Editor’s note: The Mirror’s Lauren Pepiciello sat down this week with internship expert Dr. Gerald Savage.
As part of the two-day campus event “Learning and Integrity: Looking Towards the Future in College Student Internships,” Gerald Savage gave a presentation entitled “‘Overwhelmingly Positive, but…’: The ‘buts’ to Avoid for Interns, Program Directors, and Supervisors” on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. in the library.
In addition to that lecture, Savage, along with David Sapp, Fairfield’s own internship coordinator of the English department, ran several student workshops and a faculty roundtable discussion during which students and teachers asked him specific questions regarding college internships.
After attending one of Savage’s workshops, I was able to sit down with him and ask some questions that students frequently ask about internships.
Why are internships so popular?
GS: Internships have long been popular because they are an ideal way to make the transition from school to the professional workforce.
One of the dilemmas I have heard forever, which was one of my own dilemmas when graduating from college, is that you spend all these years in school learning a particular field that is supposed to qualify you for a particular job. Then you apply for that job and they tell you that they are looking for someone with experience. How are you supposed to get that experience?
It seems like you have been cheated with all of the emphasis on getting an education. Internships are the solutions to that problem.
Most employers count internship experience as professional work experience. And a lot of the time, students who do internships get jobs quicker than ones who don’t.
Are internships more popular now than they were in the past?
GS: The numbers of internships you will find in any given place are often also a function of the economy. Back in the late 1990s I was running far more internships than I do right now when the economy was better. So it really just depends.
When should students think about starting to apply for internships?
GS: I like when students start thinking about an internship at least a year in advance. In my program a student can’t start an internship before his or her junior year, but I am just delighted when they talk to me sophomore year.
I can place a student in an internship in less than a week’s notice, but they are going to have to take whatever happens to be available.
If they had planned ahead and taken some time to explore the possibilities, they would get an internship they want, which is usually better suited for them.
How do students go about landing a dream internship?
GS: Part of it is a lot of preparation, such as taking the courses that are going to prepare them. There is no generalization I can make about this for sure.
Some big corporations have a structured internship program. Other companies just might be in need of help and some places take a set number of students from a particular university.
If I were to generalize what I have seen, it is that for very high profile internships, it usually is best to do another internship before. You learn a lot about just how to conduct yourself in a work place from an internship, regardless of what profession you are going into.
I see too many students trying to get their dream internship second semester senior year and that is just too late.
What are some things interns should avoid doing?
GS: Getting hurt and doing damage in the internship.
There are liabilities involving interns, whether it is the intern getting hurt or the intern harming the employer.
There are ways to avoid those situations. Insurance coverage is one way, but the other, most important way is to understand the conditions the internship involves. You can be in an unsafe situation, where an internship coordinator will have to go in and might have to pull students out.
Also, you may be operating machinery where you have to make sure the company supplies you with proper training.
There are three parties involved in an internship-the intern, the employer and the university. All three have to work cooperatively and be in sync. And if any of these parties aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing, it can be a bad situation.
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