Being a student trying to decide how to make a living during the summer can be a challenge, especially with finals looming overhead. Professors and advisors will often encourage students to seek out internships, but there are a lot of variables to think about before diving head-first into a temporary position.
When making big decisions, I like to create a list of pros and cons to compare the possible outcomes of each decision before I make it. So here is a list of pros and cons, in article form, comparing the possibilities of different types of internships.
One of the more obvious advantages of having an internship is gaining experience in your field of expertise. Internships offer a wide range of skills, allowing young professionals to get real world knowledge and providing a chance for hands-on participation, an experience they might not get in school.
However, sometimes the experience and time spent working aren’t worth it. There are many internships where students are expected to work for school credits or without pay at all. To me, this is hardly different from short-term indentured servitude.
Agreeing to an unpaid internship is one of the least logical approaches to gaining experience. A university trading college credits for the labor of one of their students is like trading a ‘97 Honda Civic for a brand new one. Working an internship for college credits is the same as paying the university to go to class.
The best option for an internship is to earn money while you work, just like any other regular job. While the pay might be a little less than other entry-level positions in your profession, getting paid for your work is a hundred times better than paying someone to work for them.
Considering how many hours you will work is an important aspect of deciding on an internship as well. Out of two best case scenarios, an opportunity could have full-time hours, providing more experience, with smaller pay or shorter hours with larger pay.
The primary goal of saying yes to an internship is to gain experience, so if that’s not what you want to do with your summer, maybe an internship isn’t for you. For someone looking to make enough money to stash away a good savings or buy a new car, something that pays better would be the way to go.
There are plenty of options in Idaho for a decent paying summer job. Some of them might be a little dirty, like being a summer hire at a local mill, and some might be boring office jobs, like being a pharmacy assistant.
Whatever you choose to do with your summer, considering your goals is the most important and first thing to do before turning to an internship. Think about whether all of the lame adulting aspects of being a college student will be taken care of and consider how the benefits of the internship align with your goals.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5