What is a work internship? Simply put, it is a chance that employers offer to students fascinated in gaining work experience in specific industries. With this primer, learn more about what internships are and why students benefit from them.

How Long Work Internship Last

An intern works at a company for a fixed period of time, commonly 3 to 6 months. Some students will have a part-time internship in which they work at the office for just a few days or hours per week.

Others will have full-time internships, meaning they work the similar hours as the company’s full-time employees. Internships can be any time of the year, involving over the summer and during the regular quarter, trimester or semester.

Why Internships Are Significant

Internships offer students a hands-on chance to work in their desired field. They learn how their course of study applies to the real world and build a precious experience that makes them stronger applicants for jobs after graduation.

A work internship can be an outstanding way to “try out” a certain career. For example, you may think you need a fast-paced job in advertising after college, but after an internship, you might find that it is not for you; that’s valuable insight that will assist you choose your career path.

In few colleges, internships also count towards course credit. This is dependent on your individual school’s needs, but usually, a three-month-long internship counts as a full course credit.

 Who Can Be An Intern

Interns are commonly college or graduate students. While interns are commonly older students, like juniors or seniors, freshman and sophomores can seek out internships as well. Having several internships while in college can be very impressive to potential employers.

What Interns Do

The daily activities of an intern can differ widely, even within the same industry.

It is highly dependent on the company itself. In some internships, you may do mainly administrative tasks or run errands. But in others, you’ll be an important part of the team, making substantial contributions to the company.

Compensation

Unpaid internships are common, but there are plenty of paid internships too. Whether or not you’ll get a wage relies on your industry and role. For example, editorial interns are rarely paid, while engineering students almost always are.

If you can afford it, an unpaid internship can yet be an extremely beneficial experience. You can get critical work experience, build a portfolio and develop a network of professional contacts which can assist you after you graduate.

Job Outlook

Few companies do extend full-time job offers to exceptional interns, though this is not guaranteed and is the exception rather than the norm. To better your possibilities of this happening, be proactive in your work, pay attention to detail, be willing to listen and take criticism and volunteer for special projects.

Positioning yourself as a hardworking, reliable employee puts you in good standing for consideration. If the company is not hiring at the time your internship ends, don’t be disappointed or think it’s a reflection of your work.

It is often simply a budgeting issue. You can yet probably count on them for a glowing reference, which you can leverage when applying for jobs later.