The Best Scholarships for the Best Students by Peterson's

Author:Peterson's
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peterson's, a Nelnet Company

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

There are some bad internships out there; they exploit young people and offer them no benefit in return. When you're looking at experiential opportunities like the ones in this chapter, ask yourself and the program representatives, "What are the learning objectives of this opportunity?" You should have the chance to learn new skills and to apply existing ones to real projects. If you don't see a learning opportunity, then don't go into the program.

A very attractive aspect of some internships is the opportunity to rotate through different departments. This is not as common as it used to be, but a rotational program allows a young person the opportunity to gain exposure to different departments and functions and to identify where he or she would be most happy, challenged, and engaged. So, ask if the program has a rotation feature.

Also, it's a benefit to a young person to have a work product at the end of the experience, some accomplishment or completed project, study, report, or plan that can be talked about with or presented to the next employer.

For career-preparatory internships, you will want to leave the internship with a job offer. Even if you decline it, you want to get the offer because for the rest of your career, hiring managers will ask you whether you did or did not get a permanent job offer.

Finally, no matter what kind of experience you have, you ask your immediate supervisor for a letter of recommendation—before the experience is over. Never leave an experiential program without at least asking, firmly, for a letter of recommendation that you can show to future employers. This is different from a letter of recommendation for a graduate program, scholarship, or fellowship, but it can serve as a model if you need that type of letter later.

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