Though we’re past the peak internship process season there’s still an opportunity to land an internship for summer or fall. The NACE projected a 22.6% intern hiring increase for the 2021-22 academic year, according to their “2022 Internship & Co-op Survey Report“. Matern Staffing President and Founder, Ginni Mastin, corroborates that report with what her team notices. “Summer 2022 has the most internship opportunities we’ve ever seen,” says Ginni. “We are currently recruiting for five paid intern positions across business, marketing, cybersecurity, and environmental areas. It’s an opportunistic time to be a college student looking for hands-on business experience.”

Regardless of your area of study, internships provide valuable experience for students. Students get a chance to apply classroom knowledge through hands-on experiences while building a network, developing their skills, and exploring future careers. Internships can vary by length and number of hours per week. Here’s a deeper look into four reasons why an internship benefits a student.

Opportunity to Explore Potential Careers

Depending on the internship you’re looking for, you may find one aligned with your field of study or you may find one that covers a broad business area. If your internship is specialized, you’ll get a real look into your potential future industry. This allows you to learn aspects of the field and see what does or does not interest you. 

If your internship is more generalized, you’ll work in different areas. Exposure to a variety of business areas allows you to try more things. From there you learn what interests you most while getting a big picture view of how a business works. For example, a business internship may expose you to marketing or accounting tasks that you weren’t previously aware of. 

Develop New Skills

Emily Humes describes a reason why an internship benefits a studentInternships are opportunities to develop intangible skills through real business experience. Companies expect interns to follow specific guidelines around schedules, dress code, and work ethic. It’s an important way to learn what you’re good at and where you need to improve. Therefore, it’s a great rehearsal when searching for permanent post-graduation work. 

Some companies focus internships around completing a project or supporting general business goals. Regardless, students develop communication, time management, and prioritization skills. While working towards objectives and deadlines, students use collaboration technologies, gain public speaking experience, and learn teamwork skills.

As our former intern, Emily Humes, describes, “This (internship) opportunity was rewarding because it allowed me to step out of my comfort zone to help others in the community who are searching for work. As I have now completed my first year of law school, I have found that the skills I learned from Matern have allowed me to feel comfortable in public speaking and interviewing clients who are seeking legal aid.”

Grow Your Network

Internships provide the advantage of gaining business knowledge from experienced team members. They’ll mentor and support you through business or project objectives, workplace etiquette, and colleague introductions. Internships are a great way to develop connections for future jobs, especially if the internship transitions into a permanent job.

Building internship experience into your resume shows focus and dedication to your field of study. Overall, this gives students an advantage when seeking full-time employment.

Apply Classroom Knowledge to Work

As a small business that employs interns we appreciate the knowledge and fresh perspective interns bring to our business operations. As they learn from us, they also teach us new skills and ideas. Internships are a time to brainstorm process improvements and help implement solutions. Internships also provide students with ways to share their resources, practice what they’ve learned, and evaluate. 

Are you a student ready to gain business experience and develop new skills? We have FIVE internship opportunities featuring TOP pay with a leading telecommunications business in Fredericksburg.

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Sources:

https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/internships/intern-hiring-projection-jumps-22-point-6-percent-co-op-hiring-makes-small-gain/