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Valuable
experience gained through internships
By
Starr T. Balmer
Daily Forty-Niner
Staff writer
Many
jobs across the country require future
employees to obtain some type of college
degree. When employers post job listings,
they typically state what positions are
available, the desired salary and the
specific qualifications needed. But students
also realize that internships play an
important role when moving into their
future careers.
Internships
enable students to experience realistic,
professional working situations while
participating in hands-on experiences
at various companies in their field of
study. Moreover, students gain work experience
while their participation in internships
attracts employers.
Marie
Burks, who controls the internship program
in the Career Development Center at Cal
State Long Beach, helps retrieve information
about internships for students.
"The
focus of doing internships is to gain
experience in a work environment," she
said. "You get to do on-the-job
experience, which is very helpful."
Various
companies offer paid and unpaid internships
to students; some of the jobs count as
school credit instead of pay. Robin Lee,
director of the Career Development Center,
explained some companies give a stipend
at the end of the program, and other
companies just offer unpaid internship
programs with school credit; but she
said the job duties are not different
for paid and unpaid internship programs.
"Unpaid
and paid internships usually have the
same amount of work," Lee said. "The
experience may be unpaid because the
company may be a non-profit organization,
they may not have the funds to pay someone,
or a company that does not allow people
who are not full-time employees to be
paid."
Furthermore,
she also said school credit is not necessarily
required for paid internships, but unpaid
programs do require credit.
"Large
companies have comprehensive, structured
internship programs," Lee said. "They
bring you through and they have a real
set training schedule so you can actually
leave the internship with a lot of skills."
Trent
Loomis, graduating senior and print journalism
major, works as a paid intern in the
sports department at the Daily Breeze,
a Torrance-based city newspaper. He said
his previous experience as managing editor
for the Daily Forty-Niner did not compare
to his experience at his internship.
"They
treated me like an employee," Loomis
said. "Expectations are real."
He
said he receives a stipend at the end
of the program, but he said money should
be the last thought on an intern's mind.
"If
you are going into an internship for
the money, then you are going into it
for the wrong reason," Loomis said. "It's
an invaluable experience."
Industrial
design major Michelle Chan interns with
Solteras, a small electronics firm that
designs products for large companies.
She
said her experience as a paid intern
with the company allows her to design
electronic products such as headphones
and earphones, and it will lead her to
her ultimate goal of designing fashionable
products, such as shoes and bags.
"You
learn so much just by being there," Chan
said. "Working with a small business
allows you to see the how the business
is run in every aspect. You absorb it."
Even
though she develops her own ideas for
designs, she said the internship teaches
her to expand her mind to different perspectives
of design, which is important when applying
for jobs in that field.
"Get
into the mindset of that particular company," Chan
said. "Research their company."
Additionally,
Lee said many companies hire students
who complete their internship program.
But she also said some students' expectations
are far from the expectations of their
internship supervisors.
"Students
have different expectations about the
internships, and those expectations don't
necessarily match with the expectations
of the company," she said.
Lee
suggested students ask questions and
network effectively before entering the
program.
She
also said internship classes across campus
offer ways of helping interns develop
goals while participating in the program.
Lee said students can discuss their goals
with their employers and tell them what
they expect to gain from their internship;
more importantly, she said it could alleviate
the activities of the program that least
interest interns.
The
internship program makes sure students
receive quality experience, because Lee
said the Center screens internships.
"We
do require that 20 percent is office
work, and 80 percent has to be related
to the student's major and job," Burks
said.
Visiting
the Resource Library in the Career Development
Center, logging on to BeachLINK, CSULB's
online job system, and networking with
professors and companies allow students
to find internships and jobs, both Burks
and Lee said. These three options assist
students in researching various companies,
and it helps them learn how companies'
internship programs will benefit their
future careers.
"Use
your campus resources first," Lee
said. "The Career Center is the
No. 1 place on campus for internships." |
