Eye on Psi Chi Winter 2012 : Page 9Paul Hettich, PhD , Professor Emeritus at DePaul University (IL), was an Army personnel psychologist, program evaluator in an education R&D lab, and a corporate applied scientist—positions that created a “real world” foundation for his career in college teaching and administration. He was inspired to coauthor Connect College to Career: A Student Guide to Work and Life Transitions (2005) by graduates and employers who revealed a major disconnect between university and workplace expectations, cultures, and practices. You can contact Paul at phettich@depaul.edu What additional insights can you add? Keil: Internships are extremely valuable to the student, but as you can see, they are equally valuable to an employer. For graduates having a diffi cult time securing a regular hire opportunity, I recommend contacting employers and off ering your experience to them on an intern basis. It’s out of the box, and it just might be the foot in the door you need. Internships vary in several ways. Th ey can be credit or noncredit based, paid or unpaid, off ered through an academic department, career counseling center, university-wide course, or directly by an organization. Expect all internships to be competitive, especially those that are paid or off er a small stipend. If seeking an internship in a social service agency, do not expect fi nancial compensation, but you can obtain good experience, especially if you plan on attending graduate school with a mental health specialty. In contrast, you can expect to pay for an internship in highly competitive positions in some fi elds. Some employers are being criticized during our national labor crisis for off ering unpaid internships to save company compensation, when they would otherwise have to pay employees. And some students are accused of taking jobs away from the unemployed through internships. However, unpaid internships have been the norm for many business organizations long before the recent job crisis. It is important to perform serious self-refl ection about your long-term career interests and goals prior to seeking an internship. As a psychology student in a fi eld that reaches deeply into diverse aspects of society and behavior, you may be interested in mental health, research, marketing, human resources, science, technology, public service, social media, law enforcement, animal welfare, or other areas Whatever your interests, discuss them with your advisor and a career counselor; visit the alumni offi ce and investigate the possibility of contacting alumni working in your fi eld of choice. Be persistent. If there are no opportunities available through your school, then contact organizations directly (as Keil advises) or online. Search wisely, plan your eff orts, and prepare your questions. Application procedures may vary widely but expect to complete a process that requires an interview, current resume, letters of reference, a transcript, and a statement of your goals and skills. Become familiar with an organization’s mission, services, products, and expectations of interns. Similarly, learn what you can expect from the organization, such as the kinds of tasks you will perform, if possible. Most internships involve some dull assignments (e.g., fi ling, photo copying, data input), but you should be able to perform at least some tasks equivalent to an entry-level job for a college graduate. In return for your work, you should receive some training, regular supervision, and COPYRIGHT © 2012 PSI CHI feedback (though it may be infrequent and general). Consult the NACE (2011b) position statement regarding criteria that defi ne an internship experience and criteria for unpaid internships. It is likely, however, that some internships will not match each criterion in the NACE statement. Some post-college entry-level jobs require a solid internship experience and established skills. You might not meet those requirements in one experience, and chances are you will have made some mistakes along the way. So plan your schedule for a second, more challenging, and more career-related internship. View it as a second real-world component of your academic program that can simultaneously guide your career decision process and inform an employer or graduate school about your serious desire for practical experience (Landrum & Hettich, 2011). But do internships lead to jobs? Th e statistics may change from year to year, but according to NACE (2010), 42.3% of the college senior job applicants who had internship experiences received at least one job off er, compared to 30.7% of those without an internship experience. Th is data is from a sample of students from wide number of disciplines, including liberal arts and applied majors. Consequently, do not assume that the internship you complete will lead to a job, especially if it is in a not-for-profi t social service organization. Whatever the variables that infl uence the conversion rate from internship to job, the bottom line is that you should get out of the classroom during your college education and try to experience real-world working conditions in your areas of interest. Finally, prepare for your internship as you would a major paper or thesis. Consult sources such as the CERI Th ought Piece below and other CERI online reports, and follow Keil’s advice to “research, research, research!” as a competent psych major can and would—your fi rst satisfying full-time job may depend on it. References Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2008). How should colleges assess and improve student learning? Employers’ views on the accountability challenge. Retrieved from www.aacu.org/leap/documents/GlobalCentury_ExecSum_3.pdf Collegiate Employment Research Institute. (2011). CERI thought piece: Internships as high stakes events. Retrieved from www.ceri.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/High-Stakes-Internships.pdf Landrum, R. E., & Hettich, P. (2011). Your undergraduate psychology degree at work and in career. Manuscript in preparation. National Association of Colleges and Employers (2010). Interns more likely to have job offers. Retrieved from www.naceweb.org/internships. National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2011a). Job Outlook 2011 . Bethlehem, PA: NACE. National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2011b). A defi nition and criteria to assess opportunities and determine the implications for compensation. Retrieved from www.naceweb.org/ about/membership/internship/ Additional Resources www.ceri.msu.edu CERI surveys of work-related issues of interest to college students. www.internmatch.com InternMatch helps you find internships by field and by location. www.naceweb.org NACE home page. Sachs, A. (2011, September 12). Intern nation. TIME, pp. Business 1–2 WINTER 2012 | EYE ON PSI CHI 9 Publication List |
