Introduction to Internship Programs

 1. Introduction to Internship Programs

When engaging in an internship program, it is important that students understand that these programs provide real work experience to individuals who are not yet full-time employees. As a student, you may or may not be graded for the experience, but you should definitely be treating the internship as a job. Ten to fifteen hours of exposure to the experience will enable you to grow, thus contributing to your career path for your future. Today's employers are not just looking for a degree; they want to know, "Can this person work for me?" Through internships, you will get a chance to work with people in the field to determine whether you have chosen a major that fits your career goals. By working with professionals, students will be given the opportunity to either use or identify their skills and get a sense of the career path they can expect.

Many universities are including internships in their curricula. Making internship programs relevant begins with the head of the student's educational program. Internships then come into a designated area or department, typically under arts and sciences or occupational education and placement. The current job market provides a variety of opportunities. Recognition of the benefits of internship programs by employers, colleges and universities, and students leads to educational programs that identify factors influencing a successful internship.

1.1. Types of Internships

Experience proves that internships - as temporary, usually low-paying work assignments - do not always meet the financial needs of students seeking to become professionals. But whether they realize it or not, interns do have a right to earn the money they need to help them achieve their learning objectives. However, given the tight year-round competition for internships, the problem is to make that clear without jeopardizing the process of obtaining a good job match. It is important for students to understand the financial implications of choosing the internship that will best shape their campus-to-professional transition and to plan to meet the expenses they will incur while undertaking it.

Understanding that internships present important opportunities for learning, two-year candidates may choose to perform an internship to gain some early professional experience. For most others, internships provide the equivalent of a full year of working experience in a professional environment. These opportunities help students to add to the experience they gain in the classroom with a working technical vocabulary and a developing proficiency in using the kinds of communication skills that employers frequently cite as the most important learning that people should hope to achieve. Additionally, internships provide opportunities to test particular interests and aptitudes in the work settings to which a hospitality foundation has prepared them to address. While other working experiences provide useful glimpses of professional life, internships give students the chance to view for-profits and corporate structures from the inside, to become familiar with state-of-the-art business practices in areas typically of concern to hospitality graduates, to build relevant problem-solving experience, and to establish their own interest-driven networks.