By: Ries Allyn

College is a period to learn and grow personally and is a time when students also develop a network and build their professional brand. The start of a new year brings resolutions, fresh starts and for college students it means internship application season. Importance of Obtaining and Completing an Internship.

Coming back from winter break college students are eager to dive in and begin their Spring semester and are looking ahead to plans for the Summer, with time off from school many undergraduates decide to gain experience and complete internships. Although other students debate on utilizing their spare time in this way. Wondering, what is the value to obtaining an internship?

To questions like these, Dr. Douglas Hall, Vice President of Career & Professional Development at High Point University, shares internships are a “nice try before you buy opportunity.”

Hall explains further that experiential learning, research, and service projects are great to participate in although internships are about “translating skills from the classroom to the workspace,” said Hall.

Much more than another line on a resume, internships allow undergraduates to explore and understand their potential. “Internships serve as a great training ground for where students want to go,” said Hall.

Hall also emphasizes other skills students develop through interning, “time management, what its like working on a team, students are going to learn about the work itself, the industry and have access to data and information that you wouldn’t typically see in a classroom.”

While completing an internship is a great way to try out a job students have an interest in, Hall stresses they are also a perfect venue for students to determine what they don’t want to do post college, based on the experience of their internship(s).

“Even if you interned at a place that you’re not too thrilled about, I think about all the things that you learned, all the skills that you gained in that space, which is transferable for the next opportunity,” said Hall.

When applying for internships or even jobs, having previous work and experience can also help students stand out among the crowd. According to a survey by National Association of Colleges and Employers, “91% of employers prefer candidates have work experience, and 65% indicate that they prefer candidates who have relevant work experience”

“The first thing when looking at someone’s resume is just making sure that they have experience that aligns with the job that I’m hiring for,” said Juliana Valencia, People Coordinator in human resources at Harper Collins Publishers. Valencia shares that the quality of an applicant’s experiences are much more valuable than ones whose resumes lack direction, she wants to see potential employees are actively perusing their career aspirations.
Internships: Opportunities That Lead to More Opportunities

Internships provide students a space to network and leave their mark giving companies an impression of their work ethic. Students can prove themselves by working hard and learning new skills, giving employees a reason to miss them and consider them for future opportunities.
“If students do well, within an internship space, employers are looking at that. They’re saying okay, you can be trusted with this work, you do so well, we’d love to hire you back for the following summer.” Said Hall, as he adds, “Or they’re (employers) looking at you as a potential full-time hire.”

Even when internships don’t lead to direct full-time employment, they are great steppingstones which can connect students to other endeavors. Julia Newman, Senior Finance and Sales double major at High Point University shares her internship journey. “My main reasons for doing internships were just to get experience and learn what I might be interested in after college. I had two internships throughout my time here at High Point University and my career after graduation is actually different form the two things I did.”

Newman is finishing up her final semester on campus and is looking toward starting her new job in July as a Federal Finance Transformation Advising Associate with KMPG, one of the big four accounting firms. She was recruited for the job through Handshake, which is a online job and internship posting site that companies are able to connect to current students and prospective employees on.

Newman feels a sense of relief at knows that her hard work and dedication paid off. She shares how grateful she is for the steps she took with the Career and Professional Development Office and utilizing the resources available. “Right now, I’m just kind of enjoying the rest of senior year. So much pressure off the fact that I’m not job hunting right before graduation, and then just starting to look for apartments and figure out the next steps in my life while knowing I have the biggest question mark in my life already solved.”

In her advice for underclassmen Newman states, “Just start preparing as early as you can.”

Beginning your first semester Freshmen year, students should be taking advantage of the career tools available to them through the Office of Career and Professional Development (CPD) at High Point University. The Office of CPD offers students resume, cover letter, and Linked In creation or
reviews. In addition, students can also sign up for mock interview events, professional dress seminars and more.

“We talk about our students engaging with us early and often, it’s so critical. By Junior and Senior year it’s about rinse and repeat,” said Hall.
With a variety of options to start building a professional brand, students can make coming by the Office of CPD a habit.