Internships are not the only option to provide valuable work experience

There is an unspoken requirement increasingly being treated like a necessary, but unwanted, General Education class: the internship.

With internships now considered essential resume builders, too many students are ignoring valuable work experiences for internships they are not as interested in.
Paid or unpaid, internships are only a small fraction of the work opportunities available to students. Most of the time, students do not even need to leave the campus to find a worthwhile opportunity in which to gain invaluable workplace and interpersonal skills.

Despite this fact, students still think internships trump all other work experience. When I entered UCLA only a few short months ago, I was prepared to take a few unwanted classes in order to fill those pesky GE requirements, but I certainly was not ready to dive into the internship search so early on in my university career. But only in my second quarter, I have newfound respect for that magic “i” word.

Consider this example: The other day, a group of friends and I were swapping stories about our first quarter when the conversation soon turned into an all-out bragging contest. One guy said he managed a 4.0 GPA, but another guy said he took four classes and had a job and got a girlfriend. Needless to say, I was impressed. We had found our winner. But not so fast. From the silent corner, a friend beamed with pride: “Guys … I got an internship.”

That was it. He had us all beat. In his very first quarter at UCLA, this guy somehow got the golden ticket.

But is it true that internships are the only way into graduate school or jobs these days? According to Kathy L. Sims, the director of the UCLA Career Center, many think that internships make them competitive candidates, but that’s not always the case.

She added that students who have work experience or who volunteer might not need an internship.

For instance, there are leadership positions in fraternities and sororities, volunteer opportunities in hospitals or museums, editorial positions for the literary journal, and the list goes on.

Whatever the work experience, students must consider how to lead a team, communicate effectively, allot funds wisely and organize events. They also have the chance to make changes to the procedures or activities of their group. Such experience in innovation is a valuable commodity in the job market.

Further, interns ““ by their very nature ““ have fewer opportunities to connect with their work community and build ties with colleagues. In contrast, a number of students work for a campus organization for multiple years. This extended time commitment gives students a chance to learn about developing long-term working relationships.

Graduate schools and companies like to see these work experiences on a resume, perhaps even more than some internships. Although it is true that most internships are becoming more hands-on, they may never be able to escape the connotation of getting coffee for the boss and making copies for his secretary.

In contrast, the treasurer for a cultural group and the president of a Greek organization are both bosses in their own rights.

Although these many other work options are open to students, those who still fall prey to the internship fallacy (myself included) might look to internships for guidance. Understanding the work value of an internship usually prevents it from becoming like a GE requirement, done for the sole purpose of building a resume.

Beth Goodhue, an internship coordinator at the UCLA Center for Community Learning, teaches a class in which student interns examine the academic impact of their work experience. The center, still a relatively new organization at UCLA, is just one available tool for those who do prefer an internship over another work experience.

The next time you overlook a work opportunity because it is not an internship, consider that jobs and volunteer experiences can be equally valuable.

Are internships the new GE requirement? E-mail Mosby at [email protected].
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