WORK OR TRAVEL
DO INTERNSHIPS MATTER?
The short answer to the question whether internships matter is a resounding Yes. The real question is how to manage internships and your holidays.
Beneficial to career
Internships give you exposure into the industry and what your degree can offer you once you start work. It’s like a heads up, a preview of sorts. Internships at an engineering plant, for example, let you see how your studies is applied to real life situations: customizing precision engineering solutions for a very demanding client for instance. From here, you can re-evaluate whether your career aspirations are aligned to the everyday challenges you would face. You quickly get a sense of what your typical work life will be like in the future.
Start earning
Internships offer a reasonable pay as well. Although most part time jobs may pay more, interns do get paid about $700 for university undergraduates.
Best of both worlds
Understand that you don’t have to constantly be on the lookout for an internship, most companies don’t hire interns at least till their second year. Hence enjoy your holidays too. Don’t think that being an intern will secure you a job. It might, depending on how you perform, if you really make an impression for all the right reasons.
Life is not all about job and career path. Strike a balance. Enjoy your youth. Explore the world and gain more insights. You can mature and broaden your mind by travelling overseas while making time for at least one internship in university. Best of both worlds.