How an Internship and Specialized Training Can Help Your Career and Change Your Life

It’s natural to shrink away from the idea of an internship. Work for free? And yet, interning, or apprenticing is a concept that has existed for about as long as organized labor. Why? Because it is a good way for people to level up their skills in a setting that is much more hands-on than they would get in the classroom.

Internships and other forms of specialized training allow students to learn more about the profession they are interested in next to professionals who already have the experience they desire. In this article, we take a look at how this experience can help to kickstart your career, and possibly even change your life.

What is an Internship?

Internships and specialized training programs are usually predetermined sessions of working within a business for free, in the hopes of forming connections and gaining job experience. They are often made available to college students, though you do not need to be currently enrolled in an educational program to qualify for one.

Though most internships are unpaid, they may count for college credits— a benefit with the potential to let students save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in the long run.

While the terms of an internship or specialized job training program can vary significantly based on the situation, they usually play out in much the same way that an entry-level job would. The “new hire,” is brought in to do basic tasks. In doing so, they learn the ins and outs of the industry.

After the intern or training period has lapsed, the worker is able to list the experience on their resume, making it easier to transition into working life. Below, we describe some of the benefits that you can get from an internship or specialized training program.

You Learn Things You Can’t Find Out in a Classroom

Anyone who has ever transitioned from school into a professional setting can tell you that lived experience is never quite the same as what you are taught in the classroom. The volatility of a workplace is such that the rhythms of employment will vary tremendously from the stability of a school environment.

Getting some of that experience under your belt in the lower-stakes environment of an internship can help prepare you for what it is like to actually work in your chosen profession. Not only will this help you find work, but it will also make it much easier to transition into your first paid job.

It Helps You Establish Professional Connections

Internships often transition directly into employment. In the best-case scenario, you may get offered a full-time job at the place where you were doing your internship. Even if it doesn’t pan out that way, you may find that your “internship,” boss is willing to write you a great recommendation letter.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that the people you work with will most likely be tapped into the professional community you hope to join. That connection can help you establish further relationships. Maybe the place you’ve been interning at isn’t hiring, but the folks working there are willing to put in a good word for you at a similar business where they know the hiring manager.

Finding jobs is often a matter of who you know.

Internships are a Good Resume Builder

Even if you can’t get a lucrative connection out of your internship you will get experience that looks great on paper. Desirable jobs often have many applicants. If you want your resume to stand out amongst the crowd, it’s important to take advantage of opportunities that make you different.

Employers will know that a person who has been through an internship or professional training program will need less onboarding than someone who hasn’t.

It Helps You Figure Out What You Like, and What You Don’t

Finally, internships also just give you the opportunity to further understand your professional interests. A significant portion of college graduates leave the profession they studied for because it turned out to be different than they expected.

That risk is reduced when you get to spend a little bit of time on the job through an internship. Getting firsthand experience can help you decide what direction you want to take your career in.