type of internship I was looking for. Using your college’s website as a resource for finding an internship will help you locate one that will give you experience within the career field you are looking to go into.
Another way you can find great internship opportunities is to listen and pay attention to where your parents, friends, family, or professors/instructors work. It’s all about connections these days, and finding at least one will help you unlock numerous opportunities. I found my internship at a local news station by one of my class instructors. He didn’t actually snag the internship for me, but when I went in for my interview knowing him definitely helped me in a big way. Often times if you reach out to an acquaintance that works for the company that you’re interested in, they usually can at least land you an interview with their employer.
In all honesty if you are serious about finding a job straight out of college the best thing you can do is to have at least one internship under your belt. Not only will completing an internship earn you extra gold stars for experience, but it should allow you to rack up an impressive list of references. If you can show a potential employer a previous CEO, manager, or supervisor of the company that you interned for—whom you know will speak highly of you—then you’ve really hit a home run with any internship. Also having these references will become extremely helpful if you are looking to apply for grads schools, which usually ask you to send in multiple letters of recommendation.
So is having a college internship really that important? HELL YES. In my opinion, the best thing about experiencing an internship is that it will allow you to see if your desired career field is something you’re actually interested in. My best advice is to stay positive, and acquire any connections you can. Who knows, maybe that one college internship could potentially lead you to a full time job!