Even if an internship is required by your college for the degree you are working toward, you still have some decisions to make when it comes to picking the place you’ll intern at and what you’ll do for that internship. You also want to consider the hours available and whether or not there is pay available.
Remember, the point of an internship shouldn’t just be to get your college credits needed, but to actually find the career you want to go into. The place you intern at could possibly hire you on as an employee if they have the space and you worked well for them. That means you want to pick something worth your time, and theirs.
Does It Pay?
Not all internships pay, but some do. If you feel like you want some compensation over your college credits then you will want to look for one that does pay. Often they pay a great deal less than they do employees in the same position, but if you do great and get hired on you will get a nice pay raise.
If pay doesn’t matter to you then you’ll have even more options for places to intern at. However, if you’re doing a lot of traveling to get to your internship you may want some sort of monetary compensation to make up for that. It’s not like the everyday college student is rolling in gas money!
What Are The Hours?
As a college student, who may also have a normal part-time job, you want to make sure that you find an internship that has the right hours for what you’re available. You could find a place that is flexible and will work with you so that you can get all the internship credit hours you need in order to have a successful one.
Is It A Career You’d Chose?
Before you sign onto an internship you really need to decide if it’s with a company you’d want to work at. Businesses take on interns in the hopes that they will become future employees. Rather than picking a random place to intern at you should do some research and find a place that fits the ideas you want and the career you’d like to go into.
Can You Try Different Job Positions?
You may also want to find a place that will let you try out different departments within the business. While you may not like working in the office you may enjoy the lab at the same business. If you start working in one department and things just don’t seem to fit you don’t be afraid to ask about trying something different, they may even simply let you shadow some different departments a day at a time until you can find the spot that fits you.
