The Right Fit?
By
D'ARCY FALLON
What
do you want to be when you grow up?
Pose
that question to an 8-year-old and the answers will range from astronaut to
firefighter. But ask a college senior and you might hear stammering or the
all-encompassing “I don't know.” Fortunately, there's a transitional
step between college life and the real 9-to-5 world: internships.
Students
with internship experience have a leg up over those who don't because
internships add luster to resumes, teach new skills and provide insight into
careers that months of study cannot. But the most important reason why
they're so crucial to post-college employment is because they demonstrate
real-world experience, says Matthew
Birnbaum '89, director of Colorado College's Career Center.
“Real-world
experience can often make the difference between whether a student gets
looked at in the next round of interviews,” Birnbaum adds.
According
to the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, an
internship is “any type of carefully monitored work or service experience
in which an individual has intentional learning goals and reflects actively
on what he or she is learning throughout the experience.”
That
may be the official definition, but a decade ago, “intern” was often
just another word for an unpaid “gofer” -- usually a fresh-faced kid who
made coffee, picked up donuts for the morning staff meeting, and stuffed
envelopes. Back then, many interns were lucky to land summer jobs, even ones
that didn't pay.
That's
not the case today, says Birnbaum. With such a tight
labor market, employers are desperate for workers. The last thing they want
is to have their interns squandering their talents on photocopying.
“It's
a great job market,” says Birnbaum. “For the past three to five years,
the economy has been screaming.”
The
trick to finding the right summer internship boils down to three words:
learn about thyself. Much like they do in the liberal arts, students need to
branch out, and be willing to learn different skill sets and how to work
with different supervisors. Internships help students discover what kind of
field they want to go into, what kind of work environment best suits their
personality, and what their employer’s expectations are for the job.
Some
internships are heady, life-changing experiences. Others can provide somber
wake-up calls. Either way, they can be win-win situations because they
provide crucial clues about life after college, says
Birnbaum, who spent the summer between his college freshman and sophomore
years working as a “mobile sanitation engineer” in New Jersey. What
learning was built into that experience? “I learned what I didn't want to
do,” he laughs.
The
Career Center helps students search the thousands of internships available
each year through networking, responding to posted advertisements and
contacting employers and organizations directly.
Students can search for
jobs online, or through other research resources, including the Alumni
Career Referral Network, which contains the names and contact information of
more than 4,300 CC grads who have volunteered to be contacts (www.ColoradoCollege.edu/CareerCenter/AlumniNet/).
This free notebook system is cross-indexed alphabetically, geographically,
and by occupation, and is a great resource for identifying summer jobs.
Some
internship programs have been around for decades, but there are more
openings since former President Clinton signed the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act in 1994. The legislation encourages career-training
programs by giving money to states and local business partnerships. In fact,
the range of available internships is staggering, from stints at Rolling
Stone magazine to working at the United Nations to a summer with the
National Forest Service. Jobs like these can provide valuable insights about
the world of work, offer opportunities for personal growth, and develop work
references.
An
internship can be more than a short-term job. Birnbaum urges students to
take a “big picture” approach and think about how their internship will
look on a resume, how they'll be able to discuss the skills they've
developed on the job, and how employers or grad school representatives will
view the experience. One of the first steps for students seeking an
internship is to spend time thinking about how they can link their liberal
arts education to the real world. Writing a resume can help because it
forces students to think about past experiences, articulate them, and write
them up succinctly.
Once
a student is invited to interview, “We tell them to ask some very specific
questions to get an understanding of what is expected,” Birnbaum says.
Students should ask prospective employers about everything from the
company's daily routine to the dress code -- all information they need to
know up front.
Sabah
Khan ’01
says
her internship with FastPlanet Technologies, a small Colorado Springs
software training company, provided invaluable experience. Since Khan was
the company's first intern, she was able to create a position for herself.
“I was able to jump right in, working right next to the CEO of the
company. It wasn't like I was just photocopying.” Khan also had
internships with a market research firm, Digital Care, and with the
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where she researched cancer
cells, among other things.
When
Khan, an economics major, graduates in May, she already has a job lined up
with Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), one of the world's largest
global management and technology consulting firms.
“The internships have helped me,” she says. “I don’t know if friends
of mine who just basically sat at home all summer will be able to get jobs
that pay as well as mine.”
Clinton
Kowach ’01,
a Colorado College senior who worked as an intern at Enterprise Rent-a-Car
in Colorado Springs last summer, is weighing his career options as well.
Enterprise, a $4.4 billion international transportation leader, is the
largest rental car company in the U.S. It was recently named one of Fortune
magazine's “100 Best Companies to Work for in America.”
Kowach
started out washing and vacuuming cars. Then he moved inside, where he was
expected to contribute as a full-time entry-level employee. By the end of
the summer, he'd been ranked the company's number one intern in Colorado,
based on sales, customer service and overall performance.
“I
thought it was awesome,” says Kowach, who may work full time for the
company when he graduates in May with a degree in economics. “I loved the
internship. I thought it was an incredible opportunity to learn how to
conduct myself in the business world. Through Enterprise, I got a lot more
confidence in myself.”
What
makes a good intern? A professional attitude and a willingness to jump in
with both feet, according to Lindy Marchbanks, a recruiting supervisor for
Enterprise. Last summer some 40 college students participated in summer
internships with the company, doing everything from going on sales calls to
developing marketing plans. And since the company only promotes from within,
internships are an ideal way to get ahead in the company.
“There
are a lot of opportunities to move up very quickly and grow your own
business,” she said.
How
bad a mistake can you make on your resume? Here are some examples
collected by Matthew
Birnbaum '89,
director of Colorado College's Career Center.
• “I have
an excellent track record, although I am not a horse.”
•
“Education: Curses in liberal arts, curses in computer science,
curses in accounting.”
• “Proven
ability to track down and correct erors.”
•
“Personal interests: Donating blood. 15 gallons so far.”
• Cover
letter: “Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you
shorty!”
• “I
procrastinate -- especially when the task is unpleasant.”
•
“Accomplishments: Oversight of entire department.”
• “My
goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I possess no training in
meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage.”
• “Here
are my qualifications for you to overlook.”
• “Note:
Please don’t misconstrue my 14 jobs as ‘job-hopping.’ I have
never quit a job.”
• “I am
extremely loyal to my present firm, so please don’t let them know
of my immediate availability.”
• “I was
working for my mom until she decided to move.”
• “I am a
class act and do not come cheap.”
• “I am a
rabid typist.”
To
learn more about the Alumni Referral Network, contact Matt at mbirnbaum@ColoradoCollege.edu
or the Career center’s new internship coordinator, Judy Offerdahl, at
(719) 389-6425 or
jofferdahl@ColoradoCollege.edu.
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