“The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly”
(The Duality of the Internship)
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is probably one of the most often asked questions in our educational lives. And, as we continued to change our minds on our career path, so changed the job market. So, what’s a “wet-behind-the-ears” college undergraduate to do? First, you need to understand the new changes in the job market and how it can affect your prospects of finding and keeping an upwardly mobile path to a rewarding career.
Keep in mind that this isn’t our parents’ job market. If recent national labor shake-ups haven’t proven it already, job stability is practically a thing of the past. Now days, companies are downsizing to curb soaring benefit costs, which means that new recruits have to be either extremely bright with a vast amount of resources or possess a strong degree of ingenuity to make themselves indispensable.
“So what resources should I have?” you ask. Well, if conventional jobs are where your heart lies, become chummy with the phrase “internship”. An internship will give you some “real world experience”, and thus make you more desirable to corporations. But beware; internships can be a double-edged sword. For businesses, an internship can be synonymous with free/”sweat shop” labor. Yes, there is the potential to learn, and be hired on after graduation. But, just as often, you’ll hear horror stories of interns never being offered a permanent (and salaried) job even after they worked months with no pay while giving companies cutting edge ideas.
So, how can you actually make your internship work for you? Keep tabs on any “innovative” suggestions or projects you undertake that help the company achieve an edge on the competition. Don’t be shy to pipe up and let your superiors know about your contributions. This will come in handy when you make your pitch for a full time paying job, or when you ask for reference letters. If you feel like you’re in the office of your dreams, but are being relegated to hard hitting decisions like “How do you like your coffee” or that you talk to the copy machine more than you talk to flesh and blood people…suggest that you’re ready to prove yourself.
Instead of fuming on the inside, approach your boss after about two months. During this time, you’ll have proven that you can comprehend the basics like showing up to work on time and that you understand the office flow. Start with trying to take on small projects such as following up with customer service on smaller accounts, or moving up to phone interfacing. Little by little, you can make your employer rely on you, and likewise prove a stronger case for a salaried job. (FYI: If you did grunt work as an intern in college don’t be ashamed to object to this type of demeaning grunt work in a salaried job. Being a guy/gal Friday when you were hired on for a more compelling position shouldn’t be tolerated. Use the same approach as mentioned before, but cut the wait time down to a month max.)
Another word of caution, if you’re well beyond college the idea of interning for extended periods of time should be beyond you. Internships can become the kiss of career death for older applicants. The fresh out of college applicant who interns at the same office they’re requesting a salary from will sometimes be given preferential treatment. Their employer may give them a low salary but hire them on anyway because their internship is viewed as a rite of passage. And in their naiveté, the fresh college grad won’t realize that they’re barely able to make ends meet with the salary they’ve been given. An older individual who interns beyond college years may find it next to impossible to request a salaried job from that same employer. The older intern understands the cost of living requirements but opted for an internship anyway, which isn’t smart for their career or finances. As a result, their boss may have little to no sympathy and as a result expect to always receive free or greatly reduced work from that intern. Hence, the internship can become a set back rather than a stepping-stone.
In contrast, if you’re still in college, don’t be afraid to intern in fields that are completely unrelated to your major. Often, your first job out of college may have little to do with your actual degree. But, if you know how to apply core principles to any job sector, you’ll be perceived as “well rounded” – i.e. more desirable to employers. In conjunction, by taking a salad buffet approach to internships while in college, you might actually save yourself the “entry level 5”. In other words, go through your figuring it out stage while your financial responsibilities are almost non-existent. This way you hopefully won’t bounce from sector to sector within your first five years out of college while trying to maintain some type of financial stability.
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