We all want that foot-in-the-door, that chance at a good job. How do we do it?
Recently I had the chance to meet with a professional healthcare administrator. She’s a vice president at a hospital-based college, and is doing very well for herself. I remember when she started at that hospital; in fact, I worked in the department where she interned, as an unpaid, for-college-credit-only intern. She established herself as someone we must hire full-time. She stood out then, and she stands out now, some twenty-plus years later.
She knew (by the choice of her major) that she wanted to work in human resources. She did not know that she wanted to work in a hospital. That just happened to be the organization that agreed to offer her an internship. She was by no means the only intern that came through our department in the five years I worked there. We didn’t hire every intern into a full-time position after their internship although the majority did eventually work there full-time.
So what’s the point of this internship success story? If you are a young person, wanting a good job when you receive whatever degree you are pursuing, how do you make that education work for you? How do you get your foot-in-the-door of an organization that will give you a chance, pay you well, and allow you to be a contributor?
If you are in a major at a college where internships are NOT part of your curriculum, know that the internship experience is an essential, must-have experience for you to go get while pursuing your degree. It pains me to meet with college students (and I do regularly) whose primary goal seems to be to finish their program. If you have this mindset, and you will not have an internship experience when you graduate, you’re making a mistake. Saving a few thousand tuition dollars and graduating without a relevant work experience is a dead-end!
Do you want a solid starter-job with a good work-environment when you graduate? (If you are farther along in your work life, and want a new career, this strategy can work for you, too!)
Then start talking to organizations who do work that intrigues you. If you talk to enough people about what you think you want to do, someone will offer you an internship experience. Take it! Build it into a job, or build it into a story that you can share with other organizations. Internship stories have gravitas in the workplace; hiring managers listen when you’ve done meaningful internship work while in school. It shows them that you offer relevance and value, and will be a contributor. It is the proverbial foot-in-the-door. Go get an internship now!