The last thing they want is to have their interns squandering their talents on photocopying. It's a great job market, says Birnbaum. For the past three to five years, the economy has been screaming. Much like they do in the liberal arts, students need to branch out, and be willing to learn different skill sets and how to work with different supervisors. Internships help students discover what kind of field they want to go into, what kind of work environment best suits their personality, and what their employer s expectations are for the job.
Some internships are heady, life-changing experiences.
Others can provide somber wake-up calls. Either way, they can be win-win situations because they provide crucial clues about life after college, says Birnbaum, who spent the summer between his college freshman and sophomore years working as a mobile sanitation engineer in New Jersey. I learned what I didn't want to do, he laughs. The Career Center helps students search the thousands of internships available each year through networking, responding to posted advertisements and contacting employers and organizations directly. This free notebook system is cross-indexed alphabetically, geographically, and by occupation, and is a great resource for identifying summer jobs.