Making the Most of Any Internship

By Kaitlin Hurtado on August 25, 2017

Depending on your current situation, finding an internship that perfectly fits all of your needs and expectations can be near impossible. The timing may not be right, the location makes the opportunity impossible, or your level of experience may not be at the same level that the company requires their applicants to be on.

Instead of skipping out on partaking in an internship because it isn’t in the career field you want to be in in the future, try going for the internship even if you don’t think it is going to help your career. Regardless of what career field the internship is in, you can always find a way to take something from your internship and relate it to your field of study or desired career.

Build your experience

Turning down an internship offer because it isn’t exactly fitting to the career you want when you have no other prospects isn’t the best idea. If you already know the chances of you finding your dream internship are slim-to-none, you can’t exactly be picky with your internship.

Some experience is better than no experience, and you don’t want to apply for full-time jobs later on with a blank resume just because you couldn’t find the “right” internship. It is better to get an internship and take what you can from it, even if it’s not exactly a list of know-hows for how to get your desired career on track than to think that the perfect internship will come along if you keep waiting for it.

Instead, accept the internship that doesn’t exactly meet your ideas — you can always get one more related to your major or career later on, but it’s important to build experience in order to secure the internship or full-time position in the future.

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Learn new skills that can help you stand out among competitors 

Instead of looking at an internship that isn’t related to your major or career as a lost opportunity to learn skills for your desired career, look at the internship as an opportunity to learn new skills that you would not be able to learn if you were doing an internship related to your major or career.

If you are looking to go into a more science-oriented field and end up with an internship in writing or publishing with a company like Uloop, don’t assume that there’s nothing for you to learn if you aren’t doing anything science-related. You get to learn how to improve your writing — something that is vital in writing important emails or proposals. You also get to learn how to cater to a specific audience, depending on what internship you are in — this will help you when it comes to choosing how and when to say something depending on who you are speaking to (a boss, a fellow coworker, a client, etc).

Always try to see any skills you pick up during an internship as a later advantage. Spending time working an internship unrelated to your major or career allows you to pick up skills you may not be able to pick up otherwise, something that future employers will appreciate when you are able to offer more skills than what is expected of you. This is even more helpful when being compared to others in your major, as you will be able to claim a more diverse set of skills and knowledge than your peers, something that can get you a position over them.

When picking up a new skill, always try to figure out how it amplifies a skill you already have, or how it can help you in your future career.

Network with others outside of your major or career 

Just like your internship offering you the chance to learn new skills that will help you in the future, your internship will offer you the opportunity to network, just like any opportunity. You may not think that you have something in common with your coworkers or fellow interns because you aren’t studying anything related to the internship and therefore shouldn’t bother connecting with them, but networking with them is just as important as networking at any other internship.

You never know where one worker has been, or even where they plan to go until you reach out to them. Don’t try to put up a front like the internship exactly fits the bill of what you want in a career; be honest about why you took up the internship (picking up new skills, you liked the company, etc.) and voice your desires and interests when it comes to what you study and want to do in the future.

Company employees may even be in the same boat, or have been, and can offer plenty of advice to help get you where you want to be. They may be able to help you connect with friends and other connections that are in the field that you want to be in, giving you a way to build up your experience regardless of your internship.

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