Anyone that has ever searched for a job has faced the brick wall of "__ years experience required". Businesses and jobs will even post this as a requirement for entry level jobs. Key word is entry level, think about it, entry level means the bottom of the bunch where you go to learn and eventually climb the ladder. Most of us will not get a job in their desired sector that can count as some sort of experience. Luckily for the IT sector, you can get some computer experience and good money free lancing. As good as that is, experience in companies is 10x better than showing people how to turn their computers on at their house. I also happen to get lucky at my current main job where I get hands on experience in a corporate setting environment in a university. Using your university as job experience can be extremely useful and convenient, depending on the type of work you do. However something is always better at nothing. For anyone else who either wants more, or can’t get any of these two, internships are the way to go.
Companies love interns because it’s free slave labor. As an intern, you work for free, usually doing the grunt work that the regular employees don’t want to do in exchange for work experience. Depending on how well you do and how well you are liked you may even get a job in your current company. SO how exactly do you get that internship? Once again Andrew Grinbaum has the answers in his book “Cha-Ching!”.
The one way we all see every time we look at a college bulletin board is advertisements for various internships at different companies. Sometimes they come with schooling requirements as well as pre-determined. I’ve always looked at the boards for something worth cutting hours from my job, but for those that have the free time, I suggest that you look more often and thoroughly. The one problem I find and Grinbaum agrees with me is that your competing with everyone on campus, or even another university if the company posted in multiple places. Then again when you go for a real job you will be in competition with many people
One of Grinbuam’s what looks like bullet proof strategies is to go directly to the company. To do this , contact HR and tell them that you are studying ____ in ___ university and would like to “donate your time”. After that, find out a name and email for a person in charge of internships at a company and send them your resume. If you get called to an interview, tell them that you are seeking some experience and give a frame that you are free. Interestingly Grinbaum says some firms have policies that the must pay their staff and this include interns, so if you can find one, do whatever you can to get it, because that’s unheard of. That’s one of the main reasons why myself, and lots of other people I know cant get internships, they are mostly unpaid. Like anything life, nothing is handed to you, you have to take the imitative and hope that it pays off. Putting in a little extra work in this case can in a sense eliminate the competition you may have when apply to a posted internship. After applying to numerous jobs I have actually learned that this approach also works for regular employment and not internships. Some companies don’t publicize that they are hiring, or like how I received my present job, something just happened to open up and I was there to take it.
To sum it all up, if you can’t get any type of job in your field, get an internship! If you don’t believe they are worthwile, ask anyone that has had one, most people receive a job when they graduate, or when one opens up. I can name sever people in my family who had internships and the company they are currently employed at. Give it a shot, because you’ll never know where it might lead!
This experience is necessary to get the good job.
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