Internships — Why Even a Crummy One is Valuable
Internships are practically mandatory now to find a job after college. People usually want to see some sort of office experience, or at the very minimum make sure you didn’t spend your summer playing Pokemon GO, which may or may not be what I did (hint, that’s exactly what I did.)
The problem is, especially if you’re looking for an internship for the summer after freshman year, your choices can be extremely limited. Most top companies only look to hire incoming juniors or seniors, as sort of a test run to people they may want to hire full time after graduation.
However, I’d encourage all lower level students (freshman/sophomore) to not be too selective when in search for an internship. Any job experience at the moment is incredibly valuable. Not only will the experience be appealing for potential employers in the future, your early internships are a great way to learn about yourself and what you value.
Benefits of Working at ANY internship:
- You learn how to work with others in a professional setting
- You learn how to deal with a boss
- You get an inside look at an industry (try to find one you’re interested in)
- Find out what you like/dislike in terms of a work environment
- Proof that you know how to be an employee (which future employers will notice)
- Find out what kind of companies you like working for (big/medium/small)
- You can get references for your resume and/or contacts for a future internship
And maybe most importantly, getting an internship after your freshman year shows initiative. You were willing to spend your summer working/learning, and that will look better than my super strong Pikachu (though I’d like to think it shows dedication.)
My Internship Experience
After my freshman year of college, I had lined up a job working at a financial firm in downtown Chicago. I was a finance major, so even though the majority of my work was data collection, I was extremely excited to see my future up close and personal.
Here’s the thing though — I didn’t really enjoy what I saw. To be clear, my colleagues and employers were all wonderful, accommodating people, and I learned a lot. Nor was the internship “crummy” as my title might lead you to believe. They certainly didn’t need me, so the fact that they were willing to take me on and teach me about their world was great, and I will always be appreciative of what they did.
I wasn’t entirely against data collection either. Realistically, most low level jobs involve data collection to an extent. The real issue was that I wasn’t entirely sure what working in finance would look like, but I just assumed that because my dad did it that the same world would be perfect for me. I’ve always liked the idea of investing, and finance was always explained to me as being smart enough about the world to know when things weren’t being priced properly, and to take advantage of it.
I thought watching all of these moving parts would be fun, and observing my colleagues work on complex trading problems was certainly interesting. Perhaps I was just frustrated that financial modelling wasn’t coming naturally to me, or maybe it was sitting at an actual desk is what got to me.
Regardless, I soon came to the conclusion that working in finance probably wasn’t right for me. Finance gigs are typically very intense, both in terms of hours and how “on” you have to be at all times. I couldn’t see myself ever getting fired up over a .14% change in the price of something, or debating whether we should be selling at $2.50 or $2.52.
OK…Now What?
The problem is, majoring in finance was my plan. Now that I found out it wasn’t right for me, what can I do? Well thankfully, because I found out right before sophomore year, I was able to pivot. If I had waited until junior year to nail a real finance position, I’d be in too deep by senior year, and either spend thousands pivoting and grow my tuition debt further, or commit myself to something I wasn’t excited about.
It’s ridiculous to expect someone to know what they want to do with their life, whether at age 18, 20, or even 30. The only way to know what you want though, is to find out what you don’t want in life. Try new things, and if it doesn’t suit you, great, don’t pursue it further.
I switched my major to marketing after my summer internship, and I’m enjoying it a lot more. My classes are more geared to what I enjoy now. I get to think about business strategy a lot more, which is more exciting to me in comparison to what I’d be doing had I stuck with finance.
Not only are the classes more fun, but I’m getting great experience at a new internship, at a startup in Chicago. TransparentCareer has taught me a lot, and I’m not just saying that because they’ll totally read this, and I’ll totally be in trouble if I say anything bad. My bosses Mitch and Kevin would never institute any sort of punishment policy. Haha, right guys? We’re all joking here. What a crazy thing for me to say!
The point is, even if you’re only organizing files, or basically just a lunch ordering machine, you can learn a lot. Not necessarily from the work you’ll be doing, but by observing what those around you do. These full time employees could be your peers one day, and if you don’t like what you see, it may be time to reconsider your path.
What have you learned from your internships? Do you agree with me? Disagree? We’d love to hear from you.
Hauk Nelson is a student by day, and also an intern during the same day. He is still an avid gamer, much to the chagrin of his parents and friends. He manages email marketing, content creation, and sales prospecting at TransparentCareer. You can reach him at HaukNelson@gmail.com
