Internships are good opportunities for students to gain both work experience and job security during their time in college.
Specifically, internships are work experiences where a person is not officially hired by the company they are working for, oftentimes in an unpaid capacity. While this may seem counter-intuitive or not worth your time, it is important to know that internships are a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience in your chosen field, make connections with your future colleagues and turn those connections into opportunities for actual employment if you work hard enough.
KSU students have plenty of opportunities to take internships during their time as a student and even obtain credit hours towards graduation.
One way to make that happen is by participating in a job fair. The Department of Career Planning and Development regularly hosts job fairs throughout the semester that allows students to connect with various participating companies that need good workers.
You can look at the Department of Career and Developmentsection of the KSU website for a calendar showing all the dates for these career fairs.
Another way to get an internship opportunity is to simply look for them yourself. While that may seem daunting at first, KSU has plenty of resources to help you in your search.
Students wanting to find an internship can get in touch with their Career and Internship Advisor and ask that advisor any questions they may have about where to look for internships and how to make sure they get them once they find one.
In addition to advisors, KSU is partnered with Handshake, an online platform dedicated to helping college students find jobs within their field. To use Handshake students must make an account using their KSU email; once that is done, they can search for jobs using the site or find recruiting events in their area.
Once students have an internship lined up, they can get in contact with their internship advisor to talk about getting academic credit for it. To gain credit for an internship, students must meet certain GPA and credit hour requirements specific to their major.
For more information on requirements and expectations for internships, read KSU’s Guiding Principles document available on the Career and Planning Department website.
If you are going to college, internships are one of the many advantages you get over others when securing a job. Anyone can get an internship at a company regardless of their academic status, but attending a college gives you opportunities that others do not have.
If you want to find an internship and get a head start on your career, talk to your advisors, join a club or organization relating to your major or talk to your professors. They all have years of experience in their field and are great sources if you want to make connections.
Internships are great opportunities for students, so begin your search and get started on your career today.
