Missed Opportunity: A Lesson Learned

This time of year our office is flooded with students looking to do internships during the upcoming semester. Many students are excited to get hands-on experiences in their field of choice and can’t wait to get started. They want to get out there, make connections, build their resume and skills set, and make themselves more marketable in the months to come.

But not all students take advantage of the incredible learning opportunities gained through internships. They find this to be their biggest regret when trying to break into the working world. Here’s a recent example: An alum stopped in last week as he found himself in need of our services. He had graduated this past May and had already found himself frustrated. After chatting with him about his current situation, he openly admitted to his disappointment with himself for not doing an internship. His focus was in accounting/management and he was finding that temp agencies couldn’t even help him, due to his lack of experience. When I asked him why he decided not to do an internship, he said “I chose to make $300 a night at the bar rather than do an internship. Now I’m really kicking myself.”

So, if you’re tossing around the idea of whether or not you should do an internship, recognize that in this tight economy, internships help give you that edge against the competition.

~Sara

"Failure is success if we learn from it."

~Malcolm Forbes