Internships are available in all fields, including television, finance, health, medicine, public service, and sports—your choices are wide-ranging. To select the right internship, start with a goal. Then, to clarify your goal:
Identify a field of interest
Define the type of work you want to do within that field of interest. For example, if you want to work for a sports team, your focus could be writing, media relations, athletic training, sales, promotions, human resources, finance, statistics, or accounting.
Decide whether there's a specific place where you've always wanted to work.
If you aren't sure what you want to do, meet with a counselor at your campus career center. Then put your ideas together. If you like animals and teaching, consider interning at a zoo. If you want to help people, enjoy giving parties, and are organized, consider interning in the special events department of a nonprofit organization like the American Cancer Society—or in your college's development office.
Where to find internships
You can find internship opportunities in many places. First, check your campus career center's library. Then visit the JobWeb library to find articles about interning. Use the keyword "intern" in JobWeb's employer search to find employers who hire interns.
Some other sources for finding internships are:
- Books, including The Internship Bible, published by Random House, and The National Directory of Internships, published by the National Society of Experiential Education.
- The Internet, starting with your college career center's web page. Other sites include the Washington Intern Foundation, which lists internships in Washington, D.C.; Rising Star Internships (http://www.rsinternships.com), which lists internships in all areas; and Idealist (http://www.idealist.org), which list
- Specific organizations that offer internships. Included among them are the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (http://www.steppenwolf.org), MTV (http://www.mtv.com), the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov), and Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com).
- A counselor at your college career center, who can tell you about previous students' experiences interning at different organizations and internship opportunities that haven't been widely publicized, and advise you how to tailor your resume, prepare for interviews, and choose among options.
How to choose an internship
You want to avoid working at an internship where you'll be the unpaid person doing all the grunt work. Following are some rules of thumb:
Research the internship before you accept it. Read as much as you can about the company and the job, and ask questions of your career counselor and the internship coordinator at the site. Some questions you might ask are: Will the internship allow me to do the type of work I'm interested in?
How hands-on will it be? (Ten weeks of merely observing others can be boring and fruitless.)
Are interns treated like valued employees or cheap labor?
What types of projects have interns typically done?
May I speak to former or current interns? (Ask them what they liked and what they didn't like.)
What kind of supervision will I receive?
Don't pick flash over substance. A great name does not mean a great internship. For example, working for a major league baseball team may impress your family and friends, but it may not provide the experience that you seek. Working for a well-respected minor league team may give you more experience.
Deciding among offers
If you've received several internship offers, evaluate the pros and cons of each. One way is to construct a grid on a sheet of paper (see Internship Evaluation Worksheet). On the left side, list your internship goals. Underneath your goals, list up to four additional skills you want to learn (e.g., writing press releases, learning to take blood pressure, teaching children, designing web pages, researching stocks, tagging snapping turtles). Under that, list what is important to you (e.g., being treated well, friendliness, working in an office, good supervision, working outside, dress-down days, flexibility, etc.).
After that, list other attributes you desire (e.g., free lunches, lecture series, stipend, salary, meeting famous people, prestige). End the list by answering the questions "What will I learn?" and "Do I think I'll like the internship?"
Across the top of the page list the internships you're considering or those for which you've been accepted. Under each, proceed down the page noting each item that you listed on the left. Write "yes," "no," or "not applicable" beside each item. Omit any internship that you think you won't like or from which you won't learn (the last two questions). Count the affirmative answers.
Examine the internships that rate the highest on your scale and evaluate them. What are the most important criteria to you? How did each internship fare? Next, list the negative factors for each internship. Will it be too difficult to get to the workplace? Will the hours be too long?
This chart should show you one or two internships worth pursuing. If you find yourself genuinely disappointed that another internship didn't land at the top of your list, add it.
If you are still unsure about which opportunity to choose, think of questions you may still need to ask. You may be surprised with several great opportunities. Seriously consider the internship that former interns said they most enjoyed. Unless you will be graduating soon, you can plan on doing the other internship(s) at a later date.
By the end of your internship, you'll have more of an idea what you do well, what you are interested in, and what you want no part of. And you'll soon be able to advise other students how to choose their own great internships.