UMD Career Services

Internships

It is more important than ever to participate in an internship or pre-professional experience before you look for a job upon graduation. Increasingly, employers want people with experience and an internship, or multiple internships, provides you with that experience. In the job search, having completed an internship clearly gives you an edge over those who haven't.

Internships are offered in almost every career area by employers who recognize the importance of on-the-job training and who often groom their most promising interns for full-time positions.

Internships are:

• Short-term, supervised, pre-professional work experiences which provide you training and experience in a specific field or career area.
• Learning experiences where you are expected to be productive and add value to the organization.
• Available in a wide variety of fields and from a wide variety of employers.

Internships may:

• Be paid or unpaid.
• Be for credit or not.
• Be formal or informal.
• Vary in hours and length.
• Take place any time during formal education or after completion of your degree.

By participating in an internship, you may:

• Gain valuable, hands-on, work experience in a real life career field.
• Explore a career field of interest without making a commitment.
• Identify an employer for full-time employment after college.
• Evaluate and be evaluated by a potential employer.
• Integrate and complement academic studies with on-the-job professional level experience.
• Test personal aptitudes, abilities, and interests in relation to your career choice and job demands.
• Develop marketable, transferable skills which employers value.
• Earn credit (optional) or financial compensation (if paid).
• Establish career networks and mentors.
• Collect valuable references for employment or graduate school applications.
• Provide a valuable resource to an employer and make a real world impact.

Finding an internship is:

• Similar to finding a job. You look for opportunities and apply for them.
• Often easier than finding a job. Employers value the opportunity to evaluate interns as potential employees and benefit from the energy and ideas interns bring to the work place.