BECAUSE IT IS... - An excellent way to determine if the industry and the profession is the best career option for you to pursue.
- A way to discover what the career actually entails
- The way to determine what skills are required to successfully navigate this career choice
- A way to gain practical work experience in a field
- A way to gain exposure to professionals and build networks in a field
- An opportunity to combine theory with practical work experience
- A way to develop professional work habits
- A way to gain an understanding of corporate cultures and analyze business settings
- Often the best way to get a foot in the door
- A way to distinguish yourself from someone with similar or even slightly better grades
- A supreme confidence builder
- Must be supervised allowing for frequent feedback
- May or may not be compensated
- Must provide for the professional development of the student, preferably project-based or involving industry-specific learning activities (Clerical, routine, repetitive tasks, or unsupervised volunteer experience do not meet requirements).
- Must be defined by the organization as an internship with systems in place for identifying goals and providing supervision, feedback, and evaluation.
FACTOID: Employers responding to a recent NACE survey reported that an average of 62 percent of their new college hires from the Class of 2006 had internship experience while the largest group (13.7 percent) said that all of their new college hires from the Class of 2006 had participated in an internship prior to being hired.
