Celebrating Internships
Students, Meet the Real World

If given the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience as a graduate or undergraduate student, would you teach children in foreign countries such as New Zealand or China? Would you want to work side-by-side with government officials at the county, state or even national level? Would you assist at the Ocean Mammal Institute in Hawaii or the Siberian Tiger Training School in Ohio?

Internships such as these provide students limitless opportunities to enhance their knowledge from the classroom with a practical understanding of the "real world." Sometimes completed for pay, sometimes for credit and sometimes just for the thrill, an internship is often the beginning of a successful career for students.

"Internships are the gateway to the job market for students studying almost any major," said Dr. Rebecca Emery, director of Salisbury University's Career Services Office. "I can't imagine a more important part of a college career than to experiment with experiences that may possibly be relevant to your area of study and future goals."

According to a Recruitment Trends Survey completed by Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Research Institute, the most important factor for employers when evaluating college candidates for employment is work-related experiences such as internships, summer work and co-ops. Internships are often a good solution for students who feel caught in the old catch 22 that they need experience to get a job, but without a job they can't gain experience.

"I can't think of a time when it wouldn't hurt for a student to complete an internship," Emery said. "College degrees are no longer enough. Students need to have experience, and internships are a great way to get that."

Luckily for students, there are a wide variety of internship opportunities out there. According to a 2007 survey by the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly 88 percent of employers offer some kind of an internship program.

Don't know where to start to find one? Try the career services office at your college or university. Salisbury University offers an Internship Alert Digest, which lists about 30 new opportunities for students each month. National companies, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and professional organizations, such as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, also provide searchable databases for internship seekers. Web sites like www.studentjobs.gov provide positions with the federal government, while www.idealist.org offers a search of some 14,000 non-profit organizations.

The local community is also a good resource. Interns on Maryland's Eastern Shore are invaluable to local companies and organizations because in addition to helping students become more competitive in the workforce, internships also benefit the community by enriching local economies and strengthening civic institutions. When colleges and universities are able to foster productive relationships with their local business communities, it's a win-win situation for all involved.

"Sometimes I wonder how small local communities could get buy without interns," Emery said. "In Wicomico County, for example, there probably isn't a student in the public school system that hasn't been touched by the 250 SU interns who serve as mentors, tutors or student teachers each year."

Student interns are also particularly valuable to non-profit agencies, like Salisbury Urban Ministries, and to area hospitals. Through a popular summer "ex-tern" program, SU's Nursing Department has been able to open doors for students who are often recruited by these hospitals, and for more competitive positions such as at Johns Hopkins neo-natal department.

In addition to opening doors, internships also open students' eyes in fields from government to business to the environment. Colleges and universities rely on businesses and organizations to simulate real life work experiences that can't be offered within the walls of classrooms. But, students aren't the only ones who benefit from internships. For employers, students often bring a fresh perspective and objective, new ideas to the job.

At many colleges and universities, internships are considered a critical part of a student's college experience, as employers look favorably on recent graduates with internship experience. The NACE survey shows that 62 percent of students hired from the Class of 2006 had completed an internship. For some, this can lead directly to a job – more than 30 percent of employers hired students from an in-house internship program.

"We know anecdotally that sometimes students do internships and what's important is that they learn what they don't want to do, in addition to figuring out what they do want to do and what they love," Emery said. "Both are important as to how they are going to proceed in their career."

According to research published in the NACE Journal, those with a higher percentage of related work experience secured employment more quickly following graduation. They also were more likely to be employed within their field of study, and were more satisfied in their current work positions.

So what are you waiting for? The joys of learning are not limited to the classroom, and college provides an excellent opportunity to experience career fields firsthand through internships.

Editorial provided by Salisbury University.