There are a
number of ways to get connected to Internships, whether it’s through job
boards, campus resources or internship websites. Anyone actively looking for an
internship will apply to multiple openings in the hopes of landing one of the
coveted positions. While you’re knee deep in your search for the holy grail of
internships, it’s possible that you have come across other opportunities that
looked too good to be true. Chances are, they were. You see, for every good
opportunity, there are also some bad opportunities as well.
While some
people will tell you that any internship is a good internship, that’s not
entirely true. An internship is more than coffee runs and making copies on
demand. In fact, that’s not an internship at all. Fetching coffee and making
copies are wasted skills and potential for students looking for internships
such as tech internships or engineering internships for
example. A legitimate internship guides you through the professional landscape,
teaching you valuable skills that you can use in the workplace after
graduation.
In order to
determine the legitimacy of an internship before applying, here are a few tips:
·
Be wary of commission-based internships. Many of
these internships are sales-oriented positions that will have you
conducting cold calls. As an intern, you know very little about their product
and cannot effectively contribute to the business. More likely than not, you’ll
be stuck in an administrative role (i.e. coffee runs and lunch orders)
·
Legitimate internships conduct interviews and ask for resumes.
They treat the process of the internship as if it were an actual job opening.
·
It’s ok if your internship is unpaid and only for credit. However,
you should never have to pay an employer to intern or to learn more about the
company.
·
Internships should occur in established work environments relevant
to the field or project. Never should an internship be at someone’s home or
unsafe environment.
It’s
better to be safe than sorry. If you’re unsure about an internship, always do
your research on the company before applying. Many internship websites do a
pre-screening of the internships before posting from that employer, but is
always possible that a few may slip through the cracks on other platforms.
