For some university degrees, undertaking an internship is a no-brainer – it’s practically a rite of passage. In other degrees, however, internships are foreign territory. As an Arts student I didn’t begin to consider doing an internship until my third year, while my commerce and science friends had been planning their work placements since day one. Perhaps this was because internships are easy to dismiss - after all, no one wants to give up their summer holiday to work and securing an internship can seem daunting. But I’ve since come to learn that internships offer various benefits and there is more than one way to fit them into a busy schedule.
The Benefits of an Internship
It's difficult to overstate how valuable internships are when it comes to gaining practical experience and developing skills for the workforce. If you prefer hands-on experience to sitting in a tutorial staring blankly at lecture slides, internships are a great way to discover your interests and be motivated by the feeling of doing something with real-world consequences.
Internships are also excellent at facilitating the expansion of your professional network, which can lead to additional job opportunities and connect you with industry professionals who can offer guidance and support. An internship may also result in an offer for a graduate role within the business. However, even if you pursue an internship that is not directly related to the profession you end up in, internships offer numerous benefits regardless.
Many people complete an internship purely to expand their knowledge of potential career pathways and to help them decide what they do and don’t enjoy about a particular role. In this way, an internship can confirm that your dream job really is for you, or else redirect you towards a more appropriate pathway. Career discovery is important particularly for those who are uncertain of their career goals, making internships an excellent opportunity to test the waters before having to commit to anything.
Work placements also offer valuable exposure to the professional world, helping you understand how it operates. Such experience can render the transition from study to full-time work much smoother. More importantly, internships foster your personal development, teaching you to work in a fast-paced environment and how to take initiative, ultimately making you that much more employable. It’s also an opportunity that will inform you about your own strengths and weaknesses - which is not only convenient in preparation for job interviews, but this insight will help boost your confidence.
So what makes internships attractive to employers? Well, employers love seeing that you are willing to put yourself out there and seek out new opportunities. Undertaking an internship shows that you are eager to learn and are motivated to position yourself for success. In essence, they say a lot about you as a person.
Making the Time
Finding the time to take on an internship can seem difficult and unattainable, but the good news is you don’t have to give up your summer break. Adding an internship to an already overloaded schedule during the semester may not seem feasible but there are ways to make it possible. First, aim to secure a paid placement. This way you can substitute your casual work with your internship. Then take a look at your course handbook and check whether there are any internship subjects that you can take in tandem with your study (most degrees have them). By gaining credit points for your internship, not only does it mean you’re effectively getting paid to study, but it ensures you can complete one less intensive
subject during the semester while on placement.
Locating Internships
So where can you find internships? Grad Australia and online job search sites such as SEEK and Indeed are great places to begin (don’t forget to use Boolean searches to refine your search results). Following companies on LinkedIn is also a good idea as they will often post new job opportunities. Also locate major players in the sector you hope to intern in and check their websites for any information about possible internship opportunities. Cold messaging, although daunting, can also be an excellent way to expose your enthusiasm and secure a placement. Lastly, enrol in the University of Melbourne’s free module Careers and Employability which offers various tools for locating and securing an internship.
All that in mind, internships aren’t for everyone and that’s fine - there is still no requirement to do an internship in order to secure a job. The degree and major you’re studying are also important factors to consider; while internships may be pivotal in some degrees to land particular jobs at certain firms, for other employers, work placements are much less relevant. Take the time to consider what is important to you and your studies before committing yourself to an internship.
Written by Eloise Webster
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