What is an internship?
Internships provide real world experience to those looking to explore or gain the relevant knowledge and skills required to enter into a particular career field. Internships are relatively short term in nature with the primary focus on getting some on the job training and taking what’s learned in the classroom and applying it to the real world. Interns generally have a supervisor who assigns specific tasks and evaluates the interns overall work. For internships for credit, usually a faculty sponsor will work along with the site supervisor to ensure that the necessary learning is taking place. Interns can be high school or college students or even adults interested in trying out a new career. Many college students do internships to gain relevant experience in a particular career field as well as to get exposure to determine if they have a genuine interest in the field. Internships are an excellent way to begin building those all-important connections that are invaluable in developing and maintaining a strong professional network for the future.