Now that the semester is almost over, many students are considering using the summer to get work experience that will look good on their resume. A good way to get that experience is through internships.
An internship is a program in which students can work for a company as a paid or as an unpaid employee. Students in this program also receive college credits.
To take advantage of the internship program, students must be enrolled in the work experience class in order to be put in a work experience job and get college credit.
Summer internships usually have deadlines within which to apply so students need to start looking into programs early, such as the end of fall or early spring.
One of the biggest programs that works through Fresno City College, says Cindy Dunn, coordinator in the Career and Employment Center at FCC, is the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Anyone can get involved in this program, not just Hispanic students.
“So, if somebody is majoring in politics or health sciences, and they get accepted into the program,” Dunn said, “they’re actually flown to Washington, D.C. for an orientation and then wherever the internship is.”
HACU’s internships are throughout the United States with federal organizations and major corporations.
Interns through HACU are paid and out-of-pocket expenses such as travel, housing and living expenses are reimbursed. HACU will also help the interns find reasonably priced housing accommodations.
“The students actually come home with money in their pocket, if they’re not just out there spending it all,” Dunn said.
HACU will place interns out of state as well as locally. Many Fresno students, Dunn said, prefer to stay in Fresno.
The Small Business Association in Fresno is currently hiring 10 interns for the summer. They are unpaid positions in which students would be shuffling papers, filing and organizing.
“They just need some bodies to help them with some of their work,” said Dunn. “It’s short-term and just for the summer, but it’s going to be a great experience working with the SBA. It’s a federal agency so to put that on your resume, that’s a plus all by itself, even if all you did was shuffle papers.”
The basic skills an intern will learn in a job such as those offered by the SBA are very important to any employment a student may seek in the future.
“Students really need to get those transferable skills, such as filing, typing [and] using a computer … something that in any business, the business [needs] from anyone,” said Dunn.
Another reason working in an internship is beneficial is that most interns get hired if the employer likes his or her work. And even if an intern is not hired, the contacts they would make in the company can also prove to be greatly beneficial later in their careers.
Dunn encourages students to look into internships early in the school year as there is a process involved in securing the internship position. Documents need to be filed and there is always a deadline. Make sure to know when the deadlines are.
“If you’re interested and you’re available to go and do an internship out of state, it’s a great experience,” said Dunn. “I think it’s really important for people to expose themselves to different things in life and different locations and different kinds of people and different experiences while they’re young. That’s a good time to do it.”
Dunn added, however, that it is important to be realistic. If you’re going to take an internship out of state, make sure to know how your housing, transportation and food costs are going to be covered while you’re there.
Students interested in the positions available at the SBA need only to contact them and apply immediately.
