Beyond typical summer jobs, internships can prove to be an especially profitable way for college students to invest time in their futures.
“Internships offer a great way for students to discover whether their intended professional field is the career path they really wish to explore,” said Matt Lambdin, Ed.D., director of experiential learning in Ohio Northern's business college
“These opportunities put students in the workplace, and they get a real feel for what they do after graduation. They can make sure this is what they want to do on a daily basis after they graduate and, if so, determine what skills they need to develop in moving forward.”
“A person’s career is obviously a big part of that person’s life. It is important that students find out, while they are in college and can pursue other options, that this is the profession that will allow them to wake up each day excited about going to work.”
Students sometimes learn from internships that they are not pursuing a career that matches their interests, and that is not all bad.
“Internships can become pivot points if students find that their career aspiration is not the ideal career choice,” Lambdin said. “That can be a good thing because they often have time to adjust their academic majors. Or, they might decide that they are willing to put up with the aspects of the job that are not attractive to them because, overall, they do prefer this career choice. In either case, internships add that professional focus that can only be obtained from experience.”
According to Lambdin, internships offer major benefits because they allow students to:
- theory into practice and add to their future classroom learning
- Gain a sense of what they will be doing on a daily basis
- Learn about business culture and how to engage with co-workers
- Learn about professional etiquette
- Determine how they want to spend their time away from work and what type of community is the best fit for them
